Reflection's Edge

Book Review: Equal Opportunities, by Mathilde Madden

Reviewer: Sharon Dodge

Equal Opportunities is the story of Mary and David, the former, a wheelchair-sex fetishist, and the later, a disabled man. David, injured in a car crash, has been terribly alone until he meets Mary; and Mary, though sexually adventurous, has been afraid to indulge in her secret fetish. Despite an almost instant connection, the relationship becomes difficult quickly; David fears Mary is only interested in him because of his disability, while Mary is certain he wouldn’t be interested in an average-looking girl like her if it weren’t for his accident. With the added social pressures of a walking girl dating a disabled man, their ability to make it together is put to the test.

Equal Opportunities is a brave book: it takes on a fetish much of society is uneasy with, and it does so both sensitively and, contrarily, brashly. It makes no apologies for its kinks, even if its characters sometimes do. Mathilde Madden is certainly at home in erotica; one of her earlier published pieces was a voyeuristic ménage à trois in the inaugural issue of Reflection’s Edge, and her previous novel covered sex for hire. But Equal Opportunities is unquestionably new ground; the author seems very aware that the reader might, at any moment, decide this novel’s gravity is too much. Certainly, it pushes the limits of mass-market erotica publishing.

With so much experience in writing erotica, oddly, Madden’s third novel reads like a bid for literary freedom. Her writing style is still distinctly hurried, flamboyant, informal; but her subject matter is not. This book is researched, planned, and poignant. David’s loneliness before Mary’s arrival, and Mary’s fear that her fetish is wrong (and subsequent fear that she’ll be discovered to be a deviant by his friends), is heartbreaking. Subtle comments on how some disabled people begin to feel their chair is a part of them, or the notes on David’s exact injury at the back, further illustrate her knowledge of the subject.

The subject matter simply strains the confines of the book. Readers wanting more typical erotica might find themselves uncomfortably pushed by the difficulties the characters face, while others wanting more details of a relationship with a paraplegic will find only a vague, watercolor reference to the difficulties the characters will encounter in their future. It’s easy to wonder how this book might have been written under a different publisher, what further investigation it might have made into this complicated relationship. Because while the erotica is certainly hot, it’s not what the reader (or at least this reader) will remember.

In the rest of the book, Madden's cast of characters shows a growing maturity in her writing; they feel, if not quite as flesh-and-blood as the protagonists, certainly close. Her pacing is distinctly improved, and the emotional core of the novel is stronger, too. If it left the reviewer wishing more for the next book, or a different book, it may be only because the heart of the book feels bigger than the confines under which it was written. Still, it’s solid erotica, and it’s a fascinating, hard-to-find subject; it may sidestep some questions on sex and disability, but not many.

To buy a copy of this book, click: Equal Opportunities

If you liked this book, check out:

Best Women's Erotica 2007, Violet Blue (Editor)

Unruly Appetites: Erotica, by Hanne Blank

Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence



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