Fiction: Love?

I have become incredibly frustrated with contemporary fiction. We have reached a time when no book can have a strong female lead without there being some sort of love triangle involved. Is that what sells? I would have to dispute with some of the literature’s most famous heroines. 

Do you think that Pride and Prejudice would have been more interesting if Elizabeth Bennet were trying to choose between Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley? Better yet, did Jane Eyre lack substance because Jane chose not to marry her conservative friend because she was still in love with her married ex-boss rather than be conflicted between the two? 

What fiction is teaching girls today is that your life is not quite as exciting as it could be –– you need to have two men pining over you in order to be really living. Well, I have news for you: My story isn’t like that. My story involves being embarrassed as often as I've been comfortable, awkward as often as I've been charming, heartbroken as often as I have been in love/lust, confused as often as I've been certain. My story is about finding myself in a world where “you are nobody until somebody loves you.”

Is that not what is normal? Sure, I am sure there are girls out there who have had to make a choice between two guys. But there have also been cases where a girl was one of two a guy had to choose from. The problem is, it is an awful feeling to be in either one of those situations and contemporary fiction is glorifying it.

I love the political aspect of The Hunger Games series. I feel like it's a 1984 for the younger generation. But, the moment someone asks what "team" you're on, I can't help but think: Is that really what this book is about? If that's all young people see, then the writers are doing something wrong.

We need a book about a young hero or heroine that doesn't involve them searching for love or even finding it, but rather finding themselves.

Novels discussed:
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins