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meganbmooreSo, there’s this Bertrice Small book called Love Wild and Fair. The blurb waxes poetic about the heroine, Catriona’s, looks and talks about how she’s the unwilling mistress of a king and in love with someone else. Pretty mild for Bertrice Small. So I start skimming.
The heroine, Catriona, is 13 or so and engaged to a man named Patrick. Bertrice Small likes to start them young. Sadly, this is not because of any claims to historical accuracy, I don’t think, but so they can start being passed around earlier. So, anyway, early in the book, Patrick and his brother walk into Patrick’s bedroom, and there’s a naked woman-a friend they grew up with-in his bed. To be fair, Patrick didn’t ask her to be there. I’m not sure, however, that that really warranted he and his brother discussing who would have sex with her without actually, you know, consulting her. It ends with Patrick talking about how it’s disgusting to have sex with someone you don’t want to have sex with, and locking them in. In case, you know, she has some objections with their deciding she’d have sex with the brother.
I was too busy “WTF?”-ing to take heed of the warnings.
We then move on to the “romance” between Patrick and Catriona, which is solidified when Catriona leaves him over a misunderstanding (remember: 13 or 14) and he follows her. To “tame” her he repeatedly rapes her (except, you know, she enjoys it, so it doesn’t really count) the entire night, kicking off over a decade of marital bliss. No, really, there was no sarcasm in that statement. The text supports that his repeatedly raping her (and calling it rape) created the perfect marriage. Anyway, this is a Bertrice Small heroine, so every man in the universe must lust for her. Including the king, who sends Patrick off for diplomatic stuff so he can force her to be his mistress by threatening to have her entirely family executed if she doesn’t consent to be his mistress. (Can’t really blame her.) Cue about a hundred pages of Catriona being raped and having degrading sex that she can’t help but enjoy because she’s oh-so-passionate-her-body-betrays-her-oh-the-horror-and-shame.
Until Patrick walks in on them (about 10 pages after Catriona handwaved away his returning with a woman he got pregnant) and flies off the handle. Then goes off and gets drunk with the king, and they spent the night brutally raping her. This time, at least, the rape isn’t described as hot. Catriona runs off and hides with her friend, Bothwell (apparently the True Love of the book, and, at that point, the only man in the book who didn’t need to be murdered) and after she talks him down from “I WILL KILL THEM ALL!!” (She should have let him. Or better yet, done it while they were sleeping, before she ran off.) they become lovers so his Mighty Wang can cure her.
Sadly, Small thought that Catriona hadn’t been raped enough in the first 250 pages, and the king orders Bothwell to give her back or Terrible Things will happen to both of them and their families. And so Bothwell and Patrick have a heart to heart about Catriona and Bothwell tells Patrick to rape her so she’ll get over her fear of him.
No, you didn’t misread the above sentence. The “hero” tells the man who brutally gang raped the woman he loves to rape her again so she’ll stop being afraid of her rapist.
This is the point where Bertrice Small broke me, because I don’t think anything else has ever made me literally yell “WHAT THE HELL?” curled up in bed at 2 a.m. before.*
And really, I shouldn’t be surprised, given that a chunk of the morning after that particular rape was Patrick wallowing in guilt and hunting for her because he loves her ssssooooooo much and he was sssssoooooo sorry and guilty, and he’d make it up to her.
Naturally, he complies and rapes Catriona again. It is a healing rape, and now she can enjoy sex with him again! And he feels guilty, so she can have an affair with Bothwell, too! Immediately before or immediately after the healing rape, she ends up in the same room with him and the king again, has a panic attack, and faints. This reminds the king that he must must must have her, so he forces her to be his mistress again. So, currently, she’s having sex with Patrick because he’s her husband and she has to, she’s having sex with bothwell to get revenge on Patrick and because it’s True Love, and she’s getting revenge on the king always raping her by pretending to enjoy sex with him. (Actually, Small heroines always get revenge by not enjoying sex. I can’t even attempt to understand the logic.)
And! I am only two thirds through! The cover mentioned Constantinople, so I’m sure she still has to become a slave at some point!
You know, the book was written in 1978. I wish I could say “yeah, but no romance author would write that now!” but Small still is. And for the record, almost every sexual act (except for Bothwell and Patrick between the two all night rapes) is referred to as rape, and it’s stressed that she can’t help but get pleasure from rape because she’s passionate. In case anyone was wondering if I was exaggerating.
And now I shall watch the last episode of Nero Wolfe that I have (at least until I hopefully get back on Saturday to more from netflix) and start a good book to attempt to heal the pain of recounting it.
*I firmly believe that this is the only way Small can be endured. In the wee hours when you're brain is dulled to the pain by sleepiness, and the terrible writing can help lull you the rest of the way to sleep.
The heroine, Catriona, is 13 or so and engaged to a man named Patrick. Bertrice Small likes to start them young. Sadly, this is not because of any claims to historical accuracy, I don’t think, but so they can start being passed around earlier. So, anyway, early in the book, Patrick and his brother walk into Patrick’s bedroom, and there’s a naked woman-a friend they grew up with-in his bed. To be fair, Patrick didn’t ask her to be there. I’m not sure, however, that that really warranted he and his brother discussing who would have sex with her without actually, you know, consulting her. It ends with Patrick talking about how it’s disgusting to have sex with someone you don’t want to have sex with, and locking them in. In case, you know, she has some objections with their deciding she’d have sex with the brother.
I was too busy “WTF?”-ing to take heed of the warnings.
We then move on to the “romance” between Patrick and Catriona, which is solidified when Catriona leaves him over a misunderstanding (remember: 13 or 14) and he follows her. To “tame” her he repeatedly rapes her (except, you know, she enjoys it, so it doesn’t really count) the entire night, kicking off over a decade of marital bliss. No, really, there was no sarcasm in that statement. The text supports that his repeatedly raping her (and calling it rape) created the perfect marriage. Anyway, this is a Bertrice Small heroine, so every man in the universe must lust for her. Including the king, who sends Patrick off for diplomatic stuff so he can force her to be his mistress by threatening to have her entirely family executed if she doesn’t consent to be his mistress. (Can’t really blame her.) Cue about a hundred pages of Catriona being raped and having degrading sex that she can’t help but enjoy because she’s oh-so-passionate-her-body-betrays-her-oh-the-horror-and-shame.
Until Patrick walks in on them (about 10 pages after Catriona handwaved away his returning with a woman he got pregnant) and flies off the handle. Then goes off and gets drunk with the king, and they spent the night brutally raping her. This time, at least, the rape isn’t described as hot. Catriona runs off and hides with her friend, Bothwell (apparently the True Love of the book, and, at that point, the only man in the book who didn’t need to be murdered) and after she talks him down from “I WILL KILL THEM ALL!!” (She should have let him. Or better yet, done it while they were sleeping, before she ran off.) they become lovers so his Mighty Wang can cure her.
Sadly, Small thought that Catriona hadn’t been raped enough in the first 250 pages, and the king orders Bothwell to give her back or Terrible Things will happen to both of them and their families. And so Bothwell and Patrick have a heart to heart about Catriona and Bothwell tells Patrick to rape her so she’ll get over her fear of him.
No, you didn’t misread the above sentence. The “hero” tells the man who brutally gang raped the woman he loves to rape her again so she’ll stop being afraid of her rapist.
This is the point where Bertrice Small broke me, because I don’t think anything else has ever made me literally yell “WHAT THE HELL?” curled up in bed at 2 a.m. before.*
And really, I shouldn’t be surprised, given that a chunk of the morning after that particular rape was Patrick wallowing in guilt and hunting for her because he loves her ssssooooooo much and he was sssssoooooo sorry and guilty, and he’d make it up to her.
Naturally, he complies and rapes Catriona again. It is a healing rape, and now she can enjoy sex with him again! And he feels guilty, so she can have an affair with Bothwell, too! Immediately before or immediately after the healing rape, she ends up in the same room with him and the king again, has a panic attack, and faints. This reminds the king that he must must must have her, so he forces her to be his mistress again. So, currently, she’s having sex with Patrick because he’s her husband and she has to, she’s having sex with bothwell to get revenge on Patrick and because it’s True Love, and she’s getting revenge on the king always raping her by pretending to enjoy sex with him. (Actually, Small heroines always get revenge by not enjoying sex. I can’t even attempt to understand the logic.)
And! I am only two thirds through! The cover mentioned Constantinople, so I’m sure she still has to become a slave at some point!
You know, the book was written in 1978. I wish I could say “yeah, but no romance author would write that now!” but Small still is. And for the record, almost every sexual act (except for Bothwell and Patrick between the two all night rapes) is referred to as rape, and it’s stressed that she can’t help but get pleasure from rape because she’s passionate. In case anyone was wondering if I was exaggerating.
And now I shall watch the last episode of Nero Wolfe that I have (at least until I hopefully get back on Saturday to more from netflix) and start a good book to attempt to heal the pain of recounting it.
*I firmly believe that this is the only way Small can be endured. In the wee hours when you're brain is dulled to the pain by sleepiness, and the terrible writing can help lull you the rest of the way to sleep.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-25 07:55 am (UTC)I... don't have any other words. Just: holy crow.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-27 04:36 pm (UTC)I mean, I will admit to writing (for myself) a fairly generic kidnap-leading-to-relationship fic (though in my defense, I framed it in stockholm syndrome terms), but just. Wut.
... wut.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-28 02:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-28 04:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-28 04:38 am (UTC)I mean, "heroine is in harem and has kinky sex with sultan/vizier/prince/whatever and maybe a couple concubines"? That's "your kink is not mine." However, "heroine is sold to sultan and has to be tied down and people spread her legs while she screams bloody murder and then he's so good at it that she has multiple orgasms"? (Yes, Small has done multiple variations of this.) A whole other territory.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-28 04:49 am (UTC)Anyway! Hi, nice to meet you (again). XD