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You seem to be entirely overlooking the existence of books that have very limited stakes and don't even feature "bad guys" in the first place, like Andy Weir's
by crooked-v 5y ago
You seem to be entirely overlooking the existence of books that have very limited stakes and don't even feature "bad guys" in the first place, like Andy Weir's The Martian.
- Jeff_Brown 5y agoFighting to survive alone on an alien planet seems pretty high stakes to me. But you're right, there do exist such books. I said "almost entirely". I admit I'm limited to the sample I've experienced personally but it's over 90%. Also I admit it omits children's lit and romance novels, which are two huge omissions.
- crooked-v 5y agoIf the survival of a single person is "high stakes" in fiction, then what do you even consider "low stakes"? > I admit I'm limited to the sample I've experienced personally but it's over 90%. You need to read a wider selection of books, then. Try, say, The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, Of Mice and Men, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, A Christmas Carol, The Grapes of Wrath, The Time Machine, Dune, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Foundation series, anything by Ray Bradbury... there's a very long list of books that are not driven by simplistic good vs. evil conflicts.