Honestly, I usually wouldn't describe the AV Club as a place where people are very proud about not knowing stuff. Seems like I have to reconsider.

Oh, absolutely. But that's mostly not what happening here, since so far no one's presented a particularly compelling argument what's so terribly escapist about these specific novels (or any argument at all, to be precise). Guess they are all too busy announcing how they wouldn't even _touch_ something with a cover…

Sometimes people need a mirror.

You want someone to adress fascism in Italy? Read the novel you're slagging. It's one of the prominent themes. Spoiler alert: Ferrante's not in favour.

Yes, and I sometimes judge novels by the cover myself, because life is short and art is long, etc . I do usually get additional information, which I privilege, and which can well override my judgment of the cover.

You mean like Anna Karenina is a Russian love novel?

That would be more convincing if he had named what aspect of the work in particular he found pretentious, so that we could judge whether it actually fits the definition of the word.

I know the only winning move here is not to play but

Of course nothing with girl cooties could ever reach the universal profundity and transcendence of the millionth teenage fanboy wishfulfillment proto-fascist superhero extravaganza or the millionth exploration of the time-honored "old professors battles mortality by fucking as many young students as possible" theme.…

You're missing out.

That's actually a widely discussed question. The only thing that's fairly certain is that they didn't happen by accident.

It has been argued that Tahani's issue might be pride, but I don't see it. I think the source of her humble-bragging is something else entirely - a desperate need to be liked and a tragically naive notion that pointing out how much you do for others would be conducive to that. She's trying to be lovable, not morally…

Chidi is miles closer to having happiness than Tahani, because he gets to talk about his favourite subject a lot and feel needed.

I hope so!

Eleanor needs to drag people down to her level. She wouldn't feel that need so strongly, if she was truly at peace with not being a particularly selfless person.

The Frey killing is not what I'm worried about missing. LS also has an important role in the Jaime/Brienne storyline, that I just can't see Arya take over. All alternative storylines for Jaimie and Brienne sound more boring to me.

I see you have very passionate feelings about this! Good for you! I'm just saying, someone like Thomas Kinkade is worse, and your blanket distaste for Bob Ross may rob you of the kind of nuance necessary to perceive that.

Eh, Bob Ross always seemed rather convincingly surprised and delighted at blots of colours turning into happy little trees. Seemed sufficiently relevatory to him. He wasn't just slavishly copying stuff, he seemed to follow some sort of inspiration, or whim at least, even though the results are always fairly…

Does that mean the love triangle is not much of a plot point? I was about to give the show a pass because of it, but if it's really more perfunctory….

I've been wanting to see that Dumas movie for years, and I'm usually not too keen on biopics. But it seems like such a grave oversight that there hasn't been a movie yet.