[...] on this series, and introductions to the main characters, see my review of Dead Until Dark and Living Dead in Dallas. This review contains spoilers for Dead Until Dark and Living Dead in [...]

What is so fascinating to me about this series is the way Harris uses Sookie’s romantic experience to mark, urge, mirror, and pace her personal growth.

I agree, and I’m working on a paper exploring this very theme for the PCA in April (and for another one in London), except narrowed to moral growth. Abstract here.

I had never thought about Bill’s ordinariness, either, until my friend brought it up. But once I started to think about that — about how anti-type he was to Romance, to vampire myth, to Sookie’s own experience as an empath — I started to look at Bill differently. The guy is limited; not only is he a product of the mid 19th century, but he’s different than many other vamps, too. He’s a computer geek, for one thing, and he has a few secrets you will discover that explain a lot more about Bill but that I cannot talk about here.

Actually, though, I think my favorite book in the series is #4, Dead to the World, because it really investigates the bittersweet elements of Sookie’s life and the way her practical resignation struggles against a desire for real happiness and comfort. And that book 4 storyline has some intense repercussions that are still manifesting.

What is so fascinating to me about this series is the way Harris uses Sookie’s romantic experience to mark, urge, mirror, and pace her personal growth. Although the series is not Romance, its strong romantic elements have real import for Sookie’s emerging independence, IMO, and I have a hard time seeing her as completely fulfilled without someone on whom she can depend in a steady, romantic way. I’d like that to be someone who can stay awake with her during the day, but I realize that no matter who she ends up with she will have to make some sort of compromise, and I don’t know what will ultimately seem reasonable for Sookie. If I could blend together Eric and Bill and Quinn (you haven’t met him yet), make the product human and yet incapable of being “read,” that would probably be my choice, lol. Only the best will do for Sookie, though!

Oooh, I was secretly hoping you would read and comment!

I have a soft spot for Bill (8 books or whatever into the series), and think about a comment a friend of mine made about him — that he’s so ordinary, even though he’s a vamp.

I hadn’t thought about that — to like or appreciate Bill because of his ordinariness. Perhaps I should think of him as that antebellum farmer he was. What would his expectations have been of marriage? Not a loving friendship of equals probably.

Thank you for stopping by. I promise not to let my dislike of Bill petrify into kneejerk suspicion and critique of his every move in future books, if I can help it.

I will be interested to see if your ideas about Sookie’s ethical development change as you advance through more books, Jessica.

In the meantime, though, it’s fun to relive those early books through your reviews (Keishon afforded me the same pleasure not too long ago). Although I cannot get into all this Bill hate! Now, more than ever, I have a soft spot for Bill (8 books or whatever into the series), and think about a comment a friend of mine made about him — that he’s so ordinary, even though he’s a vamp. That not only does he make a Romance non-hero, but a supernatural non-hero, too, because for all of his other-worldiness, he’s “flat,” as you put it. In some ways that makes me like him more, although I agree that his lack of consideration is extremely frustrating. And it’s one of the things that makes Eric such a lure, especially as the series continues. At this point, I don’t know what’s/who’s going to satisfy me in terms of a “perfect” mate for Sookie, which is one of my favorite things about the books, actually.

Marsha, that’s a great point, one I hadn’t thought of. I think you are exactly right.

Bill is Sookie’s first real relationship and it struck me that she’s making the journey and discoveries at, what?, 27 or 28 years old that many of us make in our teens to early 20s (or at least by her age have more experience working out). She’s learning that calling someone “boyfriend” doesn’t really make him a good one, or really a boyfriend at all, and that sometimes those you discount as romantic partners for one reason or another really are better suited to you.

That she’s working through these things with the mind and experience of a woman accustomed to relying on herself (that is, she doesn’t become emotionally younger just for these scenes) and the journey arcs throughout the series I find very satisfying.

“Harris, via Sookie, tells us over and over that Eric is pure vampire: selfish, sex obsessed, violent without remorse. But in his actions toward Sookie, Eric is thoughtful, kind, generous, restrained, tender, helpful, and protective.”

In a nutshell, why Eric Northman rocks my world.

And Worthless Bill can die.