BOOK adult cuffs (from Amazon): PERMANENT OBSCURITY: Or a Cautionary Tale of Two Girls and Their Misadventures with Drugs, Pornography and Death by Dolores Santana (as told to Richard Perez) Paperback: 464 pages Publisher: Ludlow Press Language: English ISBN-10: 0971341540 ISBN-13: 978-0971341548
It could possibly be unfair to check Richard Perez's kinky-punk novel, PERMANENT OBSCURITY, to the classic mainstream hit, THELMA & LOUISE, however it's tough to read this book without drawing comparisons on the other. Both stories revolve around female friendship in a big way, as well as the fall and rise of these relationship; both follow the trajectory of two women who become fugitives, along with the pleasure of every emanates from the give and take of the two main characters, who often switch roles from big sister to little sister, while navigating the uncharted territory they suddenly find themselves in; plus working with their particular vulnerabilities and fears.
Dolores and Serena, the dual protagonists of PERMANENT OBSCURITY, are 22, though in that confused and dangerous headspace between adulthood and adolescence; both have an undesirable sense of real life after dark grungy Lower East Side of Manhattan and apparently no concept of the genuine opportunities open to them; instead they live secluded within their tiny world, nurturing an "us vs. them" mentality, clinging on the concept that expanding their horizons means almost certainly losing their integrity (even perhaps their souls), that there are artists and art-friendly people in the world then only "boring, straight people."
Dolores and Serena live in a deluded world. And much like THELMA & LOUISE, PERMANENT OBSCURITY can be a story with regards to a fall from grace. In the case of THELMA & LOUISE, it is due to murder and rape; in PERMANENT OBSCURITY it's drugs and rape (with accidental murder and death to adhere to). Along the way, the characters discover sides of themselves (weaknesses and strengths) they hadn't known existed. The author labels his novel, "sexploitation," but it surely isn't that; it is however kinky, meaning it dips into the subculture of "top and bottoms," often linked to gay and lesbian culture, leaning particularly toward BDSM.
Now imagine Thelma and Louise as recent teenagers. Imagine Thelma and Louise as lovers. Imagine Thelma and Louise experimenting, as teenagers would, with drugs. Imagine Thelma and Louise dipping in to the realm of BDSM, with Louise in the lead as dominatrix. As the subtitle of PERMANENT OBSCURITY implies, this novel can be a morality tale sucked from tabloid headlines. In PERMANENT OBSCURITY, it's Serena who's the big sister; it's Serena who deals with rape; it's Serena who plays fault Louise and who unintentionally draws her closest friend, Dolores, on the fugitive path.
In true of PERMANENT OBSCURITY, this path means the whole world of fetish photography, finally down a far more convoluted path toward making a genuine fetish movie with Serena as star. Along the way, this path is cluttered with shattered boyfriends and cast-off friends. Like Thelma and Louise, Dolores and Serena really have only each other.
PERMANENT OBSCURITY deals with drugs, rape, unintentional murder, and betrayal. But primarily, like Thelma & Louise, it does not take story of two lonely women thrown together by fortune or fate. And the heartbreak and terrors they endure, and also the dark knowledge they gain, from the heart on this unconventional, often intense, misadventure.
WARNING: due to extreme language and (often obscene) sexual content, this book isn't suitable for anyone under the age of 18.
Book Review by Susan Kessler-Douglas