Rogue Review No. 304 - January 28, 1999

Valerie by JS3729

M/F, F/F, Cons, NC

Length: 17,700 words

Rating: Grudgingly Good

Arousal Factor: Average
Story Factor: Low


  NOTICE

If you are easily offended, not of the requires legal age, or
material of an erotic nature is illegal where you are, then do not
read what follows.


  SUMMARY

Kevin returns to hometown after his wife dies.  He runs into his 
high school sweetheart, who he has not seen in over twenty years, 
as well as a few other people from his past.


  COMMENTARY

I commend this author for trying to write a story that has a plot.  
Generally speaking, sex stories with plots are better than those 
without.  The fact that there was some build up to the sex made it, 
for the most part, more arousing that it would have been otherwise.

One problem I had with this story was the rapid fire manner in which 
it is told.  There are no lulls in the action.  The story proceeds at
an extremely quick pace.  Because of this, it was hard to take it at 
face value.  It seemed more melodramatic than serious.

On the other hand, the melodramatic mood did soften a couple other 
elements that I found disturbing.  The first, was a scene in which 
one of the characters is punished by being raped.  Considering the 
tone of the story up until this point I did not see this coming.  The
fact that the story for the most part did not seem to take itself 
seriously made it easier for me to stomach this scene, but I still 
found it distasteful.  The story coding did not include "nc" or 
"rape"; it should have.

The other element that bothered me was not quite as overt.  If I went
to some lengths I might be able to "prove" that it is present, but 
I'll settle for telling you how it struck me.  I am referring to what
seemed to be a homophobic message in the story line.  At first it 
seems that the main character just has a problem with accepting 
lesbianism and bisexuality, but by the end of the story it seems as 
if part of the authors intent in writing this story was to show how 
he or she believes things ought to be.

If you eliminated the homophobia and the rape from this story it 
would still need some work.  The plot is extremely complicated and 
would have worked better for me if it had been paced a little more 
slowly.


  LINKS

http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/18098.txt

http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=423890770&fmt=raw

