First, when I finished the book I felt more depressed than usual which is a pretty good (although admittedly complex) indicator (for me) that it drove the Spirit away.

I liked the premise. Some of the writing was top-notch. I thought Claire was a really interesting character–especially all the sections on her paper art. The main guy, Charlie? Henry? I think it was Henry. . . that’s what I’m going with, Henry was interesting too. Gomez was icky. It wasn’t a bad book overall, but for me, it was not a good choice to read it.

In regards to sex, I felt like when it came to sex Clair was a bit of a prop for the men. Henry and Gomez both idolized her body at the expense of her spirit. Henry did it unintentionally but he did it all the same. He wasn’t all bad like Gomez, but he did tend to use her for his own needs before he thought about hers. Her sort of prop-like status smacks of pornography (to me). Her relationship with Henry wasn’t pornographic–it’s not like he went for her when she was a teenager or child–but there were things that were pornograph-ic. Does that makes sense?

The other thing that I did find pornographic and offensive was the descriptions of oral sex and the use of slang terminology when referring to the body, which the book did a lot of.

Maybe my reaction to those things is part of the physiological difference between men and women. Women are more mentally aroused, so to read something erotic can be very powerful–in ways I think upstanding men sometimes forget. For me, I am an intense reader and I dramatize the dialogue in my head so the act of reading those things incorporated them into my mind and they have taken up a permanent residence there. I wish they hadn’t. When it comes to sex and my brain I felt extremely uncomfortable having Gomez in my head. Maybe the effect would be comparable to you seeing an explicit film.

The sex in the book seemed really worldly (for lack of a better term) to me. And the sex felt hollow because of it.

For something more specific I think I’d have to read the book again, which I don’t really want to do.

I also want to point out that I’m not saying other people should feel the same way I do. I know that different readers tolerate different things. For example, I have a hard time with the F-word in literature simply because if I read it a lot it’s more likely to come out of my mouth. For me, as an individual whose perceptions are colored by my own sex education and my own sexual experiences, the book left me with a bad, icky feeling. And that’s really what it comes down to.

I’m assuming that means you didn’t like it?

Th–Incidentally I also have very strong feelings about The Time Traveler’s Wife. I blogged about it once, then deleted the post in case I ever meet the author in person (even going so far as to say that the big dog reviewers must all be in some “good ole boys” club) I’d be interested to see what others thought of it.

Dang. I keep forgetting to close my italics….

Laura —

I didn’t want to take a chance at too thoroughly threadjacking the RSbookclub discussion, but in terms of what we’ve been talking about here, I wonder if you would talk briefly about The Time Traveler’s Wife — not as Mormon lit, obviously, but as a Mormon reader.

(Another book that would make an interesting testcase for Mormon readers is Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach, but I don’t know if you’ve read it.)

I was not offended by your book–especially not by the harlots and dancing. It seemed pretty tame to me. I also thought that the persistence of Alma’s feelings for Maia was quite realistic.

You make a good point, though: the licked cupcake (or chewed gum! ew!) metaphor is generally used only in regards to women and not to men. It didn’t even occur to me that Alma would be a licked cupcake too.

I’m surprised readers were offended by your book. I guess I forget how conservative some readers really are. . .

Again, thanks for commenting! I hope you’ll visit AMV again :)

I definitely agree about the good girl syndrome (for men as well), and agree with the comment by Mahonri and the tug of war that men go through as well.

In my book “Abinadi” that Laura referred to, I’ve caught some grief from making Abinadi a young man–just so I COULD put in a romance in the story. Also for having Alma break the law of chasity while he is serving in King Noah’s court. But I wanted him to experience all of the temptations that are a part of reality. One reader was uncomfortable that even after he “repented” he still cared for Maia. And his feelings of love didn’t change.

I’ve also been told by a reader that she would not let her husband or parents read “Abinadi” because of the suggestive dancing and “about-to-have-sex” scene. I just don’t know how you write a scene with harlots in it without harlotry things taking place.

I never heard of the “licked cupcake”–but assume it’s the same thing as “chewed gum.” I guess Alma would qualify in that case, as well as Maia.

So, it was refreshing to read this blog because I hadn’t caught any specific attention about the women yet :-)

It’s bizarre when we are taught sex is wrong and bad, etc. etc. until the preacher says the words “I pronounce you man and wife” and suddenly we are to change our whole mind-set created by our upbringing. I agree it should be changed long before to clear up the confusion, guilt, and everything else associated with it.