What do You think about The Flame And The Flower (1972)?
I'm afraid I didn't like either of the characters in this book. He was a jerk who RAPED her at their first encounter -- repeatedly -- and she was a mouse with no backbone. Mostly, I didn't like him. He never redeemed himself for what he did to her in any way and I have no idea why they fell in love. She'd been running from another rape attempt when she fell into his clutches, but apparently that rape attempt was not ok...because he wasn't good looking? I'm not sure what differentiated the two. Our dear ship captain, being wealthy and attractive, can get away with rape? I might even have forgiven the first time because he thought she was a prostitute and there was a legitimate misunderstanding happening, but after that he knew exactly what he was doing. He was an awful, awful person with a horrible temper and no redeeming qualities. I was also really sick of hearing about how attractive Heather was, probably because I was given no other reason to like her. Upon reaching his home, people said at first sight that she was a fine wife for him. Just from seeing her. Ok...but she's done nothing except be a passive little mouse who's let other people live her life for her. In fact, I generally felt that too much emphasis was placed on what people looked like and not enough on what they acted like. More than one woman was insulted for being large or fat, unlike our dear, perfectly proportions little Heather. Granted, her aunt was horrible to her, but that doesn't make it ok to criticize her fat bottom. It didn't do anything to Heather -- her foul mouth and angry hands did. I don't recommend.
—Christine
What I learned from this book: 1. rape is ok if you're a hot, sensuous man. 2. beauty= good, ugly= badI am reading my way through Romance Readers Top 100 and I finished Shanna first and then The Flame and the Flower. I really enjoyed Shanna's story, protagonists and flowery language. I read The Flame and the Flower next and am frankly mystified as to why it holds such a special place in so many readers hearts. Is is because it was one of the first romance novels you read? My principal misgiving about the book will be pretty obvious: The hero's repeated rape of the heroine in the beginning of the book. Not just the rape, but his cavalier attitude about it. Literally *laughing* in her face after learning about the terrible mistake that brought her to him and telling her to face the reality, the harms been done, now she'll have to be his mistress, time for some more rape, but don't worry baby you'll get used to it, btw don't attempt to leave because now you're my prisoner. Then when he gets called out on his actions and has to marry her he verbally abuses her and rails, "i have a fiance! what am i supposed to tell her?!" Seriously? Not once throughout the book does he evince any sort of remorse for his heinous treatment of her in the beginning. Yeah, sure, they fall in love and his promises that she would eventually beg for it from him come true, and he lavishes affection on her, great. Besides realizing that he could, gulp, love a 'slip of a girl' his character doesn't really grow in my opinion. He spends the first half of the book being such a jerk that I hoped she would run off with the brother. Finally, hero and heroine start having sex and everything is great between them. I've actually been sucked in at this point and am manipulated into being happy for them. But wait--- now there's a crazy rapist/ murderer on the loose. Unlike our hero he's evil because he's disgustingly ugly (also he kills people). Evil guy tries to rape/kill our heroine and the hero saves her. HEA ruined by this interchange 3 pages from the end: "If you had killed Mr. Court, do you think I would have blamed you? My Lord, the man deserved it!" (interesting... so HE deserves to die for wanting to rape her, but it's ok for the hero to rape her) After this follows a revelation about "Lady Cabot's" and some chuckles about what it would have been like had she worked at the brothel. Still the worst is yet to come--- "I'm glad that bastard who thought of putting you there met his end. Otherwise I might be tempted to go back and wring his blasted neck. He got what he deserved for trying to rape you."She looked at him slyly. "You were the one who raped me. What were your just desserts?"He grinned leisurely. "I received my just rewards when I had to marry a cocky wench like you."Nice. Not only does he never feel any remorse, or apologize, but the whole thing is a joke by the end?! On a side note I also find it really obnoxious how Louisa is compared to Heather and found lacking, not so much in character, but in physical beauty which REFLECTS that lack of character. There are countless examples in the book, the most annoying of which I found to be when Louisa barges in on the happy couple while Heather's top is undone because she was just breast-feeding her son. Brandon's reaction to this is to remember how Louisa's boobs are getting saggy cuz she's so old and how she's nowhere near as hot as Heather so where does she get off with that attitude? Good thing you're into raping nubile teenagers Brandon, or else you might be shackled into marriage with someone only 3 years younger than you! I'm not trying to attack some people's favorite author, but I sincerely want to know *why* this book is so beloved.
—Christine
The book that started it all. Anyone interested in writing romance novels (or fans of same) should read this book. It's not Woodiwiss' best, and contains a number of elements that would be considered serious taboos in today's romance novel world. However, the Flame and the Flower was the first romance novel of the kind we know today -- rather than fading to black or moving behind a closed door, Woodiwiss included sex scenes, with minimal euphemism and a connection to the emotional development of the characters. Before the Flame and the Flower, this did not exist.Does the heroine make me cringe? A little. Am I uncomfortable that the hero and heroine are forced into marriage because a night of what was essentially rape led to a pregnancy? Yes. Do Woodiwiss's later works improve on said issues? Absolutely. But for historical value, this is a must-read.For extra fun if you're a story geek like me, read this and then read the Elusive Flame, which is a story of the Flame and the Flower's son, published 25 years or so later. Extreme similarites (hero is a sea captain docked in London, heroine is in trouble, marriage of necessity/convenience, long sea voyage during which the couple gets to know each other, arrival in South Carolina...), but extreme differences that show the accepted sensibilities of the publishers and readers at the time these were published.
—Lisa
