Have you ever been traumatized by an entertainment property? Well, I have. After years of watching Sex in the City, Queer as Folk, and Six Feet Under I have had my eyes opened to another side of human sexuality. Not being a person that actively seeks pornography I am a little naïve about the sexual appetites of some people. But after a healthy dose of HBO and Showtime you think one would be prepared for anything? Well, everyday there is something new to learn, and Hobble by Neale Sourna taught me much. Hobble was a dark, strange, and pyschologically violent novel that delved deep into how sex can be used as a vile weapon of manipulation and oppression.
Set in the Commonwealth of Virginia, an unsuspecting Native American holistic healer, Ben Gillespie, is jogging on the beach when he trips over a young buxom African-American woman named Day. Day who barely talks, has two large wounds around her ankles, which were almost severed in an accident. Ben assists the young woman home only to find himself enthralled by her sexuality and caught in the middle of a sick relationship with Day and her guardian, an aged British Gentleman, who forces himself literally into her whenever he pleases. For a while the two openly share Day, until Ben discovers the truth behind the relationship and the other sexual encounters Day has with men, women, and even his twin sister to get what she needs and wants in life.
Hobble really does an excellent job, of delving into how sex is more than just an act of pleasure and procreation. Sourna does a superb job detailing the effects of sexual abuse and the often unreported brutal and psychological misconduct toward those who are mentally ill and institutionalized. Ben and Day are a true ying and yang couple. Though Ben is possibly the sanest character in Day’s sexual cocktail, he too carries heavy burdens that have drawn him to help Day. While the ill and abused Day manages to find some humanity inside her that actually allows her to love a man wholly and not just sexually despite the dark world she has literally been forced into.
Yet, there is a downfall to this novel. Hobble is guilty of one thing alone, sexual overkill. Literally every other sentence in the book is filled with some extremely graphic sexual acts. The characters in this story have sex about 75 percent of the book. No, I am not being a prude. Yes, Hobble is about sexual misconduct, but not too the point where it actually becomes quite disgusting to read. I think Sourna could have presented her message equally as well with more dialogue and story telling. She relied too heavily on the sexual acts themselves to push the story, which instead took away from the story, dragging it out.
Hobble had many of the ingredients one expects from a good novel; theme, plot, likeable characters, and characters one just loves to hate. Sourna truly wrote an attention-grabbing first novel, however in the end Hobble disappoints, as it misses the mark in making a forceful impact (all puns intended).
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