Customer Reviews

Taming the Beast: A Novel (P.S.)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book explores very difficult topics such as pedophilia, rape, and sadomasichism. It is extremely well-written with a very believable plot. As its plot unfolded, I became unnerved with myself for not being more disturbed by the book. It was as if Sarah Clark somehow seduced me, as a reader, into her world, desires, and afflictions. I would not recommend this book to people who cannot handle discussing the aforementioned topics in a very real way. Nothing is sugar-coated in this book, but if you can handle it, it delivers an amazing exploration of a woman's exploited sexuality.

At the age of 14, Sarah Clarke is seduced by her 38-year-old English professor. Precocious beyond her years, Sarah uses her love of literature to bind him to her and is sure that they'll be together forever. Theirs is a torrid love affair filled with violent couplings, staggering emotion and unfathomable passion. Or so it seems in Sarah's adolescent mind. When their affair ends in an abrupt, jarring fashion Sarah is left adrift wondering how to put back together the pieces of her previously uncomplicated life.

Instead she learns to use sex as a weapon and sleeps with anyone and everyone in an attempt to find the consuming passion she felt with Mr. Carr. For seven years she has indiscriminate sex, lives in squalor, and strings along any of the many men who would try to put her back together again. Then Mr. Carr reenters her life and things go from bad to worse. The consuming passion that she felt might overwhelm her at 14 is still as engulfing at 21. Even as she tries to recapture the what she felt for him as a child, she realizes that their lives have changed so much that they can't really go back to where they started. The only thing left between them is this fiery emotion that threatens to burn not only them, but anyone who threatens to come between them...

This book was engaging, enthralling, and all-around unforgettable. I found myself unable to put it down and read it in one sitting. Sarah is the kind of flawed hero that you can't help but enjoy and admire even as you watch them self-destruct. Elements of so much classic literature shape this character as evidenced by Sarah's obsession with Jane Eyre, ability to quote Shakespeare at length, and the fact that she uses poetry as a tool for seduction. At times I pitied her, throwing her body away and using sex as a means to feel something--anything; but occasionally she would show someone a side of herself, that there was something there besides the vapid, shallow, self-absorbed slut that everyone thought she was, and those moments made this book entirely worthwhile. I LOVED the characters, loved the writing, loved the book. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Maggie Gyllenhaal's flawed heroine in the movie Secretary or those who can look pass the sex and get into the story.

The Sydney Morning Herald has said about the author, "Emily Maguire embodies the great romantic myth of the writer who emerges from nowhere, fully formed." I'll second that. I found this book buried away in the back of the library and picked it up because the caption said it was reminiscent of Lolita. It was, and I know for a fact that I will run, not walk, out to buy it for myself. It's that good.

Being a lover of 'Lolita' by Nabokov - for countless reasons, not just Nabokov's heartbreaking soaring poetic prose or the love-hate relationships you have with his characters, I am constantly hunting for books with similar themes/relationships/characters/patterns. They're more rare than you would imagine. Lolita, being as popular and historic as it is, stands more or less alone in the literary world.

Relationships between underage females and older males are hardly covered in literature. So when I stumbled upon 'Taming the Beast' on Amazon - I was EXTREMELY excited. I purchased the book after reading a lot of five-star reviews and was highly anticipating its arrival. When it finally came, I tore through it in a day or so. I was expecting an "Australian Lolita" but what the book ended up being was a sick, torrid, sensational novel of drugs and promiscuity. Except for a chapter or so at the beginning of the novel there was hardly any connection to the May/December romance theme at all.

Sarah Clark is a 14 year old Australian school girl who's mad about Jane Eyre, Shakespeare, and all the other classics. Aside from quoting a few literary passages now and again to prove some sexual point, the only discussion of classic literature is done in a remarkably immature and inaccessible manner. Discussing Emma Bovary in 'Madame Bovary' - Sarah says, "Her husband's such a plodder, so she falls for the first guy who offers her a bit of excitement and he turns out to be a pig and the next guy is this awful coward and it just seems the more she searches, the worse things get for her." I'm not saying that all 14 year old girls should talk with the remarkably poetic prose of Cathy Coote's heroine in 'Innocents', but Sarah Clark seems to be a remarkably short-sighted and non-poetic little thing. She's painted as this precociously intelligent creature who somehow manages to capture the attention of a man much older than her not JUST because of her looks, but also because of her brain. Whenever she opens her mouth to speak about something other than sex, however, the reader is left sorely disappointed.

Her affair is with her 38 year old English professor. For the first 44 out of 317 pages, they have a mad clawing passionate connection. And in those 44 pages the book tries to deal with both the "illicit" nature of their age-gap and some BDSM themes. But it does both badly. It glosses over the difficulty of the age-gap, leaving us wondering what both of the characters are thinking. We are given absolutely no look into their heads, other than a few panting gasps at Sarah's feelings for this man we barely know. They start the BDSM references early and with no explanation. The first time something 'sadistic' takes place between them it is obviously meant to shock and thus provoke a reaction, but even as a reader who is usually comfortable with 'sick' and 'perverse' material (I don't even blink at 'Lolita' any longer. I loved the depth and complexity of 'A Clockwork Orange'. 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' is fabulous and classic, and portrays a disturbing subject matter in a wonderfully accessible way.), 'Taming The Beast' made me ill. I wanted to throw the book out the window over and over and over again, and only stuck with it because I've never once not finished a book, and I didn't want to start now.

I tried so hard to develop the kind of love/hate relationship with the Sarah, Mr. Carr, or the woefully pathetic Jamie that I have with Lolita and Humbert, but it was just impossible. The characters tried to make us understand why their irrational, cruel, and disgusting behavior was worthy of anything other than hate, but despite their best efforts, their meaning never came through to me. They never fleshed out to be anything more than mere shadows. I went through the whole novel turning every page, expecting some major turn-around or transition that would turn this book from a 1 star into a 5 star, only to be disappointed again and again.

All in all, I think the book attempted to do something great. It tried to take on some very difficult and mature themes that NEED to be tackled more in literature. It tried to make them accessible to a younger audience by using a main character of a young age. But instead of handling those themes with finesse, the book just left me confused, sickened, and more than a little hurt. 'Taming the Beast' tried to be serious and respectable at the same time that it tried to titillate and shock its readers. And in the end, it was nothing more for me than a headache and a waste of time.

In Australia, her family encourages doing excellent in school so fourteen year old Sarah Clark works hard to meet their expectations. When she meets charismatic thirty-eight years old English teacher meets Daniel Carr, no one thought twice of his spending time with her because of the respect the family has for educators. However, Daniel provides the teen with hands on lessons that would devastate her family if they knew; he teaches her S&M sex before leaving for a new position in Brisbane.

Sarah is depressed by her mentor's departure and her schoolwork reflects this gloominess as she no longer is interested in learning though a few years later she attends college. Instead the nymph has no time to brood or study as she experiments with unsafe encounters with hundreds of men seeking a Daniel clone to quench her seemingly endless appetite for violent sessions. As the years pass with her needs never fully satiated she turns to her childhood friend Jamie until Daniel reappears seeking a tryst.

TAMING THE BEAST is not an easy character study to read though it is well written and very deep as Daniel sexually assaults the willing underage teen even if Sarah encourages him. Neither of the characters is likable as he abuses his position of trust as a sexual predator preying on the young while she has become a sex addict whose needs override everything else. Emily Maguire provides a powerful violent Aussie Lolita.

Harriet Klausner

I couldn't believe what I have read so much erotic and sex subject that it almost seems that I am in the room and actually seeing and feeling it. Emily is a really good writer and you almost feel sorry for both caracters. You could feel the dirt, the pain and sickness of love on both sides. You could also feel sorry and even hate the main caracter because of the way she lives and acts but further down the road you almost feel sympathy and sadness. Even for the Beast you want to tame something that is almost impossible. I couldn't stop reading this book and every chance I got I picked up the book and want to read it one breath.
This is really a book that isn't for one mind only thinking you have to be open minded to understand the caracters and you get different feelings and vibes. This is really a book for any bookclub you can really get an discussion going on.

"Taming The Beast" is the story of Sarah Clarke, a schoolgirl who has sex with her teacher over a period of months. The book is engrossing, well written, and fascinating. The subject matter could have been depicted in a salacious way, but Emily Maguire provides a fascinating glimpse into what the characters are experiencing that takes the book in a different direction.

However, some of the characterizations are shallow and detract from the powerful story. The character of Shelley is a sad, misogynistic caricature of a woman. She is portrayed as "trapping" her boyfriend (and Sarah's true love) by getting pregnant. A silly girl, she is endlessly concerned with "silly" domestic details such as couch shopping and decorating. Sarah believes that she is a certain "type" who "draws a man in and becomes grey and sexless". The worst is when Shelley hears that Sarah was seduced by her teacher and has acted out sexually for years as a result. Shelley becomes a small-minded shrew, casting Sarah as a whore and defending Sarah's teacher. This type of characterization makes one wonder what in Emily Maguire's past produced this character. Is this a thinly disguised swipe at her mother? The wife of one of her lovers? In any case, this is not a real character, but an annoying stereotype.

Sarah is also somewhat unreal, as is the world she lives in. Sarah, ever the intellectual, is portrayed as smarter, more honest, and altogether a Sexual Superwoman. She is lightyears away from dreary domesticity. Despite constant partying, smoking, and drugging, she is always a shining beacon of a girl. Again, this unrealistic part of her character detracts from the story.

When Sarah's former teacher returns, they embark on a sadomasichistic affair. Eventually, the story takes a tragic turn.

An interesting story, but some of the characters appear to be slightly unrealistic.

Once upon a time, a very lovely and Dangerously Younger girl sat back on my couch and kissed me. "I'm a train wreck," she said, "and you're a predator. We're pretty much the perfect couple."

Which is one way of saying that Emily Maguire's "Taming the Beast" is stunningly powerful. And of course there was never a chance that I wouldn't fall in love with her heroine. But anyone who knows me knows that Maguire's Sarah Clark is probably the epitome of the BRDYTW girl--- Bookish Reclusive Dangerously Younger Train Wrecky ---and exactly the girl I've pursued in dreams all my life.

After all...a girl of 20 who brings a nameless middle-aged man home, then interrupts him while he's violating her to quote from "Jane Eyre" and make him recall the novel from his own days at university--- that's exactly the kind of girl I'd fall for. And Maguire's heroine is very much a girl who'll haunt my dreams from now on.

(It makes it all the better that the novel came recommended by a beautiful BRDYTW girl from NZ, who told me it was pretty much like her own life)

"Taming the Beast" is powerful, scorchingly hot, sad, funny, with a central character who's utterly stunning. Finely written, with a keen eye for irony and darkness.

I realise--- and friends have reminded me ---that my own take on the novel is probably deeply morally flawed and only confirms that I'd always be cast as the villain in any Lifetime Movie of the Week about a girl like Sarah. Which is true.

But this is still a deeply powerful, sexy, dark and breathtaking story. Read it.

Throughly enjoyed this wonderfully written book. Characterization done so
well that the reader hates and loves (or should I say sympathizes with)the main character, Sarah. Couldn't put the book down; and, now have passed it on to my friends at work.

"Taming The Beast" is a very painful book about sexuality and youth. Emily Maguire gives us within one novel a psychological study of sexual degeneration, a morality tale, a coming-of-age story and a whimsical love story all at once. The main protagonist Sarah is on a self-destructive sexual quest after she was raped by her teacher (with whom she carried on an affair for a long time). The scariest element in the book is that that dastardly lecherous teacher actually believes that he wasn't doing anything wrong and Sarah is genuinely in love with him. This brings a sickening sense of realism to the novel as most villains actually do not consider themselves to be evil (the comic-book villains who call themselves "Masters of Evil" or "Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" are cardboard caricatures of real villains who are convinced about the "rightness" of their actions). The sad truth is that, I happened to know quite a number of people who are as blind and self-destructive as Sarah...

A friend of mine passed the book to me - the book held my attention and I quickly finished it. Normally I dont post reviews but I noticed that the previous reviewers missed a critical point. The main character was child of neglect, which created a situation where she could be easily seduced and manipulated by a much older man. This teacher/student relationship set the foundation for her future relationships. The line between consentual and unconsentual activity became blurred. The ability to understand the emotional consequences of being sexual with other people (for them and ourselves) is blurred as well, particularly at such a young age. Also compromised is the ability to understand how others are affected by such intense physical connections. The author did a great job developing a story that showed us what *can* emotionally happen when someone is violated by a person they trust.