Join us for this tour from June 24 to July 10, 2020!
Book Details:
Book Title: Bound: A Daughter, a Domme, and an End-of-Life Story by Elizabeth Anne Wood
Category: Adult non-fiction 18 yrs +, 296 pages
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: She Writes Press.
Release date: August 2019
Content Rating: PG-13 + M. In addition to its primary
focus on confronting terminal illness in the context of a complex
mother-daughter relationship, this book addresses mature themes of
sexuality (specifically BDSM), death, and illness. Conversations about
sexuality are related, sex toys and body parts are mentioned by name,
but there are no actual erotic sex scenes. There are healthcare scenes
that describe procedures and bodily functions and fluids. There is a
fair amount of poop in some scenes. The F-word appears once, on page
167, used in an expletive sense. The word "shit" appears twice, once as
an expletive on p. 51 and once in reference to bodily waste and also
metaphorically.
Book Description:
What happens when a forty-something, community college sociology
professor learns that her mother―a charming, passive-aggressive, and
needy woman who hasn’t had a lover in decades―has started seeing men who
want to be bound, whipped, and sexually dominated? What happens when
that same mother, shortly after diving into her newly discovered
sexuality, develops a cancer that forces her to accept radical changes
to her body, and then another that forces her, and everyone around her,
to confront her mortality? In Bound, Elizabeth Anne Wood addresses these
questions as she chronicles the last eight months of her mother’s
life―a period she comes to see, over the course of months, as a
maternity leave in reverse: she is carrying her mother as she dies.
Throughout their journey, Wood uses her notebook as a shield to keep
unruly emotions at bay, often taking comfort in her role as advocate and
forgetting to “be the daughter,” as one doctor reminds her to do.
Meanwhile, her mother’s penchant for denial and her childlike tendency
toward magical thinking lead to moments of humor even as Wood battles
the red tape of hospital bureaucracies, the frustration of planning in
the midst of an unpredictable illness, and the unintentional inhumanity
of a health care system that too often fails to see the person behind
the medical chart.
** In honor of her mother's birthday, Dr. Wood has arranged the price of the e-book to $0.99 for the length of this tour (June 24, 2020 to July 10, 2020).
* Kew and Willow is Dr. Wood's local indie bookstore. If you
put a comment in the order form saying that you want a signed copy,
they'll call the author to come down and sign your book. They also do a
lovely wrapping job.
My Review
Bound is a very emotional, very heavy (at times), memoir that is poignant, beautiful, and sometimes humorous. I had a lot of moments while reading this book, whether they were joyful ones or heartbreaking ones (those happened more often when I got closer to the end of the book). I also found myself reflecting on a lot of things, including how disappointed I am in the treatment of the elderly, and how disappointing my relationship with my own mother is. This memoir made me think about my maternal grandmother a lot, as well. She was a fighter, a lot like the author's mother. My grandmother went through hell and always seemed to bounce back. It wasn't until she ended up in a nursing home that the fight started to leave her. She's been gone 13 years now, and reading this memoir brought back so many memories.
This memoir is mostly focused on Dr. Wood's mother's battle with cancer, but her foray into the BDSM scene as a Domme is brought up on many an occasion, usually when talking about her new lust for life after beating cancer the first time around, or when comparing her giving up control of her body (due to the cancer and other infections) to the control she lords over the men who come to her for pleasure (and humiliation). The little tidbits about her exploration of bondage, dominance, sadism, and the like are fascinating and, strangely enough, heartwarming. As someone who finds the BDSM scene to be intriguing (and having dipped a toe into that pond), I really enjoyed reading about Judy's time as a Domme. And Kenny was honestly my favorite person in the whole book. I loved that he cared so much for Judy and wanted to devote himself to her as more than just a sub.
There isn't anything really graphic or erotic about the Domme side of things, although more conservative readers might be bothered by some of the things mention (like sex toys or a photograph involving a birthday candle). It's all relatively tame and technical.
Bound also provides an eye-opening look into the healthcare system in America, and how frustrating and difficult insurance companies can be, no matter how "good" they may seem. I was honestly disgusted when an appeal had to be made to get proper care because the insurance company only approved the cheaper option. Even though this happened 8 years ago, not much has changed. The healthcare system definitely needs to be changed, especially when it comes to elder care.
Overall, I found Bound to be a really lovely memoir that celebrated a woman in her prime, a woman who discovered something new, exciting, and adventurous, only to have it snatched away from her months later due to that evil C word. It's definitely not an easy read.
I'm giving Bound 4 stars.
Meet the Author:
Elizabeth Anne Wood is Professor of Sociology and Chair of the
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work at Nassau
Community College in Garden City, NY. She is also Senior Strategist for
Woodhull Freedom Foundation, the nation’s only human rights organization
working full time to protect sexual freedom as a fundamental human
right. She earned her PhD at Brandeis University in 1999 and has written
critically about sexuality and society ever since. Born on an Army base
in Kentucky, Wood grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and now
divides her time between Queens, New York and Jamaica Plain, Boston. She
is a devoted fan of Amtrak and an avowed cat person.
Tour Schedule:
June 24 – Working Mommy Journal – book review / giveaway
June 25 – Book Corner News and Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway
June 25 - Literary Flits – book spotlight / giveaway
June 26 – Books for Books – book review
June 29 – I'm Into Books – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
June 29 - T's Stuff – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
June 30 –Pen Possessed - book spotlight / giveaway
July 1 – Svetlanas reads and views – book review / guest post
July 1 - Lamon Reviews - book spotlight / author interview
July 2 – Leels Loves Books – book review / giveaway
July 5 – Cheryl's Book Nook – book review / giveaway
July 7 – Sefina Hawke's Books – book spotlight / giveaway
July 8 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book review / giveaway
July 10 - Adventurous Jessy - book review / giveaway
Enter the Giveaway:
Jasmine, thank you so much for hosting a stop on my book blog tour and for taking the time to read and review Bound. I'm glad you saw beauty and humor in it, and I'm so grateful to connect with you and your readers!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I thought it was so sweet that you identified Kenny as your favorite person in the book. Out of all of us, he is easily the most completely loveable :)
DeleteYou're very welcome! :) I think this might be my favorite memoir that I've read. And I wish everyone could have a Kenny in their life. <3
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