Reviews for Earthy delights

The average rating for Earthy delights based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-04-02 00:00:00 Ron Scerbo [Catherine and Maggie are on almost opposite, swapped, trajectories by the end of the novel. Maggie might be settling down for good - having let herself be 'tamed' which is disappointing but a lot of genre books do this to both 'bad boy' and 'bad girl' characters. She isn't sure it'll last but she's gone over to the traditionalist monogamist side. I'm not sure the author wants to present it as definitive and unambigulously good, but it's good *enough' for the reader who wasn't comfortable with her as she was. Catherine's rebellion is a bit more traditionally 'moral' than Maggie's original wild life would be considered to be: she dumps the attractive 'fuckwit' and contemplates dumping another man so she can be more independent, but we never find out if she does or not. Both of them end up subject to/ having to respond to men's plans rather than the apparent authors of their own - Maggie, at least, wasn't this way at the start (even if her confidence was quite dependent on her idea of what men thought of her). But in Catherine's case I'm not sure one has to see this situation as a pejorative. Male writer has slept with woman a few times; she offers him free accommodation abroad for a few months. There would be good reasons to take it, and not to, whatever sex you were.) Love can make anyone feel subject to the whims of another. And as far as Maggie defining herself by men's opinion is concerned, it's common that both boys and girls feel defined by their attractiveness to others, and it usually gets less dependent on this as they grow older. It's a losing battle really: someone will think a person's insecure (and in a woman's case subject to patriarchy) if they worry about what potential partners think. Go too far the other way and not care, and they could be described as a sociopath or narcissist. There is a very narrow range of cultural approval which denigrates too many people. (hide spoiler)]

Review # 2 was written on 2017-09-18 00:00:00 Brent Lindsey This is about a tight ensemble of women and a girl orbiting around a Humbert Humbert type character but without the existential intensity of Nabakov's deviant male. Neither has it the darkest humour of Lolita, however it is not without its charms. I found the attempt at addressing this controversial material rather brave, if not foolhardy one might say, but I think our highly sensitized society needs this kind of fiction as opposed to sticking its head in the sand about it. There is an element of threat and menace at the end, but on the whole I dare say it is deftly light with the morality and spins a good yarn with a number of entertaining twists. Wilson is an accomplished writer and historian and has the calibre to take on this kind of matter and keep it engaging and fairly empathetic. It feels fresh and contemporary and would make a nice little play. If good fiction writing is about inhabiting the heads and hearts of a diversity of characters then this is just that. In fact what would be the point of fiction if it only represented the perfectly honest and above-board? Humans can be much more twisted and compromised in reality. It's what makes life interesting.