Docile

by K M Szpara

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Docile through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Docile is a novel that has been getting an insane amount of attention online. At least, my twitter feed has been dominated by it for months now. Written by K.M. Szpara, the leading quote and focus has created a groundswell of attention.

This is a tale about Elisha Wilder. His family was overburdened by debt. So much debt that it felt like they could never get free of it. Probably because they never could. Not without taking drastic measures.

That is why Elisha sold himself. In exchange for clearing all of his family's debt, Elisha would go into a world of servitude. Here he would be expected to live on Dociline, a drug designed to keep people like Elisha calm and controlled.

Naturally, it's only the rich and powerful that benefit from this practice. But this is the world that Elisha was born into. Now let's see if he can break it.

“There is no consent under capitalism.”

Warnings: There are a lot of strong and concerning themes in this novel. Mainly they focus on the lack of consent. There's abuse, sexual assault, non-consensual sex (both for lack of ability to consent and from lack of caring), slavery, control, as well as themes of dominance and servitude.

I am honestly conflicted about how to write this review. To put it simply: Docile is not the novel I thought it would be. When I saw it described, or even talked about online, I got the impression that it was going to be a powerfully moving tale.

That might have been my mistake there. My misunderstanding. Docile does have a powerful undercurrent, in Elisha's ability to retain his sense of self through some truly heinous experiences. But there are times where that almost seems to lose focus.

The truth of the matter is, while Docile had some important points to make, as well as a few great things going for it. It also was very uncomfortable to read. The whole lack of consent in sex was a major sticking for me. As was the harsh representation of BDSM.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: this is not the book I had expected. Nor is it really the book I had been looking forward to reading. That is a complete shame because I went into this will full intention of falling in love with it. Something that did not happen. I actually struggled to finish this book, if I'm being completely honest.

On that note, there is a bit of an upturn towards the end. But to get to that point you're going to have to go through several uncomfortable scenes and situations. Perhaps I am in the minority for feeling that way though (looking at all of the other reviews out there, I feel like I am).

Also, I just want to be clear: this is not a preference based on sexuality. I actually love that part. It's everything else that made me uncomfortable here.

Check out more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks