Barnstorming on an Invisible Segway

I think that some books are a lot more about people talking about other people than others, so the Bechdel test is less interesting there than a "Bechdel balance test" or some such modified term: if two women can't have a conversation with each other that isn't about one of the men but two men also can't have a conversation with each other that isn't about one of the women, that's a very different book.