Friday, June 26, 2015

Book Talk #4: Boy vs. Girl POV

So recently I was going through my books on my shelf and realized two things: (1) I own a lot of Dystopian books (2) and most of the books I own are from girl POVs. It's not strange to own more of one POV than the other but I decided that this could be a chance for me to list my reasons for reading more books from a female POV than from a male's and which one I prefer at certain times and what exactly comes into play when I feel like reading from a boy's POV more than a girl's. Now that I've rambled enough, it's girls vs. boys time! Let the showdown begin!
 
1. Relativity
Obviously, being able to relate to a character is important for enjoying the story. When it comes to POVs, however, I always tend to relate to female characters more when the story is told by them. I can relate more by not just gender wise but also some of the insecurities and "girl problems" they face. Such as crushes, self-consciousness, friendships, way of thinking etc. Most times I enjoy the story more when I can relate to the character that's telling the story because of those things. I definitely think that's one of the reasons I tend to be a little more iffy if a story is told from a guy's POV. However . . .
 
Sometimes you need to get away from the drama. I love having a few books on the side that are told by a guy's perspective when I've just finished a book with a really annoying storyline or female protagonist. Sometimes I can actually relate to the guy characters more than others. For example, one book I loved was The Maze Runner for multiple reasons. One was that I related to the fact that Thomas was in an environment that surprisingly had nothing but boys living in it. My life has always been full of boys at my side what with a brother, nephews, cousins, uncles. The majority of my friends are boys and the characters reminded me of them because of their leadership habits, funny jokes, sarcastic personalities and even loyalty.
 
2. Storytelling
When it comes to storytelling, it really does all come down to which you're in the mood for. Lately I've been in the mood for more action-packed and fast-paced books. Something sci-fi or futuristic. It's a bit more difficult to find a book- in my own personal experience- that has those factors without it being from a girl's POV. Now, I love a kick-butt female protagonist but sometimes, I just want the book to focus on the action and world, which tends to be the trend with books told from guy POVs.
 
When it comes to contemporaries, however, a girl's POV is preferred. Considering the fact that I'm a teenage girl with issues (we all have them) I love reading a nice and fun contemporary told from a girl's perspective because I can imagine the feelings she might be having towards a cute guy she wants to be with. I can also relate to her way of thinking more than I can if I read a contemporary told by a guy's perspective. I can relate more to the things she says, does, or thinks when it comes to her wanting a guy to notice her or get the message.
 
3. Writing
Finally, the last reason just comes down to the option of whether or not I like an author. Now, female authors can write a really good book told from a guy's perspective (Asylum by Madeline Roux) and a male author can sometimes write a great book told from a girl's perspective (The Fault In Our Stars by John Green) but sometimes books can fall short.
 
Not to be sexist or anything, but I sometimes gravitate to buying books by male authors when I want a book told from a male POV and gravitate towards buying books written by female authors when I want a book told from a girl's POV because of one reason: authors of the same gender as their character POV can sometimes understand their ways of thinking a little better and thus create a more realistic character. Even though I'm a writer myself, I know for a fact that I could never write a story from a guy's perspective because I don't think like a guy and couldn't even begin to understand what a guy would do in certain situations. Not only that, but it just connects back to the second reason. Boys tend to skip the drama which can be really refreshing and girls tend to have a little drama and more complications with friends and boys.
 
Everything really comes down to personal taste of genres, characters, storytelling, world building etc. Some people only read girl POVs, some read only boy POVs, some read an equal amount of both or read more of one than the other. I fall into the latter one sadly. I would love to read an equal amount of both POVs because both are entertaining and can be really interesting and a lot of fun to read. Once again, these are my personal reasons when picking whether to read a girl or guy's perspective. So what falls into your reasoning when it comes to choosing? Do you look more for world building, amount of action, romance, relativity or something else entirely? Or does it even matter what perspective you read? Please let me know what your thoughts are and if you have an awesome book written from a boy POV, leave your suggestions in the comments! I want to stock up!


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