Literature in the Moonlight

Hello, everyone! Tonight we come full circle; we started out looking at a fluffy piece of empty romance and now we'll end with a fluffy piece of (somewhat less empty) romance.

Here we go.

Kim cannot forget the two weeks she spent as a child with Travis, a young, sad boy who did not seem able to have fun. By teaching him how, the two formed a bond that would last into their adulthood, even after he and his mother abruptly move away in the night. For you see, Travis has a dark secret: his father is the rich and powerful Randall Maxwell, a man who takes what he wants with no remorse. In a bid to protect his mother (from what, we never do find out), Travis agrees to work at his father's law firm, never forgetting the kindness shown to him by the young Kim.

However, that all changes when his mother calls one day. While hiding from Maxwell in the town of Edilean, Virginia, Travis' mother has found a man who she plans to marry. Knowing that Maxwell will not let his wife go without a fight, and will do everything in his power to make her and her paramour miserable, Travis travels to Edilean to help with the divorce in any way he can. Of course, Edilean just happens to be where Travis met Kim, and where she lives now as the successful owner of a jewelry shop. The two meet, and begin falling for each-other even as Travis tries to keep Kim from finding out the truth about who he is. Throw in a secret half-brother who everyone and their mom knows about, a search for long-lost relatives, and a resolution that completely sucks any conflict whatsoever out of the story, and you have Jude Deveraux's Stranger in the Moonlight.

Now, since this book is of the romance genre, it makes sense to compare it to Fifty Shades of Grey, which is also of the romance genre.

"Romance".

My friends, Stranger in the Moonlight is worlds better than Fifty Shades of Grey; heck, its much better than than a couple of the other books we've looked at. Though the writing style does have a few problems here and there, it's neither bland and boring nor overwrought to the point of ridiculousness. Characters feel like actual people who (aside from a few melodramatic moments) have actual, believable conversations. And, of course, the main girl doesn't make me want to bash my head in at her stupidity and self-centeredness; that's always a plus.

However, is this book "Literature"? Short answer: no. While the story does indulge in a refreshing bit of subtlety during the prologue, that is thrown out in the first chapter in favor of the old trick of telling instead of showing. And the resolution to the conflict of the story is handled in a way that is an insult to the term deus ex machina; I won't spoil, but let's just say that much of the story's conflict is rendered completely pointless in a way that, on further reflection, doesn't make much sense in the context in which the conflict is set up.

Where's the conflict?

While this book is not as malevolent problematic as Fifty Shades of Grey, it does seem to serve the same purpose; this book is ultimately a empty bit of feel-good fluff that can be good for entertainment, but is ultimately lacking in literary merit.

Next time, I take a break to evaluate what we have learned so far. Can Genre Fiction hold similar literary value to 'Literature"? What gives a work of fiction literary value? What is "Literature"?