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A review by siria
Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie
3.0
For most of Maybe This Time, I was quite prepared to hail this as a return to form for Crusie. It's got all the things I enjoy about her writing—witty dialogue, fast pace, a kind of compulsive readability, and child characters who are believable. While I rolled my eyes at their names (North and Andromeda? Seriously? At least the latter could be shortened to Andie, but I defy anyone not to feel incredibly silly at crying out 'North!' in the height of passion. What is it with genre novels and really stupid first names), I greatly enjoyed both lead characters. Both have issues, but neither are off-putting because of it—I think Crusie actually managed to succeed in creating an alpha male character I didn't want to push off a cliff!
However, just one page in the novel managed to pretty much destroy my favourable impression of the book. One of the secondary female characters, Kelly—who is established as being unlikeable, venal, and overly career-focused—is possessed by a ghost, May. May uses Kelly's body to have sex with three men. We are told the following, with evident narrative approval:
Regardless of whether or not Kelly is a nice person—and clearly, she is not—rape is still rape. Rape is rape no matter if you previously desired the person, for whatever reason; rape is rape if you are presently married to the person. And to top off that dismissal of the emotional and physical violation of a woman with the implication that it's okay because she's 'promiscuous'...! She slept with three men in one night because she was raped—and even if she had not been possessed, even if she had consensually slept with three people in one night, slut-shaming is not okay! It was disappointing and infuriating all at once, and soured me on the last 80 pages of the novel. Here's hoping that section either vanishes or is substantially reworked between now and the actual publication date.
However, just one page in the novel managed to pretty much destroy my favourable impression of the book. One of the secondary female characters, Kelly—who is established as being unlikeable, venal, and overly career-focused—is possessed by a ghost, May. May uses Kelly's body to have sex with three men. We are told the following, with evident narrative approval:
"It's not rape," Andie snapped. "Because May says you would have slept with all of them anyway. And since you were already doing two of them, I think she's right." She looked into the camera. "That's right, Columbus, your reporter here nailed three guys in one night, sixty percent of the adult male population of this house. Let's give the little lady a hand." (255-56)
Regardless of whether or not Kelly is a nice person—and clearly, she is not—rape is still rape. Rape is rape no matter if you previously desired the person, for whatever reason; rape is rape if you are presently married to the person. And to top off that dismissal of the emotional and physical violation of a woman with the implication that it's okay because she's 'promiscuous'...! She slept with three men in one night because she was raped—and even if she had not been possessed, even if she had consensually slept with three people in one night, slut-shaming is not okay! It was disappointing and infuriating all at once, and soured me on the last 80 pages of the novel. Here's hoping that section either vanishes or is substantially reworked between now and the actual publication date.