Book Lovers

From the outset, Henry directly addresses a reader who is aware of Book Lovers as a romance novel and has a set of expectations of how the characters will be and the plot will unfold. Nora, the first-person narrator, also demonstrates consciousness of the literary genre, because she immediately denounces herself as the antiheroine in “the small-town love story” where a cynical urban hero travels to a rural place to destroy it and then meets and falls in love with an innocent country girl who transforms him and makes him forget his cold, citified girlfriend (1). However, while Nora’s career ambitions and need for order align her with the stereotype, her love of the city, particular tastes, and sense of humor make her relatable to readers who love romance novels but have their feet in the real world. Nora, with her devotion to books and a 10-step skincare routine, appears fully fleshed out and human, whereas the woman her partner leaves her for, a girl named Chastity, is a briefly sketched, outdated caricature of the romantic heroine, beginning with the old-fashioned name that testifies to the conservative expectation of being untouched and chaste.