The Heroine's Journey: For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture

When a book is starting with definition of the wording it is using, similar as in old communist literature - you know that you have probably picked the wrong one (or the ideal - depending on the worldview). I thought i will find a book that will improve my writing - and understanding female protagonists better, will help me to expand my horizon a bit on the female perspective and narrative, especially when it comes to understand motives and dialogues better - unfortunately i picked a book written by a racist manhater who wants to encourage other writers to weaponize their writing skills to embark on her revenge against the self-perceived suppression of the evil white man - "as a heroine". Not very heroine-like to antagonize a part of her audience right at the start - especially if a heroine's strength is "expanding their connections and winning over her enemies"... yet it seems you are not worthy if you are white and straight. But this book is full of contradictions anyway, with morals that are not applied to everyone equally. So if you are a straight (boring as she says) white man - like i am, please stay away from this - you will not be treated kindly - far more - you are the sole reason why literature was awful over the course of the past 300 years, but finally it is slowly improving thanks to sparkling gay vampire love stories. Now what have i learned about the heroine's journey? - she is forced to leave and does not embark on her journey by herself - she doesn't act alone and reaches out for support (and likes to delegate the hard work) - if support is removed, she is at her weakest - in a happy ending scenario she most likely ends up - contrary to the hero in a loving family - otherwise most likely dead or crazy It's basically these points repeated over and over again on examples like Harry Potter and the twilight saga. I wish i knew that - since i would have employed my trusty Pinterest memes instead wasting hours of my life on this. If you are looking for a deeper view on the characters - you will be disappointed as she only explores the well known side characters and never strays from the path. And unless you have been living under a rock - this is really old news. If you are looking for a deeper view on the tactics the heroine employs - you will be even more disappointed - as the only thing you'll learn is that she is "looking for connections and expanding her network"... examples that are showcasing the how's and why's in detail - are nowhere to be found. But isn't this the whole point of a book like this? Maybe if you would concentrate more on the topic and not on a personal racist and sexist crusade... Why the 2 star review then, you may ask? I managed to get two vital pieces of information from this at the end... i usually manage to get more out of a book, but at least my time doesn't feel completely at a lost: 1. I understand it now better how left-leaning authors weaponize culture for their own agenda. I knew it was bad - but it's nice to see their self-perceived skillset in the working. 2. She actually left me 1 neat idea with the chapter "show me your doctor". It is true that the "throw away" character like a doctor has always to be a white male... i never thought about it. It's true... and it's boring indeed and i agree that we need to change that. But if we revisit this statement - we will have to the conclusion that the corrupt cop - can also be a gay Moslem running a grooming gang. The corrupt authoritarian politician an old Asian woman... this door swings in both directions. Especially the last 3 chapters felt like an ordeal - as she was just repeating things she said already all over again, emphasizing her "loyalty to the party" as Orwell would say. It's especially disheartening since it appears that the author would have been able to say more on this topic if she had really tried - instead to pamper her left-leaning audience and ramble about the books she liked best. And i wish she would have treated me as a person - not a skin color and sexual orientation...