In fact, I have more than one book review where I poke some fun at the stereotypic couple in the thriller genre. You know the type. The damsel in distress is six-sigma on some specialized skill that most of us have only the foggiest notion about, like quantum physics or nanotechnology. (And those of you who don’t have statistics as a second language, six sigma means something that happens once every 1.38 million years, or about twice in the history of humankind – that’s pretty rare.) But she still manages to be compassionate and, of course, beautiful. Across from her is the male, who is almost equally unique in his skill set, which tends to run to combat skills and/or investigative techniques. Yes, these couples make for a fun read…but they’re not exactly the grist for a lasting love story.
But I’ve been known to read outside my writing genre, and yes, there is a
couple that has long stuck in my memory – Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. I read The
Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald sometime in high school…meaning many
years ago. And there was something about
that book that stuck with me. It could
have been the mystery surrounding Jay.
It could be that he threw the most awesome parties of all time. But I have to believe that it was Jay’s
obsession with Daisy that got lodged in my memory for all time. Of course, F. Scott has to also throw us what
in the thriller genre would be ‘the twist.’
In this case, after Jay finally wins Daisy back – after a lifelong, unwavering
quest – he admits that the relationship wasn’t all that he expected.
I didn’t see that one coming.
Happy Writing (and Reading),
BmPPhoto by Eva Rinaldi [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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