kamela's review
3.0
From the profound to the ridiculous and back again...
Having recently finished Preston's deeply heartfelt I Once Had A Master, I was excited to listen to the sultry-voiced Darren Douglas read the most famous of Preston's works, the serialized novel Mr. Benson.
The former book, a collection of short stories originally published in 1983, is an intense and intimate meditation on gay leather life. This book, in contrast, is much more of a fantasy book, written to titillate - and it was a smashing success.
For this reason alone, I have to give it a ton of credit: here is a book that is unabashedly porn, and as such, stretches out (heh) and exploits every moment, however lurid, to sensual effect. Even in the most trying of circumstances, as at the climax of the book, Preston manages to fetishize the nervous sweat running down the muscular sides of one of the side characters.
When I started the book, I realized fairly quickly that while I have a lot of, um, affection for gay leather porn, there were going to be pieces about this that were simply Not For Me. (Way too much piss, anyone?) Which is fine - not everything is going to be for me! But when the book reached its first major plot point, I found the beating heart of the thing in the narrator character's shattering loss when he believes his master has abandoned him. The depth with which Preston explores the emotional space he knows so deeply, the fear and anger and self-loathing the narrator experiences, and the special space that the slave occupies in a heavy, serious D/s dynamic all come through fiercely in the middle of the book, while Jamie flounders alone in the city, broken and lost without Mr. Benson.
Right after this, however, the story goes pretty significantly off the rails.
One might pause at this point and remark that I'm asking an awful lot of a gay porn novel, but if so, one hasn't read John Preston. The guy is something of a legend, and to my mind, the reason for that is his ability to take a set of powerful archetypes and not only exploit their hotness, but delve into their meaning, their emotional weight, and all the things they mean for a version of masculinity which - at the time as well as now - flew in the face of what it meant to "be a man."
So it was a bit disappointing when this book foundered into exoticism, easy stereotypes, and a "white slavery" plot so ridiculous a reader can even feel Preston laughing at it. It feels as though, in the course of the serialization, someone asked him to punch up the fantasy a bit, and he said, "Okay, how about a gorgeous model named Abdul who lounges on pillows, has a couple of Nubian manservants, and humiliates blond specimens of manhood according to the will of Allah?" Yeah...bit uncomfortable, though I'll give it something of a pass given it's from the very early '80s...
But the thing is mostly redeemed in my eyes when, in an epilogue, the POV shifts from young Jamie the bottom to Mr. Benson himself, who tells a bit about their relationship from his perspective. It's a cunning piece of fourth-wall breakage that serves to make the revered fantasy figure that much more real, and, like the emotional center of the book, brings it back down to earth. Ultimately, Preston tells us through these characters which he at first wrote as a kind of joke, the heart of any D/s relationship is as much about love, intimacy, and deep trust as any other.
Having recently finished Preston's deeply heartfelt I Once Had A Master, I was excited to listen to the sultry-voiced Darren Douglas read the most famous of Preston's works, the serialized novel Mr. Benson.
The former book, a collection of short stories originally published in 1983, is an intense and intimate meditation on gay leather life. This book, in contrast, is much more of a fantasy book, written to titillate - and it was a smashing success.
For this reason alone, I have to give it a ton of credit: here is a book that is unabashedly porn, and as such, stretches out (heh) and exploits every moment, however lurid, to sensual effect. Even in the most trying of circumstances, as at the climax of the book, Preston manages to fetishize the nervous sweat running down the muscular sides of one of the side characters.
When I started the book, I realized fairly quickly that while I have a lot of, um, affection for gay leather porn, there were going to be pieces about this that were simply Not For Me. (Way too much piss, anyone?) Which is fine - not everything is going to be for me! But when the book reached its first major plot point, I found the beating heart of the thing in the narrator character's shattering loss when he believes his master has abandoned him. The depth with which Preston explores the emotional space he knows so deeply, the fear and anger and self-loathing the narrator experiences, and the special space that the slave occupies in a heavy, serious D/s dynamic all come through fiercely in the middle of the book, while Jamie flounders alone in the city, broken and lost without Mr. Benson.
Right after this, however, the story goes pretty significantly off the rails.
One might pause at this point and remark that I'm asking an awful lot of a gay porn novel, but if so, one hasn't read John Preston. The guy is something of a legend, and to my mind, the reason for that is his ability to take a set of powerful archetypes and not only exploit their hotness, but delve into their meaning, their emotional weight, and all the things they mean for a version of masculinity which - at the time as well as now - flew in the face of what it meant to "be a man."
So it was a bit disappointing when this book foundered into exoticism, easy stereotypes, and a "white slavery" plot so ridiculous a reader can even feel Preston laughing at it. It feels as though, in the course of the serialization, someone asked him to punch up the fantasy a bit, and he said, "Okay, how about a gorgeous model named Abdul who lounges on pillows, has a couple of Nubian manservants, and humiliates blond specimens of manhood according to the will of Allah?" Yeah...bit uncomfortable, though I'll give it something of a pass given it's from the very early '80s...
But the thing is mostly redeemed in my eyes when, in an epilogue, the POV shifts from young Jamie the bottom to Mr. Benson himself, who tells a bit about their relationship from his perspective. It's a cunning piece of fourth-wall breakage that serves to make the revered fantasy figure that much more real, and, like the emotional center of the book, brings it back down to earth. Ultimately, Preston tells us through these characters which he at first wrote as a kind of joke, the heart of any D/s relationship is as much about love, intimacy, and deep trust as any other.
the_novel_approach's review
4.0
When you see John Preston’s name anywhere in relationship to gay erotic fiction, you rarely ever see it mentioned without the words iconic and/or pioneer used somewhere nearby. He’s been credited with contributing to, if not spearheading, the evolution of quality gay fiction, and based upon his book Mr. Benson, I’d say he, at the very minimum, elevated BDSM erotica to a kinky literary art form before his passing in 1994.
I was going to begin this review by saying Mr. Benson isn’t a book for everyone, but I’m not sure it’s my job to give content warnings for the books I choose to read, so let me just say this—if BDSM is usually a sub-genre of M/M fiction you gravitate toward, please know that John Preston takes it to the extreme. Not only is Aristotle Benson an enthusiastic sadist, but Jamie, the book’s narrator and Mr. Benson’s devoted slave, is an equally enthusiastic masochist, and there’s nothing in the way of tenderness in their relationship, at least not in an overt or clichéd romantic way. There’s nothing that Jamie won’t trust his master to do to him, and Mr. Benson pushes Jamie to take everything he sees fit to dish out.
Mr. Benson is exemplary in its portrayal of a man who must dominate and a man who must be owned and dominated, and working to get inside the mindset of these character was sublime. They’re not role playing master and slave for the kinky thrill of it; they are master and slave and are committed to taking and giving what the other needs. Why Jamie needed to prove himself worthy of Mr. Benson by allowing all manner of humiliation to befall him isn’t really a question that’s answered. His fundamental need–why is being owned by Mr. Benson imperative to Jamie?–isn’t a question that needs answering because there is no reason to desire. What needed proven was that Mr. Benson was the man who was worthy of Jamie’s unquestioning devotion, and John Preston did a good job of convincing me that these two men were the yin to the other’s yang. Mr. Benson becomes Jamie’s anchor and, in turn, Jamie becomes more to Mr. Benson than just a trick. They worked together as not only Dom and sub but as owner and owned. Where this book took a slight left turn into cliché-land was with the requisite Big Misunderstanding that delivers these two men to their eventual resolution. That said, however, why the misunderstanding is significant to the plot is in the illustration of just how fragile Jamie is, and what happens to Jamie after, both psychologically and physically, serves to define the magnitude of his needs and Mr. Benson’s influence on his life.
Where the book went off the rails for me, just as I was deeply engaged in the roles Mr. Benson and Jamie would play in each other’s lives—where Mr. Benson would serve Jamie’s needs, and Jamie would be the submissive Mr. Benson wanted, and grows to need—is in a rather unfortunate jumping-the-shark kidnapping and human trafficking subplot that was resolved far too easily to serve any sort of meaningful purpose other than showing the reader that Mr. Benson’s feelings for Jamie perhaps run far deeper than he’s willing to express verbally. Although, I must say the epilogue told from Mr. Benson’s point-of-view, which I loved, goes some way toward redeeming the event that he affectionately understates as his little bastard’s ridiculous mess.
Mr. Benson was originally published in 1983, and as I was writing this review I couldn’t help but wonder if John Preston were alive today, what he’d think of a straight woman living in the heart of the Midwest reading his book. And not only reading it but liking it. Thirty years has wrought a lot of change.
The only caveat I will throw out there about the book is this: be prepared for sticker shock. It would appear the publisher is attempting to capitalize on this author’s legacy by woefully overcharging for Mr. Benson’s scant two-hundred-thirty (somewhat poorly edited) e-pages. But, then again, I bought it, so I guess it’s true: there really is a sucker born every minute.
I was going to begin this review by saying Mr. Benson isn’t a book for everyone, but I’m not sure it’s my job to give content warnings for the books I choose to read, so let me just say this—if BDSM is usually a sub-genre of M/M fiction you gravitate toward, please know that John Preston takes it to the extreme. Not only is Aristotle Benson an enthusiastic sadist, but Jamie, the book’s narrator and Mr. Benson’s devoted slave, is an equally enthusiastic masochist, and there’s nothing in the way of tenderness in their relationship, at least not in an overt or clichéd romantic way. There’s nothing that Jamie won’t trust his master to do to him, and Mr. Benson pushes Jamie to take everything he sees fit to dish out.
Mr. Benson is exemplary in its portrayal of a man who must dominate and a man who must be owned and dominated, and working to get inside the mindset of these character was sublime. They’re not role playing master and slave for the kinky thrill of it; they are master and slave and are committed to taking and giving what the other needs. Why Jamie needed to prove himself worthy of Mr. Benson by allowing all manner of humiliation to befall him isn’t really a question that’s answered. His fundamental need–why is being owned by Mr. Benson imperative to Jamie?–isn’t a question that needs answering because there is no reason to desire. What needed proven was that Mr. Benson was the man who was worthy of Jamie’s unquestioning devotion, and John Preston did a good job of convincing me that these two men were the yin to the other’s yang. Mr. Benson becomes Jamie’s anchor and, in turn, Jamie becomes more to Mr. Benson than just a trick. They worked together as not only Dom and sub but as owner and owned. Where this book took a slight left turn into cliché-land was with the requisite Big Misunderstanding that delivers these two men to their eventual resolution. That said, however, why the misunderstanding is significant to the plot is in the illustration of just how fragile Jamie is, and what happens to Jamie after, both psychologically and physically, serves to define the magnitude of his needs and Mr. Benson’s influence on his life.
Where the book went off the rails for me, just as I was deeply engaged in the roles Mr. Benson and Jamie would play in each other’s lives—where Mr. Benson would serve Jamie’s needs, and Jamie would be the submissive Mr. Benson wanted, and grows to need—is in a rather unfortunate jumping-the-shark kidnapping and human trafficking subplot that was resolved far too easily to serve any sort of meaningful purpose other than showing the reader that Mr. Benson’s feelings for Jamie perhaps run far deeper than he’s willing to express verbally. Although, I must say the epilogue told from Mr. Benson’s point-of-view, which I loved, goes some way toward redeeming the event that he affectionately understates as his little bastard’s ridiculous mess.
Mr. Benson was originally published in 1983, and as I was writing this review I couldn’t help but wonder if John Preston were alive today, what he’d think of a straight woman living in the heart of the Midwest reading his book. And not only reading it but liking it. Thirty years has wrought a lot of change.
The only caveat I will throw out there about the book is this: be prepared for sticker shock. It would appear the publisher is attempting to capitalize on this author’s legacy by woefully overcharging for Mr. Benson’s scant two-hundred-thirty (somewhat poorly edited) e-pages. But, then again, I bought it, so I guess it’s true: there really is a sucker born every minute.
zefrog's review
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
When it was first published in the early 1980s, Mr Bensonapparently achieved some sort of cult status within the US gay community, only to be largely forgotten ever since. I assume this was due to the explicit nature of its content, and its subject matter (S&M relationships), riding hot on the tails of the then recent and controversial film adaption of Cruising.
Over ten chapters (and an epilogue 'written' by the eponymous Master), the book tells the genesis of one such S&M relationship. The first half is quite psychological and achieves a certain literary quality that is rather welcome. It tries to explores the mechanisms of such connections with a sympathetic eye, though without being preachy. The relationship is presented as transformative for Jamie (the Slave) but also as healthy, based on consent, mutual trust, and implicit care. Once this is established, the author is careful to present other, more dysfunctional, versions of fetish-based interactions to emphasis his point.
The second half of the book, unfortunately, slowly disintegrates into an unconvincing and often improbable storyline about a sex slave trafficking network. This is, one expects, a further (if clumsy) way for Preston to put into relief the main connection and advocate for its wholesomeness, while extending his narrative and adding a little action to it.
The book is an easy and fairly entertaining read, and Preston is good at keeping a momentum to a narrative that could easily become repetitive and monotonous. But, particularly seen through modern eyes, the behaviours presented to the reader often seem problematic, which the use of the Slave's point of view (which also means the titular character remains very sketchy) nonetheless allows Preston to justify more easily, even if he himself seems to find it difficult to ride a clear ethical line, often calling 'abuse' acts that we are supposed to see as consensual expressions of the bond between the heroes. This is underpinned throughout by a delight in hypermasculinity, something that would now be seen as mildly toxic.
Also little unsettling is the fact that the main relationship, despite supposedly being so strong, seems to solely consist of the sexual and power dynamics between the characters. They don't seem to be connecting at all on an intellectual or truly emotional level. Although this is an impression the ending and the epilogue try to counter-balance.
As a result of all this, the book doesn't really know what it wants to be; a hotchpotch of titillating erotic story, investigative story, defence of S&M culture, and romance. It is therefore perhaps best not to expect too much from it or to ask too many questions.
Over ten chapters (and an epilogue 'written' by the eponymous Master), the book tells the genesis of one such S&M relationship. The first half is quite psychological and achieves a certain literary quality that is rather welcome. It tries to explores the mechanisms of such connections with a sympathetic eye, though without being preachy. The relationship is presented as transformative for Jamie (the Slave) but also as healthy, based on consent, mutual trust, and implicit care. Once this is established, the author is careful to present other, more dysfunctional, versions of fetish-based interactions to emphasis his point.
The second half of the book, unfortunately, slowly disintegrates into an unconvincing and often improbable storyline about a sex slave trafficking network. This is, one expects, a further (if clumsy) way for Preston to put into relief the main connection and advocate for its wholesomeness, while extending his narrative and adding a little action to it.
The book is an easy and fairly entertaining read, and Preston is good at keeping a momentum to a narrative that could easily become repetitive and monotonous. But, particularly seen through modern eyes, the behaviours presented to the reader often seem problematic, which the use of the Slave's point of view (which also means the titular character remains very sketchy) nonetheless allows Preston to justify more easily, even if he himself seems to find it difficult to ride a clear ethical line, often calling 'abuse' acts that we are supposed to see as consensual expressions of the bond between the heroes. This is underpinned throughout by a delight in hypermasculinity, something that would now be seen as mildly toxic.
Also little unsettling is the fact that the main relationship, despite supposedly being so strong, seems to solely consist of the sexual and power dynamics between the characters. They don't seem to be connecting at all on an intellectual or truly emotional level. Although this is an impression the ending and the epilogue try to counter-balance.
As a result of all this, the book doesn't really know what it wants to be; a hotchpotch of titillating erotic story, investigative story, defence of S&M culture, and romance. It is therefore perhaps best not to expect too much from it or to ask too many questions.
nigmatillium's review
5.0
This book is so well written and I liked it so much I still can't really gather myself and order my thoughts.
Mr. Benson must be one of the best novels I ever read. It's raw and offers a true insight of what BDSM really is about. With all these misconceptions around I really wanted to read something accurate, something that doesn't try to make BDSM look like what it's not. So when I came across Mr. Benson and read about John Preston I was already hooked.
I loved both Jamie and Mr. Benson, I loved the way their relationship progressed, how they got to a level of absolute trust and I really really liked all the things that were not in the book, the ones that were not explicitly told to us, but were left for us to pick up on.
While the book was written from Jamie's perspective, the epilogue told from Mr. Benson's point of view was a pleasant surprise. Everything fell much more in place then and I liked to see how Jamie and Mr. Benson perceived some of the same actions differently.
That being said, Mr. Benson is an outstanding read and I highly recommend it to anyone who might be interested.
Mr. Benson must be one of the best novels I ever read. It's raw and offers a true insight of what BDSM really is about. With all these misconceptions around I really wanted to read something accurate, something that doesn't try to make BDSM look like what it's not. So when I came across Mr. Benson and read about John Preston I was already hooked.
I loved both Jamie and Mr. Benson, I loved the way their relationship progressed, how they got to a level of absolute trust and I really really liked all the things that were not in the book, the ones that were not explicitly told to us, but were left for us to pick up on.
While the book was written from Jamie's perspective, the epilogue told from Mr. Benson's point of view was a pleasant surprise. Everything fell much more in place then and I liked to see how Jamie and Mr. Benson perceived some of the same actions differently.
That being said, Mr. Benson is an outstanding read and I highly recommend it to anyone who might be interested.
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