The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, Book 1
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The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
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Narrated by:
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Samantha Prescott
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Corbin Steele
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By:
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Anne Rice
About this listen
From bestselling author Anne Rice, writing as A.N. Roquleaure. 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 reawakens 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.
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brilliant can't wait for the next book
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it was relentlessly abusive
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If there is no consent, it’s rape. If there is no way a person can truly consent from a position of powerlessness, it’s abuse. This story begins with a young woman being raped while she sleeps. After that, of the chapters I could manage to get through, things only got worse. The Princess is abused physically, mentally and emotionally, degraded, humiliated, dehumanised and treated as less than other human beings. The Prince also invites others to abuse and degrade the Princess, and I can only assume, as the story progresses, the instances of abuse could only escalate in severity.
There is also no discernible reason for the Prince’s behaviour that I could understand. Perhaps if I read the whole book I might find out what his motivations are, but this was torturous for me to get through just a few chapters. I’m not willing to damage myself emotionally to see if there’s a reason behind the abusive treatment the Prince subjects the Princess to. I’m also not willing to damage myself emotionally to see if the Princess throws off her abuser, or even tries to fight back, so it’s a hard pass for me.
I can’t recommend this to anyone, even those who might enjoy a story like this. I don’t think we should encourage physical, sexual, emotional or mental abuse. I don’t think we should encourage dehumanising, degrading or humiliating treatment of other human beings. The fact that the whole world in this book (in the chapters I managed) either accepted, encouraged or participated in this horrific abuse, including the Princess’ family, without questioning the morality of it, leads me to conclude no one should read this.
This book perpetuates unhealthy attitudes to abuse of powerless individuals. It perpetuates unhealthy attitudes to women and enduring social constructs that should have been abandoned long ago. It also doesn’t provide an avenue for these attitudes to be challenged for the audience, at least in the chapters I could get through.
It’s not my practice to review a book I haven’t read (or listened to) in its entirety, but this one is a special case. It’s not just that I can’t see it’s value as a piece of fiction, but I think this could actually cause damage to people and society. If this hasn’t put you off, I would recommend doing what I should have, and read a few more reviews of this book before deciding whether to purchase it.
Couldn’t get further than Chapter 4
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OMG
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Don’t even bother
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