Scan barcode
A review by tc_mill
The Gentlemen's Club by Emmanuelle de Maupassant
3.0
First off, what a GORGEOUS color. A+++ for packaging. I'd leave it out on the coffee table with the art prints if not for the questions it might raise.
My problem is I got into this story expecting it to be decadent historical femdom. Decadent...yes. Historical...yes, and strongly so--the Victorian setting isn't merely a backdrop but infuses everything from the daytime heroine's adventures (which are refreshingly non-sexual as a foil to MacAuley's raunchy nights) to the language of the sex scenes (at times the metaphors reminded me of John Cleland from a century earlier--and that's not a problem, because while I usually hate florid metaphors for sex, once they get florid *enough* it's amazingly fun). It also keeps an eye on the cutting edge of Victorian feminist developments, right from the start where a prologue acknowledges the role of birth control in helping women freely express their sexuality. Hell yeah!!
Femdom...not really. Yes, there is that initial scene (although is "forced" m/m really femdom? Quote marks because there is consent, enough for the fictional scene at least--there's some negotiation going on there that is truly interesting). But afterwards we get a heroine who is more of a masochist that tops from the bottom--which is still something I enjoy seeing, actually! I like my kink to be kinked and twisted further. The hero, though, stopped being so engaging when he became the piston-pussy-pounding "alpha" type whose pages I've listlessly flipped through a hundred times before. I was more interested in some of the other characters at the club (Noire's girlfriends, the man from the first scene-who gets some gestures at characterization and interactions with Noire that raise a little above the "big black cock" trope but not enough, honestly). It's not as if there wasn't space to develop both the characters and the dynamics some more--for a short book, this packs in an amazing amount of content through brief but well-focused chapters. But I realize some of this is a matter of my personal tastes, and being misled by the book description and a heavy dose of wishful thinking (if only this were femdom!).
This came so close to working for me and then it didn't quite work. It will probably work for many other people, though, who like me don't mind the flowery language or who unlike me don't mind toppy heroes.
My problem is I got into this story expecting it to be decadent historical femdom. Decadent...yes. Historical...yes, and strongly so--the Victorian setting isn't merely a backdrop but infuses everything from the daytime heroine's adventures (which are refreshingly non-sexual as a foil to MacAuley's raunchy nights) to the language of the sex scenes (at times the metaphors reminded me of John Cleland from a century earlier--and that's not a problem, because while I usually hate florid metaphors for sex, once they get florid *enough* it's amazingly fun). It also keeps an eye on the cutting edge of Victorian feminist developments, right from the start where a prologue acknowledges the role of birth control in helping women freely express their sexuality. Hell yeah!!
Femdom...not really. Yes, there is that initial scene (although is "forced" m/m really femdom? Quote marks because there is consent, enough for the fictional scene at least--there's some negotiation going on there that is truly interesting). But afterwards we get a heroine who is more of a masochist that tops from the bottom--which is still something I enjoy seeing, actually! I like my kink to be kinked and twisted further. The hero, though, stopped being so engaging when he became the piston-pussy-pounding "alpha" type whose pages I've listlessly flipped through a hundred times before. I was more interested in some of the other characters at the club (Noire's girlfriends, the man from the first scene-who gets some gestures at characterization and interactions with Noire that raise a little above the "big black cock" trope but not enough, honestly). It's not as if there wasn't space to develop both the characters and the dynamics some more--for a short book, this packs in an amazing amount of content through brief but well-focused chapters. But I realize some of this is a matter of my personal tastes, and being misled by the book description and a heavy dose of wishful thinking (if only this were femdom!).
This came so close to working for me and then it didn't quite work. It will probably work for many other people, though, who like me don't mind the flowery language or who unlike me don't mind toppy heroes.