Comments on: love stories

By: JohnG

JohnG — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:39:40 +0000

Ok, this may brand me a throw-back, perhaps even in the dating “catch” sense, but for Romantic Love that is not Gaming, I love Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe and his beautiful, troubled, and strong women. These stories appeal to me at my present stage of life even more: Marlowe and the women are all jaded, seen it all, done more. They are damaged and tired and they are not, repeat, not looking for love. But Love happens to them, despite their best efforts. And as with many great loves, tragedy is close on its heels in many instances. When I think of Chandler’s work in this regard, I think of the women as one woman, a composite of all the characters he drew so vividly. On screen, it’s more Faye Dunaway in Chinatown than Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep who I think best represents a Chandler heroine; Kim Basinger got a decent piece of it in LA Confidential. And they are heroines one and all, these Chandler women–they come through with good judgement, canny intelligence, and loyalty not just to their (sort of) man, but to doing the right thing, for which they put themselves in harm’s way. And Marlowe is in equal measure there for them. When they meet, there are no games of the sort we’re referring to–they’re just two people who are very clearly attracted to each other but whose circumstances prevent the standard approach of one to the other.
The romantic plot line of getting these two together drives the entire story, no small feat for the writer of these intricately plotted detective mysteries. I don’t think that’s an accident: by the end of the stories, all hell is breaking loose and Marlowe, against what he pretends to be his better judgment, still tries to save (and be with) the woman he was trying not to fall in love with. The heroine, shows her strength and the strength of her love in bold actions at the moment of truth that amount to her saving Marlowe as much as he’s saving her.
The mystery writer, then, has finally tipped his hand and shown us what he thinks is real and most important–the solution to the whodunit seems rather secondary to the incendiary love leaping off Chandler’s pages. I always feel like I want to leap in.

By: bigfatpress

bigfatpress — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 21:54:37 +0000

I’m reading Adverbs by Daniel Handler which is all love stories. All love, like the real kind, loaded with tragedy and irony. My favorite in the collection is “often,” which takes place on a Comics cruise, and has a man who is “handsome like a new truck.”

Handler dissects love a lot in this book. As well as the stories themselves. It’s pretty meta.

Fight Club, great love story.

I also kinda liked the love story in The Ha Ha.

I like love stories that are about accepting imperfections. I’m a sucker for that.

By: dorothy_parka

dorothy_parka — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 02:12:18 +0000

re: Fight Club– the abortion line is from the book. the director came up with the grade school line. proof of the superiority of the movie.

romantic book? INFINITE JEST!! there are 100 love stories in that book, all misguided and unrequited. when USS Millicent is trying to seduce Mario in the woods? When Joelle is leaning over the just-shot Gately? Owen and everyone he has sex with? Wallace is SUCH a romantic, in a very pomo way.

By: kmcleod

kmcleod — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 17:46:20 +0000

Most of the books Iâ€™ve been reading have been related to foreign policy. Not much love there. Osama has a crush on Whitney Houston, but heâ€™ll never take the next step. I guess as far as a love story in book form is concerned, Iâ€™d have to say The Odyssey. When Odysseus finally rescues his home and family, his wife canâ€™t believe that heâ€™s actually there, that heâ€™s standing before her. Itâ€™s impossible, she canâ€™t get her mind around it. And they have a conversation where bit by bit they speak of the times theyâ€™ve been together, the things theyâ€™ve done, the family theyâ€™ve made, and slowly the realization arrives. It always gets to me.

By: frankenweeny

frankenweeny — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 10:01:50 +0000

…..hahaha….yep, i know the top-soiled line…….

……heathcliffe only needs a jaunt on a makeover show………

…….new wardrobe, some sprucing, maybe he’s a spring, not a winter, you know????……

By: virginia

virginia — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 21:54:55 +0000

frankenweeny, you are one goth girl. I must admit that if I were Cathy, I’d have been nagging Heathcliff to get on Paxil.

Fun fact about that line “I haven’t been fucked like that since grade school.” It was gonna be “I want to have your abortion!” but they decided to go with the more tasteful(?!?) version.

I loved Fight Club too. My fave line was when they were picking who they’d most like to fight and Brad Pitt(?) goes “Ghandi.”

By: frankenweeny

frankenweeny — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 16:20:42 +0000

…..wuthering heights is an all-time favourite anyway…. …i’ve lost count of how many re-reads…….

…..and who could forget….. . . . .. . . . . (cheaters quotes from the screenplay)……..

Marla Singer: My God. I haven’t been fucked like that since grade school.

[Holding up a wad of cash]
Marla Singer: You’re not getting this back. I consider it asshole tax.

Marla Singer: This is cancer right?
Narrator: This chick Marla Singer did not have testicular cancer. She was a liar. She had no diseases at all. I had seen her at Free and Clear my blood parasite group Thursdays. Then at Hope, my bi-monthly sickle cell circle. And again at Seize the Day, my tuberculous Friday night. Marla… the big tourist. Her lie reflected my lie. Suddenly I felt nothing. I couldn’t cry, so once again I couldn’t sleep.

By: virginia

virginia — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 21:18:48 +0000

or that happiness doesn’t make for great art. Nicholson Baker is pretty rare in being able to write sweet without making your teeth hurt.

Obsessive unrequited love is one of the best subjects for art, period.

By: blossomlover

blossomlover — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 13:09:55 +0000

Ian McEwan lept to my mind as well, even before I read your answer. The unrequited love of Atonement, the obsessive love of Enduring Love. Neither of them what one would think of as traditional love stories, which seem like fairy tales or romance novels and too saacharine to be believable. I’m surprised to find that, at least on the page, I believe that love is accompanied by pain.