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"Getting Even With Mary Anne" by Thomas M. Quin (revenge
rape) 10, 9, 9
"Getting Even With Mary Anne" by Thomas M. Quin (tmquin@ibm.net). Guest review by Sandman (sandman@bitsmart.com). I just came off reviewing "Pizza Guy", an ugly little scene where a woman is brutalized and humiliated basically the kind of story where I walk away depressed that there are people out there who fantasize about this kind of stuff. Then Celeste sends me "Getting Even with Mary Anne," which is basically a story where a man brutalizes a woman, rapes her, and gives it the old college try at humiliating her. What's the difference between the two? Well "Pizza Guy" was a scene and "Getting Even with Mary Anne" was a story. The difference is as stark as these two examples: 1] There are two men in the room. One man draws a gun and shoots the other dead. 2] There are two men in the room. One man draws a gun and murders the man who raped, tortured, and killed his wife. Makes a difference doesn't it? You see in this story a man has been falsely accused of rape, he's eventually vindicated but anyone can understand why he'd harbor less than kind feelings towards his accuser. Then he accidentally bumps into her -- well he'd already done the time, might as well do the crime. Or something like that. So he ends up raping her, though I have to say it's probably the weirdest damn rape scene I've ever read. I didn't exactly agree with why the "hero" was doing what he was doing, but then unlike "Pizza Guy" and "All night long" I didn't feel like I was about to loose my lunch either. The story itself is very well written, set in a very interesting small town with interesting small town politics (Steven King would be proud). The "hero" is compelling, complex, and sympathetic. At the risk of rambling I'd like to point out that this story is in two parts, a separate prolog followed by the story itself. When I initially read the story I missed the prolog. The effect actually made the story more appealing to me as it added an element of mystery about what was happening that layer by layer began to unfold. By the end of the story I had figured out everything but the actual crime the "hero" had been accused of . When I compiled the links I found the prolog and read it, but really I'm not terribly sure I would have liked this story as much if I had read the prolog first. I was a bit confused at the ending as I asked myself exactly what had been achieved, what had been the point? In the end I'm not terribly sure that the empty feeling wasn't the point. Revenge, after all, doesn't REALLY change anything (or as the Star Trek's Khan said: "Revenge is a dish best served cold"). I did have to think on it a bit before I arrived at that conclusion. I guess if you do enough of these review thingies you're eventually going to find a "squick" story that holds an appeal to you. I'll admit this story held an appeal. Nick, perpetually on the lookout for a N/C story he'd like, should probably take a look at this one. Though I doubt anyone would treat this as one-handed fiction (not even N/C fans) or even consider it a timeless classic, it is still a fascinating story and Quin did a remarkable, even admirable job of presenting a potentially VERY upsetting story without pushing the "squick" button hard enough for me to distance myself from the story. Ratings for " Getting Even With Mary Anne " Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 9 Sandman (appeal to reviewer): 9 |