Review: Nothing Natural

What do you do when you suspect the man with whom you are sleeping with performing a nefarious crime?

That is the dilemma faced by Rachel, the tragic heroine of Jenny Diski's first novel, Nothing Natural, originally published in 1986.

In this very British take on the dark underside of BDSM, Jenny Diski introduces us to the average divorcee, Rachel. The mother of one and former wife of a man who did not keep her properly entertained, Rachel was living quite nicely, thank you, in the single life as a single mom. Her job within the local school district of teaching troubled kids is challenging but gives her plenty of time to be a mom so she is delightfully happy.

Invited to a dinner party being thrown by friends, she is introduced to Joshua. A charming man who is a delightful conversationalist, Rachel feels they have very little in common. But besides her feelings, she invites him back to her flat where they have sex. But not normal sex as Rachel is used to having.

He spanks her.

This man who is so charming and so gentlemanly outside of the bedroom becomes controlling and sadistic within. Rachel has never been involved with anyone remotely like this and she becomes intrigued.

Their relationship continues but in a completely unattached way. Joshua does not call Rachel nor take her out for dates. There is nothing normal about their liaison. What Joshua does is call Rachel and inform her he will be by. Then he comes to her for sex, pure sex.

Joshua is in complete control of the relationship and, in a way, of Rachel as well. She knows the rules. She is not allowed to contact him no matter what. But she is to be available to him.

The relationship progresses and Rachel finds herself enmeshed in his web. The sadistic tendencies of Joshua's personality grow larger and larger as Rachel's need for him grows just as large. As the length between his visits goes from days to weeks to months, we watch how Rachel falls apart, becoming more a part of him than a part of herself.

During the school holiday, Rachel's daughter is off visiting with her father and Rachel is left alone with her needs and her thoughts. While reading in the newspaper about a sexual assault in Scotland, she looks at the sketch provided by the Scotland police of the male suspect. He does appear to bear a striking resemblance to Joshua but then Rachel tries to back pedal her thoughts by reminding herself that Joshua looks like a thousand men with beards.

Becoming an amateur detective, her own sexual needs driving her nearly insane with desire, she begins to investigate Joshua. Is it truly to persuade herself that he is not the man from Scotland or is it to find out more about this man who has made her his sexual prisoner? And in the end, will she be able to renounce this man who has taken her on a journey of such earth shattering soul searching and the most magnificent sex of her life? What is a single middle-aged mother to do?

In this remarkable first novel, Rachel is a full bodied character. The novel itself is distinctly her. You can nearly hear her heart beating and feel the warmth of her breath as you turn each page of her life. Thrust into a crossroads, she makes a life altering choice that she has to learn to live with whether she wishes to or not. But in the end, she not only learns from it but is able to use it to teach others how to live.

Faced with a quandary of problems in the back story of her life as a teacher, especially since she deals almost exclusively with troubled students, it is a framework for why in her personal life she feels this inordinate need to withdraw and let go. And after a tame, uninspiring marriage, she turns to something completely different as her middle aged life crisis is about to shatter her young girl dreams.

Since publishing Nothing Natural, Jenny Liski has published a plethora of work: Rainforest (1987), Like Mother (1988), Then Again (1990), Happily Ever After (1991), Monkey's Uncle (1994), The Vanishing Princess (1995) (short stories), The Dream Mistress (1996), Skating to Antarctica (1997), Don't (1998) (essays), Only Human:A Comedy (2000), Stranger on a Train (2002) (Winner of the 2003 J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography), A View from the Bed (2003) (essays), After These Things (2004) and On Trying to Keep Still (2006). If you are anything like me, however, you will want to start with her first work. I find starting with their first work gives you the chance to see how their talent progresses over the years.

Nothing Natural ends up being an erotic mystery. Very entertaining and not overly long, it would make a great vacation read.