Innocents [Paperback]

Cathy Coote (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 14, 2002

Written when Cathy Coote was nineteen,Innocentsis a taut, wickedly clever descent into the anatomy of an obsession, the debut of a precociously assured and provocative young literary voice. Forcing someone vulnerable and naive into a sexual relationship to satisfy a twisted desire is perverted, even evil. But when the perpetrator is a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl, is she culpable? And if the victim is her thirty-four-year-old teacher, shouldn't he have known better? When the nameless young narrator ofInnocentsdecides to seduce her teacher, she immediately realizes that the power of her sexuality is greater than she ever imagined. She leaves the aunt and uncle who are her guardians and moves in with her teacher; together, they quickly embark on a journey into their darkest desires. Unforgettable, disturbing, and morally complex,Innocentspermanently unsettles our notions of innocence, experience, and power, and suggests that we all are culpable.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Was Lolita utterly cunning and "Humbert the innocent" seduced? In Australian writer Cootes provocative variation on a theme tackled many times before, the answer is a disturbing and (nearly) unequivocal yes. Cootes debut (written when she was 19) details a twisted love affair between a teenage student and teacher from the nymphets point of view. The story is written as a letter from the nameless, orphaned 16-year-old Catholic schoolgirl to her 34-year-old lover reviewing their affair and its consequences. The narrator, raised competently, albeit coldly, by her aunt and uncle, maintains a wholesome facade, behind which lies a devious imagination and utterly jaded view of human relations. With newly awakened sexual powers, she casts a spell over her defenseless unnamed teacher. I held all the aces¢youth, beauty and cuteness. The narrator becomes increasingly calculating as she tangles him in her web of sexual manipulation. I had thought there could be no pleasure more exquisite than that of seducing a shy man. But this debauching of a decent one was more compelling than anything I had ever experienced. The girls high-serious tone and overwrought language (Oh how can I begin to show you the contours of my perversion? Your exploration destroyed these lands, darling), while plausibly that of a teenager, becomes grating nonetheless, but Cootes brazen novel never falls into precocity or melodrama. The rejection of sentimentality and the carefully calibrated knowingness make this more than just another Nabokov knockoff, and mark Coote as a young writer to watch.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (August 14, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802139272
• ISBN-13: 978-0802139276
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #818,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deliciously dark and clever!, November 23, 2002

By 

CoffeeGurl - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Innocents (Paperback)

I have often wondered what goes through the mind of a pedophile. Having read Innocents, I have gotten a glimpse into the mind of the aforementioned person -- from a sixteen-year-old girl's point of view. The nameless young character describes her thirty-four-year-old schoolteacher's desire for her. He is drawn to her naivete and innocence -- what he doesn't know is that she's manipulating him. Thus, making this one of the most twisted psychological novels out there.

The subject matter is deliciously dark and disturbing. The novel questions morality and innocence by making said notions seem abstract. This is one of the cleverest reads I have had in a long time.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not So Innocent, June 30, 2003

By 

Jana (Music City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Innocents (Paperback)

Dazzling and Dark.
Two words to describe this odd story. Cathy Coote writes from the perspective of a nameless teen who seduces and manipulates her high school history teacher into a false sense of responsibility and obsession over her.

The sexual scenes in this novel are incredibly detailed and real. And my favorite motif within the novel was that of the constant symbolic comparison of the speaker to a snake. ("You battled yourself, a man wrestling a Boa Constrictor"; "Entertwined on the couch like snakes in their basket") When considering a running symbolism such as this it makes her seem so much more sinister than she admits and even prides herself in being.

However, I stopped reading about 2/3 of the way through. It became too flat and disgusting for me to identify with the speaker any longer. Eventually I picked it up again, and skimming over a few passages I reached the end and again was let down. There is merely the hint of a climax and the book drops its reader into the same pit that the personality of its characters seem to have tumbled into.

I recommend the book for its beautiful diction and description, but warn of its eventual monotany.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible experience, October 3, 2006

By 

Ivy "nonfiction specialist" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Innocents (Paperback)

Her writing is beautiful- and it reminds me MUCH more of Kathryn Harrison's style than of Nabakov. The fact that so many people are underating her just proves they are paying too much attention to her age and can't get back into the mindset of a teenager. The people reading it saying it left them unfulfilled are probably just angry that the heroine of the story didn't get punished. The point is that the "Lolita" in this story is just as aware of her youthfulness as the her adults are- that's not very common. She is also intent on remaining ashamed. What ties her and her lover together appears to be their dark urges. She wasn't even a character in the first chapter except for the pictures. The whole point of the book is that the main character doesn't have an identity she can feel until she tries to engorge herself into somebody.
I mean the girl even dreams of rescuing her older man from the people who have abused him!!
"Then I'd gather you to me. I'd swallow you whole. I'd absorb you into my bloodstream, and you'd circle around inside me, endlessly." Coote writes.
I think the authors choice to leave out the rest of the world and focus on the relationship, having our main character play less and less of a role in the "Real World" as time passes was a deliberate literary decision.
She has panic of a dancer twirling themselves to death... or a drunk like Cage from the movie "Leaving Las Vegas" about to drink himself to his reckless end.
This is a MUST READ.