UK Literary Luvvies #2 Vital reading

[NomDeGuerre]

Can’t be that hard to write a quote for a LL book, though, given that they are essentially the same?

‘Willowy white woman living in London and working for a fashion magazine / music magazine / publisher shags her way through a clutch of stereotypes she meets on a dating app, ably assisted by slightly less attractive pal with wanky name (I.E Bunny or Tiggy or Hernia)’

The book goes to print, the publisher contacts Marian Keyes, she fires up her salad spinner of adjectives, pulls out a couple and turns it into a review: “This novel is a PRESCIENT and VITAL examination of what it means to be a young woman today”.

 

[StatusWoe]

Brace yourselves... she just hit No. 1 on the Sunday Times bestsellers.

Wow they really hype their own crowd. I think the success of books/memoirs is often down to aggressive marketing rather than engaging content. Have you ever been in a bookshop and felt as though specific books were being foisted on you? I think it's striking how many of these bestselling self-help type books were written by privileged individuals with ties to the media - thinking of Bryony Gordon et al. I feel as though we're missing out on a lot of interesting stories because these people are overrepresented on the shelves.

 

[Scandinoir]

Dolly is heading off on tour and 5/6 of the English venues are down south. Few people have commented about it and requested other locations (as is common from any tour announcement!) so now we have the rest of the crew taking the piss. Biting the hand that feeds you comes to mind

 

[Love_hate_small_town]

Haha! Can’t share anything too identifying of course but she is an author of commercial fiction. One of her books has been adapted for TV already and feels to me like it’s always Staff Pick in Waterstones. So happy for her

God I am so intrigued.

I went to uni with a current YA author who was a bit of a frenemy. Very privileged background (naturally) and I was enviously following her career post uni anyway when I read an interview where she said there is a special place in hell for people who do not return books. It took every ounce of self restraint to stop myself commenting that she still has a book she borrowed off me in uni. A book i v reluctantly lent her after she promised she’d give it back (it was pre Amazon and hard to get hold of). I’m over it obviously dont think about it every single time I see her.

 

[Spilttea]

I think it’s easy to be a fashion girlie when you have Panda’s build. Frail looking blondes are rarely out of fashion.

 

[MissHavisham]

I think it's a bit simplistic to say anorexia is the result of poor parenting.

 

[Walkthehemline]

“I wouldn’t post about my glorious babies on social media in much the same way as I wouldn’t post about my expansive mansion or my fleet of Bentleys (not that I have any of those), because it’s thoughtless to those who don’t have these things. Forget the language of privilege for a second: isn’t it just lacking in basic empathy? Isn’t it just being a good human?”

 

[imtakingabath]

I enjoyed this response to Elizabeth Day’s article on fertility privilege:

Emotions around infertility can be raw. Let’s talk about them with solidarity | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

It’s important to acknowledge ‘fertility privilege’, but let’s not dismiss those whose privilege has been hard won, says Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

www.theguardian.com

Strongly agree with these comments too;

 

[maytoseptember]

She baffles me because she's clearly highly therapised (is that even a word?) and seems to be emotionally intelligent but this is obviously a huge blindspot for her. She has such a fulfilling life (for instance, I'm jealous of her close friendships) yet seems to focus on what is missing. I also think she wants a baby rather than to be a parent. She is a step-mother to 3 children and clearly this hasn't satisfied her enough.

I think women like ED who have grown up with massive privilege: wealth, private education, Oxbridge, told that they can achieve absolutely anything they want in life and then go on to do exactly that (also, unsurprisingly, aren’t usually able to acknowledge that their privilege and connections are the things that open doors for them, not necessarily sheer hard work and talent) find it incredibly difficult to accept that, for the first time in their lives, there is something that they can’t achieve and there’s nothing they can do about it. I say “achieve” rather than “have” because there’s a certain subset of highly educated woman who views motherhood as one more thing they can absolutely excel at.

Although infertility is desperately hard for any woman, it must be such a kick in the teeth for ED because she’s never really had to confront a closed door of this scale before. I suspect that’s the reason why she can’t appreciate what she does have over what she doesn’t, and why “failure” has become her personal brand.

 

[SamFoxStuckinaCloak]

She’s made her whole identity “childless woman.” And I think that’s my issue with her (along with the way all of these women rarely acknowledge their privilege)

I’m childless (not by choice), had loads of IVF, miscarriages etc etc. despite therapy, I think it is a sadness I will always carry around with me, and that’s okay. But it’s not all that I am as a person and it’s not healthy to make that your identity. I’d feel mortified if my friends felt they couldn’t talk to me about their children or have their kids around me- you can do that whilst also being sensitive. I suspect her friends find her insufferable.

 

[emeraldopal]

I've been following the debate around ED's fertility privilege article with interest. I have every sympathy for her with regards to her struggles to conceive, and i understand how painful it is to live in a culture that glorifies, indeed almost deifies motherhood when one is having issues with fertility. However - as many posters have already pointed out - if she wants to talk about the concept of being mindful when posting about motherhood and children, she has to recognise and accept that she must be mindful when posting her own successes and blessings, as they may cause similar pain.
I have long been aware that sharing certain aspects of my life may cause pain to others. I have therefore made the choice not to post anything about my life at all. The potential pain it may cause isn't worth it for me. But if I did decide to share certain things about my own life, I would understand that I had no right to judge what others post about theirs. Even as someone who doesn't post about my own life, I still don't have the right to judge what others post about theirs. We are not entitled to judge others against our own arbitrary moral standards (especially if our standards are contradictory/hypocritical). We can only live by our own values. When we do, it becomes easier to abstain from passing judgement on what others choose to do.

 

[NomDeGuerre]

Sally Rooney was Booker longlisted for Normal People, long before the adaptation.

That definitely helped raise the profile of the book and elevate it above the myriad other books about relationships by young women.

I do wonder what will happen to Rooney’s writing when she ages out of the sad millennial bracket, given she’s essentially written the same novel three times at this point.

 

[skyehigh]

If I recall to be fair her parents scrimped and saved for private school, but yeah still she’s becoming such a joke

I HATE this justification for private school -
'yeh but my parents worked really hard / it was a second rate private school/i was on scholarship.'

Whatever, you are still massively massively privileged and that should be acknowledged.

 

[NomDeGuerre]

ED is clearly forgetting that the majority of her fans overlap with Dolly's, so by taking the piss out of them she's also taking the piss out people who support her too. Nice one.

'How to fail at concealing the fact I'm a condescending, over-privileged arsehole who hasn't left my millionaire enclave in North London since 2010'

 

[d0llhouse]

I want to reiterate that the pain of baby loss and infertility is very, very real - but I strongly suspect that the reason it has become such an all-consuming trigger for ED is it’s the only major goal in life she has not been able to achieve (yet).

There’s a reason she created a podcast and brand based on reframing personal failure - it’s a concept she clearly struggles with.

 

[queenamber]

Elizabeth won't post photos of her mansion on social media out of sensitivity, but here she is on the cover of Harpers Bazaar showing off her house. What a disingenuous sellout.


---
The enormous Magpie marketing posters on the wall

 

[juy7nhio]

Remember guys, Elizabeth Day hates it when people are smug on social media….

cue endless eye rolls

also the hair is SO tragic. Like someone’s just chopped a ponytail off.

Imagine scrolling through your iphone photos painstakingly to find pictures of you sipping champagne/coffee in the most beautiful and expensive places, and carefully couturing them so you choose the best ones, and then collating them onto instagram so the last one is of you laughing and it tells a nice little story. I actually am cringing at her.

She told everyone off for showing their kids off on social media because it makes her feel bad, but her constant posting about her expensive, luxurious, bohemian London life and lovely Kennington townhouse and millionaire husband and endless socialite lit chick pals make the rest of us feel bad. But she's ALLOWED to post that, dontcha know.

 

[Sideboard Bob]

I agree they’re going after the wrong person, but I do think it’s good that Otegha’s pointed out the hypocrisy of Lucy‘s BLM stories. It shines a light on a bigger picture, about how much of the support was performative.

And sure, an influencer trip isn’t a big deal, but these things add up.

 

[Tiger tat]

Gosh I can only imagine how bitchy their group chat is. Imagine having all the privileges that this gang of knobs have benefitted from and being that sneery in PUBLIC about the people you depend on to make even more money.
Also, India is the MOST too-thick-for-oxbridge-so-i’ll-settle-for-Exeter-or-St-Andrew’s name EVER.

 

[adviseplz]

What from me or Bryony?! And no I’m not saying everyone who has a heart condition is fat etc just the woman is hardly overworked
( Disclaimer; again I wish her well, I’m not gloating)

I dunno maybe I overreacted, just couldn’t believe someone would openly blame someone else’s heart condition, that they don’t know about, on how much they weigh.