My Darling Dominatrix - Any Interest In Discussing This Book

[Eido]

Hello All,
I'm about 100 pages from finishing Grant Andrews' My Darling Dominatrix and I wanted to gauge the interest in talking it over. I've seen it referred to by other writers as a significant influence in their writing and understanding of the bdsm world.
Would like to hear your thoughts and reactions.

Thanks,
Eido

[MaxRoper]

I haven't read it and had decided I probably wasn't interested, due mainly to the fact that it's supposed to be about a dominant woman and submissive man yet sports a bound woman on the cover. Such lack of focus is somewhat off-putting. However I could easily be convinced to change my tune. I'm curious about your reactions.

[Eido]

I finally finished. I think it's worth reading, though some readers might prefer to skim Andrew's extended descriptions of clothing and decor. I'm going to hold off further discussion for a few days and let other's that want to chime in have a go.

[Eido]

Over 500 pages, which I was not prepared for. The cover of my paperback copy featured only words, though I've seen the picture MaxRoper mentioned. The book is mainly the tale of Ned and Jane. He's initially a vanilla yuppie and she's a complicated and absolutely perfect dominatrix, professionally and socially. She's also a switch and she's attended by Adrian, a college aged woman who is in her care. That might be what caused the picture on the cover. Or maybe it's a sales ploy.

He falls head over heels in love with her, and she with him, and he is thus drawn into her world. He is trained, a word and even concept that I despise, so some of the action was a bit trying for me to plow through. Trained, yes, but submissive, not really. Or maybe just for her. It's complicated, which is one of the redeeming features of the writing, if you like your fantasy to have a dose of grit in it.

Other reviews had mentioned the grisly ends several characters come to; so I was prepared to laugh inappropriately at the tragedy, maybe as a form of therapy. I did, but not as much as I thought I would. Which is weird.

Like so many other bdsm fantasy works, the characters are wealthy, perfect in body, erudite, well traveled, and basically impossible to identify with in pretty much any way except our shared kink. They are also terribly flawed, and the thoughts of the main characters, Ned and Jane, occasionally turn to their sadomasochism as the potential sources of those flaws. Or is it the fact that their longings are not accepted by the society of the day, which is 1980s America in this story.

The book contained some unique, to me at least, slants on bdsm that I genuinely did not get. Unless one of you readers wants further discussion, I will leave those to you to discover.

As I mentioned before, the author lavishes pages of words on the descriptions of clothes and settings, and bodies, of course.

One of the things I was not prepared for, and pleasantly surprised by, was being transported back to the days of my own 20something youth by the historical descriptions in the book. Also, most of the action takes place in the DC area, which I am familiar with from those long ago days.

I will warn you that the tragic portions of the books contain graphic descriptions of horrific violence.

Eido