Instructions for a Heatwave discussion

The number of women who posted comments on Maggie O'Farrell's latest novel suggests that an overwhelming majority of her readership is female. I can't see any obvious reason for this, but it seems that a lot of men are missing out on an extremely talented writer.
Dave

Glad you're reading this amazing writer, Dave.

Yes, she certainly is. I've also read The Hand... and will definitely read more of her books.

Loving this book, having never read any of hers before, I shall be looking for more!!

I read as part of our library book group, and thoroughly enjoyed it, all the characters were well written, and it gripped me all the way through.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I am male, the first of which I have read by Maggie O'Farrell. I also have 'The Hand that First Held Mine' to read as well.

This discussion is particularly interesting given that I have just completed a French literature module at university which looked in detail at four books written by women: Simone de Beauvoir's 'Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter', Marie Cardinal's 'The Words To Say It', Françoise Graffigny's 'Letters of a Peruvian Woman' and, finally, 'Madame de La Fayette's 'The Princess of Cleves' (all of which are obviously originally published in French but English translations, I believe, do exist of all the texts). During our discussions we analysed whether certain books are written specifically for male / female readerships and whether it matters if this is not stuck to by readers.

We of course addressed the issue of male readers reading "female" novels and not admitting it, and vice versa. In addition, we looked at whether a male writer can create a good female protagonist and vice versa. It was also interesting that there were only seven students who had opted to study the module at all (a sad sign of the times in British universities as students shun literature for other areas of study, but that is another story), but even more interesting was the fact that there were only two male students and five female ones who had opted for the course.

These points raise very important questions about gender and the role of both men and women in literature. As such I recommend the aforementioned texts that we looked at as they are all enlightening in many different ways. I also put out the following quote from the Czech-French writer Milan Kundera who once said: "All great novels, all true novels, are bisexual." I have to agree with this, as, in context of the four French texts I have mentioned, they have all, as I have stated, been written by women spanning several decades and they all address what could be construed as "female" issues. But at the same time, they are all accessible to male readers because they still address wider philosophical aspects of life which obviously effect both men and women, even if the main subjects of each text are viewed by readers as being primarily aimed at women.

Apologies I do not refer in detail to O'Farrell's 'Instructions for a Heatwave' here, but I hope my comments give those interested about gender in literature in more of a general sense something to ponder. Feedback is of course welcome.

AJP 02/07/2014

Many thanks-I read your comments with great interest.
Pace Milan Kundera, perhaps a true novel should be, like the mind of its writer, not bisexual but androgynous: O'Farrell's writing seems to have this very quality, which makes it even more baffling, to this male reader at least, as to why its appeal should be so gender specific. Or perhaps I'm missing something, in which case, enlightenment would be most welcome.