Review: Excellent writing, uncomfortable reading!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 28, 2013
This is not a comfortable read.It is an easy read, in the sense that the words flow smoothly, the narrative is well paced, the descriptions are clear, and so on.  To put it another way, I didn't find myself having to constantly stop and re-read passages to try and work out what had happened, or who had done what.  Indeed, I was fully absorbed in the narrative from the first page.However, it is not comfortable reading - in fact, it is quite harrowing in places.  And that is appropriate, given the subject matter.  A wealthy man takes a boy from a poor family, uses him for sexual pleasure, has him mutilated, keeps him as his eunuch, his 'bed-boy'.  The process is described in some detail - as are other scenes, just as disturbing.But this is not just a sordid tale of sex and violence.  The author gives us a much richer and deeper story.  She shows us the cultural background and economic circumstances in which these things happen.  She shows us the people who do these things - and they are not stereotype monsters, but fully developed personalities, with all their shades of light and dark.  She shows us how these events have their effect, not just on the perpetrator's and victims, but on their family and friends as well.And she shows the difference between desire and love: for Shuki, the central character of the story, is desired by many yet can feel no desire because of what was done to him - but he can still love, and still needs love.  It seemed to me that in the end it was about how love can triumph over desire.And, in spite of it being uncomfortable to read, ultimately it is a beautiful story.