The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
by Anne Rice
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Book Summary Information
Author: Anne RicePseudonym: A. N. Roquelaure
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-05-01
ISBN: 0452281423
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Plume
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780452281424
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
Book Review: For the Sick at Heart
Summary: 2 Stars
I really didn't know what to expect with this book. I read it cover to cover in a couple of days. It's a pornographic tale of Sleeping Beauty awoken into a nightmare (unless your a masochist) of sexual torture, rape, and beatings, by a perverted Prince. In fact the entire kingdom or fantasy world that Anne Rice has created is where perversion, and sickness are the norm. Anne Rice tells the story much like the telling of the classic childrens tale, Sleeping Beauty, meaning in a real elementary way. There are no complex, detailed analyses of the main characters, or any deep character development. There is just a child-like tale that lacks real depth, with a shallow plot, in which one lame sex scene after another, strung together make up the book. It's a superficial plot like one would read in a children's book, except with mature content. There is no detailed narrative of what's going on in each character's mind. To me, this causes the characters to not appear as real people. Rice just describes the story, telling what happens by saying, so and so did this, and then so and so did this, and then "beauty's sex became hot". A theme that repeats itself...oh, about every single page in boring, repetitive fashion. There isn't any background on the kingdom in which the story takes place, and not enough background on the main characters. Which leaves alot of unanswered questions. I found the plot to be bland, unremarkable, and did I mention perverted? The plot can be summed up like so...Beauty is awakened by the Prince by him having sex with her while she's unconscious of course, and in return he gets to keep her for a few years of rape, torture, and molestations. Good stuff eh? Kidnapped by a sadistic prince who derives sexual pleasure from the pain of others, Beauty learns to accept her fate. For the uninitiated, sexual-sadism is the same disorder which afflicts serial killers and rapists across America. These are SEXUAL DISORDERS not something to be glorified. HELLO! But somehow this twisted writer tries to make the type of behavior we lock criminals up for, seem appropriate, and even glorified. At the same time this sick prince is suppose to "love" Beauty (more like lust), and shows a perverse alternating softness, and then pleasure in her torment. The Prince's mother (the Queen) and several Lords and Ladies reside in the castle where Beauty is taken. Once inside the castle, the story describes the torture of Beauty and her fellow slaves who are there for a certain period of time, serving out their terms for some grievance or another. The story of what goes on inside the castle is boring, with no exciting plot developments, just random mind games the slaves are put to. To further thicken (I mean sicken) the plot the Prince's mother enjoys sexually torturing Beauty as well. So here we have Beauty being raped, beaten, tortured, molested by various characters, including a Mother and Son team. Can it get any sicker? The whole time reading, "The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty," I could feel nothing but disgust for Beauty's perpetrators, and sadness for Beauty herself. Beauty's reaction to her predicament is not normal. Instead of developing some serious psychological problems, like many young girls who have endured such torture in real life, Beauty comes to accept her torture as 'ok', and even comes to enjoy her daily rapes, beating, and molestations as something somehow 'good', or some kind of nonsensical enlightenment. I never realized that the violation of normal human rights, and boundaries is translated by some into 'englightenment' (heavy sarcasm). I suppose victims of police brutality, and other crimes are on their way to becoming enlightened too? Probably not, just traumatized. At no time in the story are the torturers made to look like the bad guys. They are glorified even. Another nonsensical part of the story is that after several days of being raped and tortured, Beauty still finds comparatively smaller things worth crying over, like having her privates exposed to a stranger. After being raped and flogged for a few days in succession, one would become emotionally numb, and having your privates exposed to a stranger would not immediately bring tears. So then we have Beauty supposedly crying over something that shouldn't seem like such a big deal anymore, and then we have at the same time Beauty starting to like her torture. There is the feeling when reading this book that the reader is supposed to believe that all of this sick torture, by these perverts, is suppose to be somehow 'good', and 'ok'. For example, the slaves, when released from their daily rituals of rape, torture and molestation are supposed to go back to their normal lives much improved for having experienced such things. I am beginning to wonder what was going on in the mind of Anne Rice, and if she really believes that such things are ok. Neither is it believable that Beauty's father would just sit back and let the Prince and his fellow perverts do what they wish with his daughter, especially since Beauty's father is a powerful King with honor, and dignity. The Prince in exchange for Beauty, is said to have restored the King's lands, and all his former allegiences. The King might agree to the arrangement at first, but eventually would gather all the men at his disposal and raid the twisted Prince's castle, saving his daughter in the process. Now that would be believable. I can't see why anyone would find this book pleasurable. Neither can I see how she didn't get tired of writing the repetitive sex scenes that comprise almost the entirety of the book over and over and over again, with no exciting twists and turns, just page after page, after page, of one lame sex scene after another.One would have to have some kind of sexual disorder themselves in order relate to any of these characters, including Beauty who it seems has went from a perfectly normal person before she met the Prince, to a pain loving masochist in no time. I can't help but believe that Anne Rice doesn't actually approve of non-consensual sex, and instead has checked her social conscience at the door in exchange for monetary rewards. I might add that this material has the flavor of something the Marquise De Sade would write, who was locked up for insanity most of his life. He also had paranoid delusions...go figure.
Summary of The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
"Something very special . . . at once so light and yet so haunting." ?The Advocate
In the traditional folktale of "Sleeping Beauty," the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. It is an ancient story, one that originally emerged from and still deeply disturbs the mind's unconscious. Now Anne Rice's retelling of the Beauty story probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Here the Prince awakens Beauty, not with a kiss, but with sexual initiation. His reward for ending the hundred years of enchantment is Beauty's complete and total enslavement to him . . . as Anne Rice explores the world of erotic yearning and fantasy in a classic that becomes, with her skillful pen, a compelling experience.
"Articulate, baroque, and fashionably pornographic." ?Playboy
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