The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
by Anne Rice
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Book Reviews of The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
Book Review: Sexy & Entertaining
Summary: 5 Stars
I spent a good deal of tonight reading through reviews for this book and I am astonished at how many people expected the novel to be anything more than a sexy, erotic tale which was a twisted version of the old Sleeping Beauty story. I was also a bit disappointed in the way that many of the reviews came across as being rather closed-minded to some of the core concepts and those who seemed to expect more than what is reasonable from an erotic story.
Don't walk into the book thinking that you are getting some deep insight into the past or that there's any magic information that will tell you what the medieval socio-economic situation was, that's just ludicrous seeing as how it's fiction. Furthermore, why would you want to have some sort of deeper meaning when reading a fiction erotic novel?
If you enjoy Domination/submission with a BDSM twist that dances along the edges of punishment, torture, humiliation and raw sexuality then you will most likely be pleasantly surprised. This tale takes the basic story of Sleeping Beauty being woken by her prince charming and twists it into a whole new realm of (im)possibility, but it's the kind of situation that many people who lean towards non-vanilla tastes will find quite tantalizing.
Keep in mind that this book will put off anyone who does not see romance and sensuality in a power exchange. If you can't tolerate the idea that a woman, or man, may actually wish to submit to another person because they wish to please the Dominant then the concepts will probably seem too far fetched to keep your attention. Also, if you are put off by homo-erotic concepts then you'd best keep a distance. It's not for everyone, but for those open to the above mentioned "flavors" then the book will probably be entertaining at the very least.
As for the writing itself, I can't say that I had any major complaints. There were a few places where I felt things could have been either shortened or expounded upon, but ultimately I know I could not write a better book myself so I just let my mind follow the story and delight in the images that were conjured in my imagination. Many times there were shivers up and down my spine as I got lost in the imagery.
As a side note, I would write the same general review for the following two books in the series, though I do feel that the first was the best of the three in most regards. However, the third did sum up the whole story quite nicely and had a nice ending.
Book Review: Silly and disturbing - what a combination!
Summary: 2 Stars
After reading "The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty" I had to ask myself "What was that all about?" I at first thought it would be erotica embedded in fairy-tale fantasy. I am a very sex positive and open person and yet I found this book disturbing. Let me give a short plot summary, then my theory of Ann Rice's message, and then the 3 major weeknesses of this book.
First, the story is pure fantasy. Beauty is awakened from 100 years of sleep by a Prince having intercourse with her. She is sent by her parents to be a sexual slave in the palace of the Prince's mother. Here she undergoes a broad range of sexual experiences but spanking was far more frequent that vaginal, anal, or oral intercourse. There are so many spankings that the book borders on being boring and dull.
Second, Ann Rice seems to implicitly imply that only through complete obedience and submission can an individual fully experience sexual pleasure. What in the writings of the great sexual theorists Freud, Kinsey,, Money, Pomeroy, Masters, and Johonson would support this? The research literature would support that masochistic submissive sexual pleasure is but one of a braod range of sexual behaviors by which human beings can experience sexual pleasure. Unfortunately Rice focuses so much on spankings that she is really writing more about the sexual pleasure of a spanking than she is about masochism and submission.
There are three fatal flaws to this novel. First, Rice developed cardboard,one dimensional, dull characters and despite all the butt tanning they do not develop personally or interpersonally. There is no personal growth or intraspection. Beauty gains experience but no insight. That is tragic and pitiful.
Second, there is no real plot. There is no historic chain of events that interact with the characters to challenge or support their character development. In Tolstoy's great War and Peace, the characters grow, change, develop while being tossed and displaced by Napoleon's march to Moscow. History and character interact in real life and in good fiction. This does not happen in this book. Characters fall into silly situations in which they become passive sex objects rather than creatively adapt to the force of history.
Third, there is no justice. The book left me perplexed as to why anyone with an IQ of 10 and half a brain would allow themselves to be humilitated and physically harmed without giving somebody a black eye.
Book Review: The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
Summary: 2 Stars
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty is a "very" different take of the Sleeping Beauty folktale we are all used to. Obviously Disney's version flew right out the window after reading a little into the second page. The gist of the story remains the same... a princess and her court are all cursed and have been in slumber for hundreds of years. Along comes a Prince and instead of kissing Beauty he sexually initiates her into waking (yes, my eyes were the like saucers when I read this - and this was only like the 2nd page) . The Prince then drags her off to his kingdom where she becomes his sex slave to pleasure and punish at his every whim.
To be honest, I can't say I really liked this story - and not for the reasons you would think either. Obviously from the cover alone you can tell this is an erotic version of the story. Which is fine. I'm not much of an erotica fan - but I can deal with it well enough. What I couldn't deal with was Beauty's submissive nature. I wanted her to put up a fight - I can't imagine just letting myself be put in the dire position she was thrust into (no pun intended) without putting up even a tiny fist in the air and screaming at someone, scratching, biting or throwing a shoe.
Once I realized what the story was about (and after someone being sexually impaled on a statue) I really considered putting the book down - this was obviously not my cup of tea. So I put it down for a couple of hours and I tried not to think about it. I really did. But I couldn't help myself. I needed to see how much more poor Beauty would endure and if she would ever grow a backbone. I picked it up again and just couldn't put it back down.
This is the first book of a 3-part series by author A.N. Roqueluare (pen name for Anne Rice). It made me blush, gasp and I know more than once I had to glance around just to make sure no one was reading over my shoulder. It is by far the most sexually graphic novel I have ever read. The ending is a cliff-hanger and obviously sets you up for the next book in the series - I haven't decided whether I'll pick it up or not. I will confess that I am intrigued to see what will happen next... hmmm.
My final thoughts - in order to truly enjoy this story you must be able to completely give yourself over to the fantasy and leave your inhibitions and "Girls Rule" attitude at the door and then all I can say is enter at your own risk.
Book Review: Save your money!
Summary: 1 Stars
I've never been a big fan of Anne Rice (her vampires are just a little whiny for my tastes) but when I heard about this book (on Biography, no less!) I decided to give it a try. The premise seemed promising: taking a well-known childrens' story and twisting into erotica. But when I actually read the story, I was horrified. Not only is it written with pompous, flowery language and absolutely no style, but the plot is...well, judge for yourself.... Beauty is awakened from her slumber by not just a kiss, but brief and completely joyless humping by the Prince. The kingdom awakens and the Prince decides since he was the one who "saved" it, he should be able to keep Beauty as a prize. For some off reason the King agrees and off the Prince goes, Beauty in tow. It quickly becomes obvious that Beauty's role in the story will be on of sexual servitude. The Prince cares nothing for her; his only interest in her is to humiliate her as much a possible, beat her until her skin is chapped, and then rape her. Oh, yeah...and she's only fifteen years old in this story!
I like erotica as well as anyone, so long as it's well written. And I have no problem with BDSM...even a non consensual BDSM wouldn't bother me overlymuch. But this story is not erotica--it isn't even BDSM. It's sexual torture (something completely different). And it certainly isn't well written. It's one long description of beatings and torment after another, puncuated (briefly) by brutal sexual intercourse. There is very little desciption of the actual sex...but a lot of description of torture. For instance, the Prince, who swings boths ways, decides he is displeased with one of his male sex slaves. The punishment? He impales the poor lad on a stone phallus, leaving him there, hands bound, for the entire night. The book clearly describes the boy's discomfort and humiliation...and then tries, lackluster, to make us believe the boy somehow "enjoys" the torture as well. Hmm. Right.
If your idea of a sexy story is reading Jeffrey Dahmer's biography then you will probably love this book. However, if you are not a sexual sadist bent on enslaving and torturing people for your own physical pleasure, I suggest you leave this one alone.
Book Review: The meaning of 'happily ever after'
Summary: 3 Stars
Never would we imagine what the expression `happily ever after' used in the ending of fairy tales means something so naughty. Anne Rice --writing as A. N. Roquelaure-- wrote a whole trilogy showing to us that the `ever after' includes a lot of sex --actually sex, spanking and sex again. Writing an erotic novel was a clever move of Rice, thinking of fairy tales for grown ups. The novel begins with the last scene of the original story, but instead of awakening the Beauty with a kiss, the Price uses all his manhood. After that, the beautiful princess is taken to his kingdom where she becomes a sexual slave --not only his, but also many to people. At an early point she is introduced to BDSM and is humiliated and [warped]as many ways as possible. And so the novel goes, with all the possible humiliation and some sexual games. Nothing other than this.
There isn't enough plot to fill in a book, let alone a trilogy. One starts wondering what Anne Rice has done with the two other books. `The Claming of Sleeping Beauty' is reduced to a lot of spaking, and not so much sex. Of course, there is a `love story' between Beauty and another slave who also happens to be a prince, but it is not near enough to grab the avarege reader's attention. I guess one must have some interest in BDSM to keep interested and read the whole book --the others will feel bored after a hundred pages.
It could have been a more interesting book, would it have dealt with some issues like womem freedom and sexual behaviour. But the way it is, it is very simple and doen't have a wide appeal. Moreover, it could have, say, 50 pages less, because the novel is too repetitive. It has a good start, a good idea, but it goes bad, unfortunatelly. At some point, the prince Alexi --who Beauty truly loves-- starts telling his story. And, alas, it is very very similar to what we have read thus far. If his his story could be told in 30 pages, why does Beauty's need 200?
All in all, `The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty' is a clever spin off, but it can't keep its interest for too much time, unfortunatelly. Maybe one has to read the whole trylogy to understand it, but why three books if something could be told in only one?