Rant: Our book club spent 45 minutes arguing if the main character was a hero or not

We were discussing a book set in Chicago, and everyone kept calling the lead a 'villain' because he made one bad choice. I finally looked up the author's old interview where she said the point was he was just a normal guy under pressure. Now I think we all missed the point by trying to label him. Does your group ever get stuck on simple good vs bad debates?

3 comments

3 Comments

umac7115d ago

Maybe the real villain was our need for a simple label.

gibson.robert15d agoTop Commenter

But what if labels are the only way we can even start a tough talk?

the_blair15d ago

I get what you're saying, labels can feel like a needed shortcut when a topic is huge and scary. They give us a handle to grab onto. But I've seen that same handle get used as a weapon more times than I can count. It's like we trade a real talk for a shouting match of titles.