For quite some time, I've been trying to find some uplifting reads for adults, and you know what? They're really hard to find. Alright, I know that conflict makes good stories and that stories normally end when the conflict is resolved. However, with all the conflict we have in real life, don't we need--no, deserve--some books to make us feel the world can be a better place?
Let's take a lesson from the movies. During the Great Depression, when people were going through tough times, did Hollywood produce movies that were full of doom and gloom? Not really. They made movies that were cheerful and had happy endings. It was the age of Charlie Chaplin and Shirley Temple. It was a time of glamorous dreams in which Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced gracefully across the screen and Judy Garland sang of a place over the rainbow. Movies were escapism, a break from the bleak everyday and intended to raise spirits.
Why can't we have books nowadays that are more escapist? Books that are about people helping and being there for others. Books that demonstrate understanding and compassion. The characters should be allowed happiness or at least contentment, and they can have a good ending despite having a few bumps along the way. Why can't we have more books like Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove or Richard Paul Evans' The Walk series? Sure, the characters in these books start out in rough shape, but they have people around them who care and help them get to a better state.
It's sad that today a new genre--school violence--is growing amid the increasing number of school shootings and other types of threats in the world. If you ask me, I think now more ever we need books that emphasize the positive over the negative, joy over despair, humanity over monstrosity. We need books to lift us up and to inspire hope.
Yours ever optimistically from the perch.
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