love this deep dive! I really liked All Fours and Babygirl and they got me thinking a lot about age gap relationships too, but I came out of both feeling more positively than you did. I found the tension of the power shifting back and forth (especially in Babygirl) really fascinating, and thought that both protagonists came out of the situation understanding themselves and their own desires more completely. am v interested to check out some of the other books on your list!
thanks for sharing your take, so curious if you came away with other thoughts about age gap relationships! but yes, i agree that the protagonists both understand themselves better, to differing extents -- for romy, she seemed to know what she wanted but was finally able to act it out, while for the all fours narrator, the experience seemed to help her discover what needed to change in her relationship and create new work (eventually). i don't think these relationships and their outcomes were all "bad", and maybe i could have caveated that more heavily, but pretty imbalanced in a way i found disappointing / didn't expect.
love this deep dive! I really liked All Fours and Babygirl and they got me thinking a lot about age gap relationships too, but I came out of both feeling more positively than you did. I found the tension of the power shifting back and forth (especially in Babygirl) really fascinating, and thought that both protagonists came out of the situation understanding themselves and their own desires more completely. am v interested to check out some of the other books on your list!
thanks for sharing your take, so curious if you came away with other thoughts about age gap relationships! but yes, i agree that the protagonists both understand themselves better, to differing extents -- for romy, she seemed to know what she wanted but was finally able to act it out, while for the all fours narrator, the experience seemed to help her discover what needed to change in her relationship and create new work (eventually). i don't think these relationships and their outcomes were all "bad", and maybe i could have caveated that more heavily, but pretty imbalanced in a way i found disappointing / didn't expect.