Fruit of Eden
Registered by Amaranta20 of Seattle, Washington USA on 2/15/2004
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
2 journalers for this copy...
This book was published in 1927. I have a habit of collecting old books from antique stores and then never getting around to reading them. I guess I don't like that they don't have dust jackets, so I can't read the inside flap to learn what they're about.
In regards to this book: I try to be a very open-minded person, and I have not entirely made up my mind about Fruit of Eden. It is the story of a contemporary (for the late 1920s) impoverished French marquis and his love affair with the rich daughter of an English baronet. It was well-written and engaging, but where things get sticky is where it took a plot twist similar to that in The Son of the Sheik (silent film from that era with Rudolph Valentino.) Our marquis, who is desperately in love with our heroine, is deceived by her vicious rival into believing she is the kept mistress of another man and that she and her lover mock the marquis together. Enraged, he kidnaps her and keeps her in a tower in his deserted castle, raping her every night for a week. Finally he learns he was deceived and releases her. She flees to England. Then, later on, fearing she is pregnant, she returns and forces him to marry her so she will not be disgraced, putting on a show of being in love with him in front of both their relatives so no one will suspect how he has dishonored her. In the end, she feels a growing return of her love for him, and he is so anguished and tormented by how he has treated her and his unforgivable crimes that she eventually pities him. He saves her life and grows fatally ill, she professes her love, they live happily ever after.
Now, trying to be open-minded, I try to see past the bare facts that upset me about this. Is rape ever forgivable? But then, there are numberless battered women out there who return and profess love for their abusers, so I suppose it is possible to lump our heroine into that category, but it is a bit disturbing how rape at the hands of the hero is deemed an acceptable evil by 1920s pop culture standards. The heroine even comes to see how she may have been "asking for it".
I give this book a 7 because I did like the style of how it was written, and it certainly made me think.
In regards to this book: I try to be a very open-minded person, and I have not entirely made up my mind about Fruit of Eden. It is the story of a contemporary (for the late 1920s) impoverished French marquis and his love affair with the rich daughter of an English baronet. It was well-written and engaging, but where things get sticky is where it took a plot twist similar to that in The Son of the Sheik (silent film from that era with Rudolph Valentino.) Our marquis, who is desperately in love with our heroine, is deceived by her vicious rival into believing she is the kept mistress of another man and that she and her lover mock the marquis together. Enraged, he kidnaps her and keeps her in a tower in his deserted castle, raping her every night for a week. Finally he learns he was deceived and releases her. She flees to England. Then, later on, fearing she is pregnant, she returns and forces him to marry her so she will not be disgraced, putting on a show of being in love with him in front of both their relatives so no one will suspect how he has dishonored her. In the end, she feels a growing return of her love for him, and he is so anguished and tormented by how he has treated her and his unforgivable crimes that she eventually pities him. He saves her life and grows fatally ill, she professes her love, they live happily ever after.
Now, trying to be open-minded, I try to see past the bare facts that upset me about this. Is rape ever forgivable? But then, there are numberless battered women out there who return and profess love for their abusers, so I suppose it is possible to lump our heroine into that category, but it is a bit disturbing how rape at the hands of the hero is deemed an acceptable evil by 1920s pop culture standards. The heroine even comes to see how she may have been "asking for it".
I give this book a 7 because I did like the style of how it was written, and it certainly made me think.
Offered as part of the "With a Name Like Smuckers It Has To Be Good" relay at http://bookrelay.com/relay.php?id=1134
Arrived safe and sound in Buffalo, NY today.
Journal Entry 4 by morsecode at Starbucks/Main St. in Williamsville, New York USA on Saturday, July 1, 2006
Released 17 yrs ago (7/1/2006 UTC) at Starbucks/Main St. in Williamsville, New York USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
Left on the 'Take a Book, Leave a Book' shelves.
Left on the 'Take a Book, Leave a Book' shelves.
