I love Peter S. Beagle's book, The Last Unicorn. A lot. His prose strikes my soul to make me pine for things I never knew I could imagine. He uses metaphors that are at once unusual and thoughtful, and perfectly fitting in every way. I love getting lost in his words.
I own the book The Last Unicorn, and the movie, and the soundtrack. A graphic novel version came out earlier this year and it has become my new life's ambition to own it.
I started reading The Innkeeper's Song, since Mr. Beagle has said that, of his novels, that one is his favorite. I can see why. It's pretty complex in that it switches from character to character, switching voice and viewpoint within the same story. It must have been quite a challenge to write. I was really enjoying it until last night, when I hit the middle of the book.
The three main women are completely drunk (they had a hard day...fighting assassins and burying dead bodies and endlessly searching for their magician tutor) and the young lusty stableboy comes in to offer his help.
Woah now, Peter...where are we going with this?
And the tension gets a little...weird. As in, feels like we're on the cusp of adolescent male fantasy fulfillment weird.
Hey now, Peter...we're keeping this G rated, right?
And, long story short, they all end up in bed together in some weird four-some orgy.
Eeeew!! AAACK!!! Oh that I could pluck out my mind's eye!!
I was mildly (extremely) annoyed with Mr. Beagle for letting that kind of smut enter his work. This scene only serves to gratify the stableboy character, possibly the author, and any men (or lesbians, I guess) who happen to read the book. But men and lesbians are not really his target audience, so I don't see that happening very often. Pertinent question: how does this scene further the plot??
Until we find out one of the women is actually a man.
Aaaaugh!! Make it stop make it stop make it stop!!
Under disguise as a women by magic (of course) to protect him/her from the assassins on his/her trail.
Insert the gigantic eyeroll and gagging *here* Feels like I'm reading a really bad porno script.
Really, Peter? There was no other way to let us know that she was actually a man? You couldn't have found a more tactful way to bring that revelation to the surface? Or more shocking, if tact isn't your thing. But this? This was just...gross and in no way believable.
In his defense, there were no explicit details given. Vague hints, impressions. But the fact that it happened at all is just...ugh! I've lost all the respect I had for the characters. My curiosity about their lives, or interest in their personalities, is gone. There's no substance to them now, nothing real; they're just opportunities to provide smutty fantasy gratification, which makes me wonder at the motivation for writing this story in the first place.
The book was excellent up to that point. Now the question is, do I bother finishing it? I'm sure it wasn't meant to be offensive. The offense comes from my own background and viewpoints. I could keep reading with the understanding that it is not the intention of the book to be smutty or trashy, it's just how the plot unfolded. But if I keep reading, I run the risk of being disappointed again.
I like believing that I like Peter S. Beagle. If this book disappoints me again, I'll have to revise my idealistic perception of Beagle and his works.
I'll always like The Last Unicorn. At least that part won't need revision. The Last Unicorn will always strike a chord in me, and I will always find something new in the words. As much as I crave more of that writing, that voice, that spell-binding prose...I may have to learn to be satisfied with that book alone.
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