Book post: Slave Jade by Claire Thompson

[catness]

Title: Slave Jade: Formerly Kidnapped
Author: Claire Thompson
Number of pages: 162
Genre: romance
Book Number/Goal: 20/50
My Rating: 3.5/5

Review:
A lonely nerd who enjoys roleplaying a "master" on an Internet BDSM site gets obsessed with one of his online girlfriends, figures out her RL identity and kidnaps her in order to bring his freaky fantasies into reality. The story is similar to "Obsession" by the same author, which also describes kidnapping and training a non-consenting slave using torture/abuse and brainwashing techniques, but "Slave Jade" is considerably less romantic and more realistic. Unfortunately, realism doesn't make the action more exciting (rather, opposite) because the male protagonist is a delusional loser and hardly inspires any sympathy. Still, the book provides quick and easy weekend reading and has its highlights. The moral of the story seems to be "do not trust people you meet on the Internet, and never share personal information" ;)

Book post: Secret History; or, The Horrors of St. Domingo" and "Laura" by Leonora Sansay

[catness]

Title: Secret History; or, The Horrors of St. Domingo" and "Laura"
Author: Leonora Sansay
Number of pages: 320
Genre: history, romance
Book Number/Goal: 21/50
My Rating: 3/5, 1/5

Review:
This book contains 2 unrelated stories. The first is an epistolary novel which takes place during the Haitian Revolution. The protagonist (a white French woman) describes the mayhem and atrocities she had witnessed or heard of during her travels, periodically focusing on the issues of her sister who belongs to society's elite but is unhappy in marriage and suffers from her abusive husband. She also recalls various episodes from the "peaceful" period of St. Domingue's colonial past.

The book was written in the beginning of 19th century (it's partly autobiographical) so the writing style is old-fashioned and somewhat hard to follow. As a work of fiction, it's rather unexciting, and the characters are neither interesting nor memorable. But the informal way of describing events and details helps to imagine the time period more vividly.

The second story is a simple, boring romance, practically unreadable and good only as a sample of literary fiction of that period. I browsed it anyway because it was bundled together with the 1st story, and rated it separately because it was so inferior.

Book post: Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti by Maya Deren

[catness]

Title: Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti
Author: Maya Deren
Number of pages: 350
Genre: non-fiction, religion
Book Number/Goal: 22/50
My Rating: 5/5

Review:
The author is a filmmaker who had traveled to Haiti for the purpose of making a documentary about native dancing, but was "sidetracked" due to becoming deeply fascinated with Vodou and getting personally involved in the practice. This book contains the results of her research - in particular, there are chapters on the most important Lwa, detailed descriptions of rituals, many of them witnessed by the author (she even experienced possession!), her own thoughts, insights and conclusions. It is not a dictionary of names, dates and spells but rather an attempt to understand the philosophy and psychology behind this incredibly sophisticated religious practice, and what people gain from following it. The book is neither a dry scientific treatise nor straightforward memoires; the writing flows naturally and maintains just the right balance between factual and lyrical without degrading into meaningless ramblings - everything is logical and serves to demonstrate the author's points.

I think this is a great reading for anyone who's interested in Haitian Vodou.