Thread by @stephycha, "As her devotees already know, French doesn’t write genre books or thrillers. [...]

Steph Cha

stephycha

"As her devotees already know, French doesn’t write genre books or thrillers. She writes full-bodied novels in which crimes happen to have been committed." This shit again? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/books/review/tana-french-the-searcher.html?smid=tw-share">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/0...

Tana French’s Irish Western Features a Retired Lawman and a Missing Boy

With “The Searcher,” French moves away from the Dublin Murder Squad and her usual Dublin setting to drink in the open landscapes of western Ireland.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/books/review/tana-french-the-searcher.html?smid=tw-share

The book is lovely, by the way. You can read my review in the L.A. Times next week, I think. I promise I do not shit on genre fiction.

For the thousandth time, genre is about subject matter, not quality. If you write a full-bodied novel in which crimes happen to have been committed, congratulations, you wrote a good crime novel!

And by the way, I understand that some novels are more in-between, with less focus on mystery, etc. etc., but like, Tana French& #39;s books are firmly in the genre mold. The Dublin Murder Squad books are police procedurals. Their excellence doesn& #39;t make them less about crime.

I have a feeling I& #39;m gonna be 90 and pantsless in some nursing home, screaming GENRE IS ABOUT SUBJECT MATTER at my snobby college-age grandkids, who won& #39;t read my books because they have murder in them.

Imagine if every six months, the New York Times published a profile that started, "She happens to be female, but she& #39;s not like other women." That& #39;s how stupid this looks. We& #39;ve been over it so many times, I& #39;m amazed that it keeps coming up.

You can follow @stephycha.

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