Carrie's Story

An Erotic S/M Novel

By: Molly Weatherfield

Narrated by: Shana Savage

Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Winner, Erotica, 2014

Carrie's Story is regarded as one of the finest erotic novels ever written - smart, devastatingly sexy, and at times, shocking, Molly Weatherfield has penned a book that is standing the test of time alongside The Story of O and Justine.

Imagine The Story of O starring a Berkeley Ph.D. in comparative literature, who moonlights as a bike messenger, with a penchant for irony, self-analysis and as well as anal pleasures. Set in both San Francisco and the more chateau-friendly, Napa Valley, Weatherfield's deliciously decadent novel takes you on a sexually explicit journey into a netherworld of slave auctions, training regimes, enticing "ponies", (people) preening for dressage competitions. Desire runs rampant in this story of uncompromising mastery and irrevocable submission.

©2003 Pam Rosenthal (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

Audie Award Winner, Erotica, 2014

Decent BDSM story but lacks emotion.

I have had this book on my shelf to read for some time; I can’t even remember why I got it now...I think I was in this erotica phase a few years back and decided to pick it up. It’s an okay book, very similar in some ways to the Story of O...but not nearly as entertaining as Tipping the Velvet was. The story doesn’t really wrap up at all but just ends in the middle and the main character isn’t all that likable.

Carrie is a young woman going to college at Berkeley for her PhD when she meets Jonathan. Jonathan sees Carrie and thinks she might be into being his submissive and invites her to his house. From there Carrie is introduced to the world of BDSM and signs on to be Jonathan’s slave. When Jonathan decides to sell Carrie at a slave auction Carrie is sent through many rigors to get her ready for the auction. This includes a stent at a human stable where she learns pony play (how to be a human pony).

You can’t help but compare this book to the Story of O (which I read last year) it’s very similar and I think I actually liked the Story of O better. I feel like the Story of O did a better job at addressing the psychology of why O wanted to be a slave and also did a better job at showing how O has subtle power of her own even as a slave.

I think the best part of the book is how it shows Carrie trying to balance her modern job and life with her sessions as a slave. I also think that it was interesting that she was able to make a career out of being a slave and found the contracts and laws that Carrie had to sign and go through to be intriguing. The Story of O was set in a different time, but this book shows how BDSM can work in our modern day systems and lives.

There is some discussion between Carrie and one of her friends about why people feel the need to treat others as slaves, but there isn’t a lot of discussion on why Carrie feels the need to be a slave. Carrie is a witty and intelligent woman who has a high sex drive and for some reason just really enjoys being at the whim of those around her. Carrie’s internal dialogue is snarky and witty. She seems to think of this whole journey through the BDSM scene and into slavery as some sort of adventure (which I guess it is).

There is a lot of sex of all types in here. I mean a lot. Again, just like the Story of O, the pure quantity and repetitiveness of the sex makes the sex itself a bit monotonous. Again there are some more elaborate scenes where Carrie’s tops work to screw with her mind in creative ways but for the most part the scenes are pretty similar. There is a lot of whipping and sex. I continue to wish these erotica authors would put a bit more effort and creativity into their sex scenes. I did enjoy the ponyplay section; that was just so bizarre and intriguing.

I had a couple issues with the book. First of all you never really get to know or care about any of the characters in here; everything just feels kind of distant and that makes the story less engaging. Also the novel ends right in the middle of everything, so you never really get to find out what happens to Carrie.

Overall an okay novel about BDSM culture and pony play. I enjoyed the Story of O more, I just thought it was more engaging and better written. I also enjoyed Tipping the Velvet a lot more (although this is more about GLBT culture, there is quite a bit of BDSM in this book was well). If you are really interested in BDSM culture this is probably worth a read, otherwise I would skip it.

Confused

Good, solid but a classic of the genre? I’m missing something. I think I’ll read it again, more slowly. YMMV

It Doesn't Get any Hotter than this!

Again, this one stays on the iPod. The narrator is perfect and I love the story. It's obscene, raunchy, hardcore and I loved every minute of it..all three listens.

Great story. Terrible dead pan narration

I struggled to keep with it because of the narration. I should have just gotten the hard copy.

One of the best BDSM books

Love the thoughtful writing combined with raunchy sex scenes. Definitely a classic in the genre. I listened to both books twice.

Very Hot

If you like BDSM erotica, this book and its sequel, "Safe Word", are for you. Although a little too much emphasis on "pony girls" for me, the rest of the books are well-written, with interesting characters and lots of steamy sex. Well worth the price.

leaves you wanting more

great story hoping there is a continuation of story story grabbed me right from the beginning couldn't wait to get in car and listen

Powerful, ambitious, wonderful - more please!

It's been a few days since I finished listening to Carrie's Story. I wanted to allow my feelings to settle, to make sure that this was as good a listen as I thought when I first experienced it. It will, of course, be compared to The Story of O and with good reason. Both of the narratives write from a female narrator's first person perspective and both are characterized by a more austere, spare prose than a typical romance novel.

Carrie is a much less frustrating (for me) narrator than O. She is self-aware, smart, courageous, sarcastic, and funny. She is a successful student but not so much so that it strains credulity. She has friends and resources. She makes the choice to explore her submissive nature not out of weakness but out of strength. She's really interesting, and easily holds our interest.

And did I mention that the sex and BDSM material is . . . OMG hot? It's far better than the Beauty series, far far better than the Marketplace stuff. It is the best I've seen / listened to since The Story of O. It's that good. Maybe better. Too soon to make that judgment.

It's worth the credit.

Molly Weatherfield Knows How to Play Every Stroke

"Carrie's Story" changed the Romance genre from R to X. It brought “Story of O” to romance, with open, thrilled arms. People who say, “Why is Story of O so bad?"–find their home here. Molly Weatherfield is the most brilliant psychologist and historian in erotic romance. She knows how to play every stroke.
 
Shana Savage just took the script and fulfilled it, beautifully. This is probably the most requested backlist title I ever produced, and I was thrilled we did it so perfectly.

Romance it is not!

This story is the educating of a sex slave, not very romantic, but for Carrie who chose this life it was. I was enlightened and I really do wonder does this happen outside of books. The narration was fine, she had a very "husky" voice suited for sexual scenes and portrayed Carrie as intelligent, witty and well-spoken.