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Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 01 Nov 2019, 10:42
by briellejee
Howlan wrote: ↑01 Nov 2019, 02:06
Kro92813 wrote: ↑31 Oct 2019, 22:24
briellejee wrote: ↑18 Oct 2019, 03:14
I think it would have, but considering the author is a male, I think he hesitated a bit because either there is lack of knowledge on how to portray them exactly in a way women readers would find interesting or it is not just an aspect he wants to deliver on the book. Regarding the first reason, separating a man's perspective in writing about women seem difficult. There has also been a backlash from women on some male authors in writing women characters so I guess this could be the reason why there is no greater female presence.
This is a good point! It's hard to know about something you personally know nothing about
Yeah but as a author I think he should have researched the fact among his peers.
Easy to say but researching about something is different when you write about it. It’s not just jotting down notes but truly empathising and immersing yourself with people. It would take months and weeks. We don’t know what the author has gone through throughout this whole ordeal of writing a book so we cannot say things like it could be done immediately or stating the obvious when we weren’t even during the whole process.
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 01 Nov 2019, 19:23
by Kro92813
Howlan wrote: ↑01 Nov 2019, 02:03
Kro92813 wrote: ↑31 Oct 2019, 22:19
DorcasToo wrote: ↑07 Oct 2019, 02:08
I think Sarah does a great job of representing the females. But definitely, more feminity would add in some spark.
The wives felt like helpless little puppies. That bothered me
Yeah they were side characters and had no much role to play in this book. However Monique has a greater role in the sequel
Interesting! I'd be curious as to what since she seems pretty defenseless in this one!
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 01 Nov 2019, 19:27
by Kro92813
Howlan wrote: ↑01 Nov 2019, 02:06
Kro92813 wrote: ↑31 Oct 2019, 22:24
briellejee wrote: ↑18 Oct 2019, 03:14
I think it would have, but considering the author is a male, I think he hesitated a bit because either there is lack of knowledge on how to portray them exactly in a way women readers would find interesting or it is not just an aspect he wants to deliver on the book. Regarding the first reason, separating a man's perspective in writing about women seem difficult. There has also been a backlash from women on some male authors in writing women characters so I guess this could be the reason why there is no greater female presence.
This is a good point! It's hard to know about something you personally know nothing about
Yeah but as a author I think he should have researched the fact among his peers.
Researched being a woman? As a woman, if I were to write a novel my main character would likely be female. That's the point the previous poster was making. The author is male, so is it that farfetched that his main characters are strongly male?
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 02 Nov 2019, 04:24
by Ivana Tomaš
Sometimes the small role of female characters in books is justified. This may be a case of historical setting. But it all depends on the author in which way he will take advantage of certain situations.
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 02 Nov 2019, 23:32
by Abacus
Kro92813 wrote: ↑31 Oct 2019, 22:09
Abacus wrote: ↑02 Oct 2019, 15:47
Sarah does have a larger part in a later book. The ladies of the night get the focus in this book.
How do you mean?
Less agreeable is the need to gain intelligence by using prostitutes and belly dancers. But that is the nature of war and Greg writes about it showing the patriotic side of the women and their goodwill towards the war effort.
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 04 Nov 2019, 13:41
by rumik
I think any novel could benefit from a greater female presence, so I'd say the same for this one as well.
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 05 Nov 2019, 11:07
by babcockar
As a woman, I often find that men writing about women tend to make over-generalizations and play off of stereotypes. While I think the author did a good job with the female presence in the book, I still think that a woman could have written a better female presence just because she is a woman. Vice versa, men are better at writing a male presence. It is all a matter of what perspective the author brings to their writing.
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 06 Nov 2019, 05:41
by iknwuzoh
I think the book needs more female presence than otherwise. This book is historic and the author should add more female presence to it, to make it nice for readers like me. Thanks
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 06 Nov 2019, 08:41
by Jimi Adewole
I don't think the author intended for his stories to be dominated by males. The writing probably just evolved in that direction. Time for affirmative action in the characterisation of novels?
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 06 Nov 2019, 08:45
by tannus
ArriettyClock wrote: ↑02 Oct 2019, 08:20
I love this series by Greg Kater, however, I often feel like the amazing female characters could have a larger part to play in the novels.
For example, in "Skills of the Warramunga" Sarah, Jacko's half-sister is feisty, courageous and has amazing bush-skills. I was extremely impressed by her tracking skills. She's an inspiration to young women in her demeanor and independence.
Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater inclusion of these amazing female characters? Or do you think that this would have been inappropriate in the historical setting of the novel?
I agree it would inappropriate for the setting but I wouldn't mind more female characters which would be fitting within the story
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 06 Nov 2019, 14:45
by Clemens Nickleby
How much more of a female presence can you get when a young, black woman is leading a contingent of men on an intelligence/military expedition and it is because of her skills that the men are able to thwart and apprehend the bad guys? Maybe what you are asking is could the author have given her more in-depth characterization? That I do think could have been done. But, why is it so important that we have greater female presence? Can't we just tell a story? Does it detract from women that there would be a strong male presence in a story?
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 08 Nov 2019, 03:49
by dhwanis
Personally, I relate and tend to gravitate more towards books with stronger female presence. I do believe that, when done successfully, it adds to the richness of the book.
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 10 Nov 2019, 08:48
by naomisorge
Kro92813 wrote: ↑31 Oct 2019, 22:31
naomisorge wrote: ↑23 Oct 2019, 05:16
So many people saying that a female presence would not have been realistic! People...there were lots of women around in those times, but their presence and contribution were ignored, or credit was taken by the men. Writing female characters into historical fiction is one way to acknowledge the contribution women made and normalize their presence in history.
I also think it's interesting that the main female character, Sarah, doesn't speak all that much English, so the men can make good use of her bush skills but she doesn't really take a decision-making or analyzing role in the story. I would have loved to know what she was thinking at some points!
But would it have been realistic for her to speak perfectly t English when she grew up speaking a completely different language
Lots of people learn to speak English well enough to express themselves effectively when they grew up speaking a completely different language! Especially when they are surrounded by native English speakers, as, as Sarah is.
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 12 Nov 2019, 09:13
by Nyambura Githui
The character Sarah is inspirational. I think it would have been amazing to have move of such female characters.
Re: Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?
Posted: 15 Nov 2019, 08:30
by Pollyanna25
I would have enjoyed this novel more if there had been a greater female presence. I don't know much about military operations; so to read more from Sarah's point of view, a young woman, new to Malaysia, who also does not know much about military operations would have made the novel much easier to relate to.