false 3 0 false false Thu Apr 13 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Wed Feb 18 11:04:36 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 11:04:36 -0800 2009
In the book, Dr. Alara Calladar despises her female biology, which requires that she have sex to live, and then eventually bond permanently to one man for life. Now, I realize that this is a fictional story and that a biology like hers really doesn't exist, but I am forced to take her biology as an analogy for mine. Her Boktai is my menstrual cycle. The problem is, she hates her biology and searches for a "cure" for it, throughout the book. Even at the happily ever after, there are comments about how the love match is a stupid one because Alara's biology is just whacked out, but they can't help themselves because they're in lurve.

To me, what would have made this book so much better would be to have Alara slowly realize that maybe it's not so bad to be bonded to one man for life, if you love him and if he treats you with respect, and to realize that her body is not her enemy, and even to learn to love her biology. This hits a special nerve for me because it took me YEARS to learn to enjoy being a woman, and everything that comes with being a woman, so I get frustrated when I see people perpetuating the idea that women are "stuck" with our biology, instead of celebrating our connection to the moon and the earth and each other.

So, I guess if you don't have the same hang-up as I do about the book, you'll probably enjoy it.]]>