Whitney, My Love
By Judith McNaught
There is, of course, nothing wrong with writing about such issues, and this could have been, in fact, a very captivating read, but the author minimizes the impact of what is taking place and presents this as a perfectly normal, if somewhat tumultuous, relationship.
So fetch your rape whistles and hang on to your pepper sprays, as we embark on this journey, which teaches us a very important life lesson: it's OK to be controlled and abused, as long as your abuser is rich and looks at least 7/10.
Our heroine is the original embodiment of #NotLikeOtherGirls, because all of the other females in this novel are demure, dull and boring. She, on the other hand, is a unique, witty and fascinating beauty who makes all of the arrogant womanizing assholes in the novel prepare to abandon their promiscuous ways and settle down with her forthwith.
But worry not, dear reader, for delicate feminine ladies are not the only ones the author pours liberal amounts of disdain over. The men in the novel (save for our abuser) are generally written as total one-dimensional dimwits, easily fooled by the slightest female manipulation, no matter how half-assed, childish, or unsophisticated it is. Our heroine's childhood crush is no exception, and is so utterly devoid of any discernible personality traits that his allure eludes the reader entirely.
Almost right off the bat, we are taken on a roller coaster ride of a classic cycle of abuse. The male protagonist rapidly alternates between being creepy, aggressive, and abusive to being a sweet, tender, and loving gentleman, showering the heroine with attention and good times. As their relationship deepens, so does the abuse cycle, taking wilder and wilder turns, each abusive episode escalating in the level of violence and mistreatment. The heroine's feelings towards him are very realistically described as "it was as if he were two people, one she could like very much, and one she feared and mistrusted - with excellent reason". The entire book is peppered with disturbing references of the heroine being fearful of the guy, and "bracing herself for violence".
At approximately 60%, the only happy ending you can imagine for this book goes something like this: "And despite the genuine remorse the accused seems to feel, the aggravating factors in this case, including the complainant's young age, coupled with the accused's status of power and influence, the undeniable trauma the complainant had experienced, and the escalating nature and violence of each offence would make any sentence below mid-to-upper penitentiary range simply unfit..." Ah fuck, wrong century (and country)! - fine, a more realistic one for the times - "Our heroine, dressed in black, trying her best to keep a solemn expression, was actually overjoyed as she peered at her future husband's body from beneath her thick eyelashes. She tried to suppress a smile as she recalled the night she received the news that he was found dead at the residence of one of his mistresses".
At approximately 70% of the book, the heroine has the only rational thought in the entire novel, that "he was insane! Insane! And she would be too, if she stayed with him." A bit later, she also has a great realization that she must make her partner communicate with her like a fucking adult and not throw a tantrum every time he perceives a wrong being done to him - "He had accused her of something in his mind, tried and convicted and sentenced her, without ever telling her what crime she was accused of committing". Unfortunately, her rational thoughts swiftly drown in her emotional storm, and the strategy she devises for making her abuser communicate his feelings is to make him angry enough to confront her. In the end, the heroine ends up with a sentiment similar to that of Wintson Smith from Orwell's "1984" - "But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”
The good:
1. The book is written well and does take you back in time (even if not in the most historically accurate way) - the only attribute that makes it readable in the first place.
2. You can have a great drinking game reading it - drink every time the author uses the word "demure" (it would probably also make it easier to read the horrible abuse scenes).
3. The heroine's reactions to what is done to her are very realistic and would actually make for a very interesting read if they were presented for what they were - trauma from abuse.
The bad:
1. Starting with the obvious - the sexual violence that is simply glossed over/sugarcoated:
- The first incident (at Lady Eubank's party): our hero forcefully and aggressively kisses the heroine. She is crying and trying to struggle. The more she struggles, the more "punishing" he becomes, until she is "defeated and trembling in his arms". He then makes a threat, and as she starts to scream, he kisses her again, throttling her scream to "a hysterical whimper". She later feels like a "roiling mass of shame, bewilderment, anger and self-loathing". She begs him to let go of her.
- The second incident (where the parties have an argument and the heroine tells the abuser she pretends he is her childhood crush every time she kisses him): the hero brings the heroine crashing into his chest with a "vicious jerk", proceeding to forcefully kiss her. She starts crying "tears of pain", as the "agonizing, endless kiss" continues. He threatens her. He holds her so tightly she struggles to breathe and feels like her ribs are being cracked.
- The third incident: the hero suspects that the heroine gave her virginity to someone else (based on a rumor from a person he gave very little credit to before), comes to a party she is attending, and forcefully drags her away, as she pants, "stop this, you're hurting me". She stumbled and he "jerked her with such cruel force that a pain shot from her wrist to her shoulder blade." He then drives her, in terrifying silence, to an unknown destination. She is terrified for the whole two-hour ride. He then reveals he plans to rape her. She literally tries to jump out of a moving carriage. He drags her into his room, makes numerous threats of violence, sexual and physical. The author describes her as feeling "hysterical terror" and "frozen paralysis". She begs him frantically to stop. He threatens to kill her. He makes the sexual abuse as humiliating as he possibly can. He makes her undress and touch him. He stops himself momentarily, realizing he is about to rape her and that it's a disgusting act, then changes his mind and does it anyway. She feels "searing pain" at the forceful penetration and screams, stiffening hysterically when he withdraws, bracing herself for the "next agonizing pain". She then starts sobbing, perversely (even to herself) seeking comfort from him.
Following this incident, the hero "explains" what crime he suspected her of committing which "justified" his actions. Her response is very typical of a sexual abuse victim: "Her belief that he loved her evaporated, and in a blinding flash of sick humiliation, she understood that he had done this to degrade her; his monstrous pride had demanded this unspeakable revenge for some imagined crime. Bile rose in her throat as she realized that she submitted to him without struggling. ... Drowning in shame and self-loathing, she struggled to pull the heavy bed covers up to cover herself." His response is also typical of an abuser, as he is playing the victim eaten by regret, making a statement (to himself) that he had lost more than she did, because he lost her, "the only thing he wanted to possess". When they try to discuss it sometime later in the book, he interrupts her, "unable to bear hearing how badly he had hurt her." He accepted that as "the penalty he was going to have to pay for his callous cruelty". Seriously, dude???
Later in the book, the heroine has something that looks like PTSD, and she experiences serious distress just being in that room again. She fears sexual relations, and dreads her wedding night, with her "agitated mind" tormenting her with "constant visions of that terrible night" until she became a "mass of fear and trepidation", with even her wedding gown sending "a thrill of fear up her spine".
This is so realistic it's nauseating. The problem is, of course, not with exploring these horrible and difficult feelings, it's with later brushing them off, as if nothing too serious that can't be worked out had happened. His family seems to reflect the author’s take on the issue - when they deliberate how come this man, who usually treats women with “amused tolerance”, came to hurt the heroine. His mother comes to the conclusion that “he must have loved her”. His brother agrees.
2. The hero is not only a sexual predator. He is also a very abusive person in general. He is described as having frequent anger outbursts, often unjustified and based on mere perception that he was somehow wronged. He often violently grabs and jerks the poor heroine. After sexually assaulting the poor woman, and after a reconciliation seems likely, he promises himself he will change, and will only protect and cherish her from now on. He breaks that promise maybe a chapter later, when he grabs her aggressively yet again. He has no respect for women, and contemplates using one as a mistress just to hurt the heroine. Then he decides it's too much hassle. He also doesn't mind using a child to hurt the heroine, possibly even his own child.
3. The bizarre fascination (not unique to this author) with womanizing walking petri dishes of STIs who are so smitten with the virgin heroine who is so #NotLikeOtherGirls that they are willing to commit. Because in reality the only happy ending with this kinda guy is going to be the one he receives at a sketchy massage parlor.
4. The weird-ass characters who, on one hand, can understand and interpret the most nuanced feelings and communications from simply looking at each other (Elizabeth's wedding at the church, where the parties reconcile by mere eye contact), and on the other hand cannot seem to use words to communicate very crucial points.
5. Everything about this passage made me puke in my mouth: "Little one, when I am inside you I am not taking, I am giving. I am giving my body to you as I gave you my love before, and my ring today. When I am inside you, I will put the seed of my own life into you and leave it there for you to keep and shelter within you - a symbol of my love and need for you like your betrothal ring".
6. This fucking book never ends. It should have ended at about 60%. 70% if we're being generous. But alas, it continues, with unnecessary and tiring twists and turns, and with the last 6 or so chapters solely dedicated to being some sort of a prequel to the next book in the series, dealing almost entirely with characters we didn't come to care about.
Ira Tate:
I would like to add the point that this edition was re-written by the author because the scenes of abuse were far worse in the original, but rather than taking an opportunity to provide further dimension/backstory as to why our abuser acts the way he does, the author adds useless chapters to introduce the next novel in the series (i.e. the brother - and from what I read that book is even worse and the guy is even more fucked up).
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