zooloo1983
Written on Nov 7, 2019
I was not sure what to expect when I picked up A Proclivity to Prurience, I was and still enticed by the cover I mean it is quite striking! And reading the blurb I was interested to see where we would go.
Abbie, the woman of the book is a little bit obsessed with Joe, her son Eddie best friend, the thing is he is obsessed with her too but in a much more darker and devouring way. Abbie has a perchance for sleeping with a younger man and Joe will sleep with anything that has a pulse, yet they have not experienced each other. There is a lot of fantasising about each other and a stroke of the green-eyed monster.
Well, would you Adam and Eve it, they finally get the chance to be together but among the throes of passion, a catastrophic disaster happens which would break them and cause these two people to spiral out of control.
At first I admit I liked Joe, you could see how it is easy to be seduced by him, but his behaviour is a lot darker than you would first imagine and the obsession he has with Abbie, is at times, felt a bit sinister, he had to have her, he had to possess her. There are a lot of women in fact who would love the chance to be his plaything but he is bored after one go and he only has his sights on Abbie. Plus at times the way he treats women…. hmmm…plus the fact you have every one of Abbie’s friends all salivating after him and some have even had him! All very much a swinging group! However, that being said, to an extent when you learn his history you can understand why he behaves this way, not that I condone it, it is the great debate of nature vs nurture. Also, very much Christian Grey but way better writing!
This book shows us the darker side obsession and how everything could spiral crazily out of control. It is a story of lust, but there is a story to this and the way the book ended surprised me and in turn, it made me want to read on to the next book! I was just trundling along watching Joe become more erratic and the next thing I knew I was reading the acknowledgements. I thought I had a copy with missing pages, instead, it was an intense way of finishing the book to encourage to read on because I need to know what happens next!
This book pushes so many boundaries and I quite enjoyed being pushed along. It made me uncomfortable but I also had a flurry of other emotions, anger, happy and sad. There is one bit that shocked me as I just could not see it coming and it changed the whole book for me. Grief can definitely do funny things to people.
I enjoyed Butler’s writing and the dark places her mind delved into, she is right in saying that Obsession “definitely” comes with a price, fab tagline and nails A Proclivity to Prurience on the head. I must admit I had to google the title as I did not have a clue what it meant and yeah this is perfect for the book! Very clever! From the opening page, my intrigue for this book snared me and I was there until the final page, I look forward to the next one!