A continuation of Carrie's story. I don't know what possessed me to pick up book number two when I didn't care all that much for the first one. It isn't that the books are poorly written - for the most part the story carries you along and you are anxious to know what happens next BUT these books are for sadists. When you consider all that Carrie goes through physically it is a wonder she didn't require a lengthy hospital stay - not to mention how screwed up a person would have to be mentally to find that sort of continued abuse pleasurable. This is punishment at the hands of people who get off on hurting other people for their own pleasure and considering that Carrie wasn't a pain slut- I don't get the reason she sticks with it. To please Jonathan? To please herself? Not that she is allowed such luxury.I found myself skipping bits of this book. I was impatient to be done with it. I can deal with BDSM punishment when it is written as safe, SANE and consensual but there is little sane about what happens with Carrie. And Jonathan is about as selfish as they come. GAH.Thankfully, the book ended with a note of hope for sanity and for a woman finding herself again. If there is ever another book about Carrie and Jonathan - I am using my safe word and not reading it.
From the author of Carrie’s Story comes the continuing tale of a young woman’s uncompromising sexual adventure. Carrie leaves behind her life with Jonathan, the S/M master who initiated her into a life of slave auctions, training regimes, and human "ponies" preening for dressage competitions. Whisked away to Greece by the demanding gentleman who has chosen her as his own, she learns new, more rigorous methods of sexual pleasure.This book is really a continuation of Carrie's Story and as such I would recommend to everyone that you read Carrie's Story first. Safe Word picks up right where Carrie's Story left off. It is the continuing story of Carrie and Johnathan. One note that some may find troubling is that it switches perspective back and forth between the two. This didn't effect the story for me. I found Safe Word to be very well written erotcia and would look forward to reading the forthcoming works of Mrs. Weatherfield.
I did not enjoy it as much as the first one, especially because of the weird switching between narrators. It would have read better if it switched between no more than 2 voices, the two main characters, but those two AND the usual third party narrator was just a bit too much and confusing. The story itself also moved from the realm of being quite believable in the first book, to more outlandish to the point of comical I the second which detracted from real immersion feeling. The ending was just pathetic, like from some sort of science fiction romance novel.
—Polina
Safe Word is less titillating than the first book, but it's more saturated with smart references to literature, linguistics, movies, and TV. Carrie's observations are more snide and mocking. The contrast of her high I.Q. against her emotional immaturity is jarring, but feels essentially true about a young twenty-something who's consciously choosing to buck conventional mores.Jonathan reveals himself to be an overgrown boy who's pretending to be some distorted version of a man, a revelation that's repeated with almost every master/mistress/madam. Their obsessive search for sensational experiences is a conceit of privilege. Surviving everyday life is automatically challenging for people who are not educated, wealthy or connected to powerful networks of influence.For me, the idea that all these educated, wealthy people invest so much time, effort and money in creating this alternate society was ultimately sad because it seems like a waste of talents and resources. The extremely dehumanizing behavior by these jaded sophisticates is a killjoy.Carrie's philosophy about her specific safe word is brilliant. Being an engaging erotic novel of ideas about the politics of sexual indulgence and the nature of power, pleasure and pain generated my three stars for Safe Word.
—Cardyn Brooks
Are you kidding me? I read this book out of morbid curiosity...the whole time praying that this (albeit absurbedly) likeable Carrie would say "F" you to the whole bunch of these idiots when her adventure was over...and you don't like the ending!!???
—David Schwan
