Absolutely fascinating. I didn't know reading about genres could be so interesting. Gail Carriger deconstructs the Hero and Heroine's Journey and uses pop culture examples, and goes in depth to provide writing advice and analysis of the Heroine's Journey. In short, the Hero's Journey defines success as (solitary) victory, triumph, power (Batman); it generates feelings of excitement for readers. Narrative endpoints often see the hero alone or so changed from the journey he can no longer return (Frodo).

The Heroine's journey defines success as connection, belonging, family (blood or found); it generates feelings of comfort for readers. Narrative endpoints often see the heroine with community, family, friends, etc. Think Harry Potter, or the typical romance novel trajectory. Detective novels also fall under this category, which does make a lot of sense to me.

Carriger talked about crossovers between the two genres, which was very fascinating and illuminating. And honestly this explained to me why I like the books I like, because of the feeling of comfort and connection.

I lowkey kind of wish this was a bit more concise but nonetheless, I managed to read the whole book continuously despite being in a reading slump. How do I find more books like this...