The truthiness - Why I hate chick lits

Here are a few reasons why chick lits have no place in the book shelf of any self respecting girl -

• The girl always describes herself as someone who isn’t very good looking but then goes on to describe her attributes that suddenly paint a picture of a stunning woman. They usually go “I hate the way I look… my nose is too sharp for my face”. But the girl would casually mention “I have green eyes, I really tall and I am really skinny”. Um… hello? You have just described a freaking model!
• Has anyone noticed that in almost all chick lits the Mr Right is basically a template of Mr Darcy from the Pride and Prejudice? In fact Helen Fielding (who wrote the Bridget Jones Diaries) names her hero Mr Darcy. The guy is always very successful, rich, wears power suits and always has a cynical smile on his face. Yes it is a homage to great character who was created by the Jane Austen but aren’t there different kinds of men in the world. What if my Mr Right is a complete bum who never wants to work???
• Another thing about Mr Right – even though he is sooo perfect, the girl always mistakes him for a proud and arrogant man. Again we walk right back into the Mr Darcy situation in which Eizabeth Bennett thinks of him as the most abominable man in the whole world until she realizes that she is simply prejudiced. Here is the thing, this equation was extremely original in the Pride and Prejudice but right now after a few hundred books… this formula is becoming a bit lame.
• Oh and there is always a Mr Wrong who has to be killed off (you know taken off the pages of the book not literally killed off) in order to make our Mr Right more well… right. But why does every such book have to have that guy in beginning who doesn’t treat the girl well and even the though the girl eventually develops feeling for Mr Right, it is Mr Wrong who is painted in the wrong. Not to mention the fact he ends up almost always cheating on his girlfriend. It is so incredibly clichéd and passé and honestly sometimes the Mr Wrong guy sounds more interesting that Mr Right. At least he is flawed… doesn’t that make him more human?
• Our heroine (and usually in these books the girl is also the narrator), towards the end of the book ends up in this big pile of crisis… and to save the day in would walk in our Mr Right looking like the modern day Knight in Shining Armor. How can there be no amore after that? Except why does a grown woman even need saving from a man? Is she not capable of handing situations?
• Or there is a worse kind of ending where the guy and girl break up in between because the guy acts like a jerk. But in the end after realizing the error is his ways, he comes back to his true love. Um… I would never take such a guy back but the girls in the books always take them back. Every single time and the event is usually sealed by…
• The engagement! This is how almost every adult chick lit book ends. Either the couple gets married, engaged with a big diamond ring or the girl finds out she is having a baby. And then the book ends. Because let’s face it, if a girl wrangles a big diamond ring, she is set for life. In other words her life is over.

Whilst I truly really hate chick lits (I really really do), I must confess I must have read over fifty of them in the last five years. Here is why I think chick lits are ok –

• The guy is really gook looking. I mean who wouldn’t want to fantasize about a man with lots of money and a six pack
• The girl is usually such an idiot that while reading the book you think if this clueless person lands such an awesome guy… hey maybe even I would someday.
• Such books always leave you feeling all tingly and happy inside… until you realize that it all lies and such things basically never happen in real life.
• Who in their right mind would ever say no to a big diamond ring????
• And finally did I mention the fact that the guy is a fantastically good looking and sports a six pack???

I know I am a hypocrite… help me :)