Writers & Lovers

The thing I love about the Tournament of Books is that I get to experience books I probably would not have picked up on my own. It is also the thing I dislike most about TOB. I also have a bad habit of reading the book on the list that I have the least amount of interest in last. I really should read them first. Alas, I went into Writers & Lovers predicting I would not enjoy it and I may have made myself a victim of a self-fulfilled prophecy here.
That said, I didn't dislike or hate it. It's just not my type of book and I had to push through most of it. It reminded me of why Oklahoma! is my least favorite musical of all time- why does Laury have to choose between two duds? Wishy-washy Curley and violent Judd? Were they the only two men in OK?
And here we have a similar situation. Self-absorbed Silas and stuck in his ways Oscar. Oscar's children literally grated on my nerves. A therapist, at one point, tells the main character she reminds him of a donkey that starves to death between two bales of hay. It's more like she's starving to death between two empty troughs. Honestly, why couldn't she just take that moment to BE? Work on the novel, figure out her future, find a new place to live and get a job. Isn't that enough of a to-do list? Why can't we have fully developed female characters that put themselves first, and romance when they are emotionally ready?
Points for the David Byrne cameo.