Score

If you don’t like spoilers, don’t read ahead. Just an FYI and a courtesy.
These lists are fun and thought provoking, so I’m just adding my take on why I added a few things to the list. I know I can do that when I vote on it, but I’m doing it down here for possible discussion. Talking about books is fun.

I did a lot of books on this list. Some are “dark romance” novels so I decided it’s kind of obvious how they are on this list. As for a few of the others:

The Great Gatsby. Gatsby’s obsession with getting Daisy back is essentially the book. He does all these things to get close to her, to impress her, to win her back. He even lies for her and, not intentionally, takes a bullet for her mistake. It’s alluded that he takes part in illegal activities to become wealthy (boot legging) which he does to impress Daisy. Since his accumulation of wealth was more for the desire of being with a woman he obsessed over for a long time, rather than a desire of personal gain, I wouldn’t categorize his actions of illegal activity as greedy but rather lustful. I tend to think half the reason Daisy even gave him another shot was more to do with her husband’s affair than any real desire to be with Gatsby. Cheating is a big part of this book. You can almost argue that greed and even gluttony are as well. Greed of Daisy for choosing someone rich and stable even though she is unhappy. Gluttony of Tom for wanting everything, his mistress, his money, and his wife. (I think gluttony is more than over eating, kind of an overindulgence really. Even overindulging on sex to me is gluttonous rather than lust. Lust is more an obsession with a person or allowing the desire to have someone overtake what is right. A person who has a lot of one night stands in excess is gluttonous, a person who as an affair while married is lustful, just my opinion).

A Painted House. I read this book in high school, my memory is a little foggy. If I recall correctly, there are a few scenes with one of the hired workers regarding a lake and a young boy peeping on her. Add that this girl and another hired hand, Cowboy, cause a stir when they steel a truck and take off. I think Cowboy kills her brother and I think it was done for her. I also remember that there is a kid that no one knows whose dad is. Just seems like a lot of lust rolling around and a lot of mature content. Considering that was what I mainly remember of the story, I would say it falls under lust, yeah? Maybe should add it to wrath as well. I believe there were a few murders.

She's Come Undone. This book is basically a depressing tale about how a girl’s life falls apart because of the actions around her. Most of those actions are the lust of others. The main character’s father, in the very beginning of the book, is having an affair with his boss’s wife. The woman he his having the affair with doesn’t care that he has a family and it isn’t until he picks up ANOTHER mistress that all hell breaks loose. He loses his job and then his wife slowly loses her mind. I think his wife knew he was banging his boss’s wife but pretended to not care because it helped him keep his job if that woman was happy. Divorce finally occurs, and our main character moves in with her mom and grandmother. They rent the upstairs to a family. The girl gets to listen to her mother sneaking upstairs to have sex with the male tenant. Should be noted that the male tenant is married, and his wife is pregnant. The male tenant also flirts and makes advances on the main character, who is about 14 years old currently. Very not appropriate. He winds up raping her. It was a hard scene to read. A lot more happens in the book. There is more cheating, more inappropriate advances, and lying. Most of the time, when things go wrong in the main character’s life, it was because another character decided to have sex with someone else.

To Kill a Mockingbird. Just a small note on this one. The whole trial was for rape. A black man being wrongly accused of rape because the main female decided it was a better scapegoat than the truth. Considering that put a HUGE part of the plot in motion, I feel like lust is a good place for it? Or maybe it should be wrath… the hatred and racism of the times. I’m leaving it here. There was a small love story between Scout and that one kid. It’s also been a while, read in high school.

That’s just my take on the few books I added.

I wouldn’t vote for the Great Gatsby unless it was in the category of books that everyone else loved, but I thought was overrated.