Review: Mostly quirky, irreverent black humor with a side of sweet romance - no sex.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 27, 2013
4 1/2 starsPerillegal is original and entertaining; but it sort of defies categorization. For at least the first half of the book I was convinced that it was not a romance at all; but rather a quirky, irreverent, black comedy. The characters, their actions and behavior are completely unrealistic - exaggerated to the point of being absurd. Which I assume is intentional, because it is the absurdity that creates the humor.Gules is a vulnerable, traumatized, lonely woman. She recently lost her entire family in a car wreck, after having argued with them and having said awful, hurtful things. She is not in a good place. Then she has the misfortune of being accosted in her bed, tied up, blind folded and threatened with the sharp edge of a ruler by her would-be, reluctant rapist. Her rapist is infatuated with her and was advised by a friend that the best way to "get over" her was to rape her. Gules convinces her rapist that having her body wouldn't really be satisfying and that what would work better would be talking to and getting to know her - so she convinces him to play a "get to know you" question game. Through this game, Gules learns that she and her rapist work in the same building.The next day Gules is off the charts crazy, determined to find "her rapist", seeing rapists everywhere, compiling lists of suspects and aggressively interrogating all suspects.Her lawyer friend who works in the same office where Gules is a paralegal tries to be supportive when Gules concludes that the lunch room is chock full of rapists:"Gules, try to keep calm, yes?" Kathy mumbled."I'm trying," she whispered back. "But there are rapists everywhere, and apparently they all know each other!"Gules then takes a particular dislike to a new paralegal Ben, who shows some interest in her:She texted Kathy. "Sitting next to a rapist. His name is Ben. And yes, I'm sure this time. But he's a different rapist from the first one, but even more dangerous. You have to start picking me up from work." Kathy soon texted back. "Another rapist? Why am I not surprised? Tell Ben he can rape me anytime. I'm in the mood."After getting off the bus, Gules goes straight to Kathy's office:Kathy was not on the phone this time, not that that would have stopped her. "R-A-P-I-S-T. What does that spell? Ben.""A lot of silent letters in his name aren't there?" Kathy said, sipping her coffee.So, yes; Parilegal makes light of rape - a very serious subject matter; which is the essence of black comedy or "gallows humor" and for this reason it will be a book that will automatically not appeal to a wide audience. It should be noted however that Perillegal is not erotica. There is no sex in Perillegal at all. No rape, no non-consensual sex, no consensual sex, no kinky or vanilla sex. No sex at all. None. Nada. There are a handful of consensual kisses between Gules and "her rapist".Then half way through Perillegal when I thought I had figured it out, it sort of started turning into an actual romance. And once it did it turned really sweet and actually, dare I say...heartwarming. Keeping in mind that this is a story that is clearly more farcical, not meant to be taken seriously and not intended to portray the realistic behavior of normal people in real life situations.