I was talking to some friends the other day and one of them mentioned that she was thinking of reading a book I had already read. I recommended it to her and mentioned I really liked the series because each book focused on a different arranged marriage situation in the same universe.
Later on, another friend who was present during the conversation said they though arranged marriages in fiction were problematic.
I wanted to know what your thoughts are on this trope. Is it inherently problematic? Can it be done well? What are some reasons you like/dislike this trope?
And before anyone mentions it, yes I know there have been similar discussion on r/romancebooks. I specifically posted here because I want diverse opinions. Not just that of romance readers.
“Problematic” is problematic. Seriously. I understand the impetus to purge the unpleasant parts of human-ness from novels, but the problem is that doesn’t do anything to help the actual things themselves. If anything it tends to perpetuate them because people think they’ve done something to effect change when they haven’t. I had to stop and think if this applies as well to romance books as it does other genres and I’ve decided it does. If a romance book portrays characters or relationships you don’t like, good. Learn from that. Why don’t you like them? Reading that can buttress your armor against them in real life, and maybe the experience can impel you towards stories that flip the thing you were bothered by. I’ll take the charitable view and guess that the people saying something is “problematic” are well-intentioned, but that doesn’t mean you should listen to them.