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LeAnna McCoy
5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbingly Brilliant!
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2013
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I must admit that although I'm a die hard Anne fan, I didn't want to like this book on the basis of the subject matter alone. Now that I've read it from cover to cover, I have to give it 5 stars. Anne always keeps me rivited. The disgruntled childrens book author, the seductive runaway with the mysterious past, the culmination of two lives interrupted and interrupted threads... It kept me reading until I finished it. Though one is tempted to judge Jeremy Walker, he is not the evil man that I picture when I think of a 40 something indulging in this type of behavior with a minor. Belinda is not your typical runaway. Tragic and broken herself, she is desperate for rescue and it comes in the form of Jeremy, a man who is stagnating in his house of memories. She opens doors for him, lets light into his darkness and he in turn liberates her. Overall, I found this book to be as well-written as all of her works. The use of image and intense description of the host of unique and quirky characters that surround the two lovers lends to the interest of the novel. I found something enduring about each one of them. Though the plot seemed to be tied up in a neat little bow at the end, (rather unbelievable that no charges were ever filed against Jeremy) I still found it engaging and was unable to put it down. Kudos Anne! You never let us down!
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Mr D.
4.0 out of 5 stars Jailbait
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2005
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Call me a hopeless romantic but I think this love story about a precocious sixteen year old child and a forty something author of children's books is....... well moving. Of course being on the plus side of middle age may be part of the reason.

Yes Belinda is beautiful and young and exciting and young and charming and young and shapely and did I mention young. Jeremy Walker is a famous, middle age author of children's books and a painter, who illustrates his own books. But after he runs into Belinda he can't write anything. All he can do is work on paintings of Belinda. He is in fact obsessed with painting her without clothes.

The book starts with Jeremy observing Belinda at a book signing in a San Francisco book store and he is smitten. He has to meet her so he asks her to a publisher's party afterward. She not only accompanies him but she seduces him at the party. No doubt about it, he is a fish on the hook, trashing around on the deck. On the other hand Belinda is both secretive, uninhibited and affectionate. Eventually Belinda agrees to move in with Jeremy.

Understandably, Jeremy is very curious about Belinda's past and her family but Belinda will not discuss it. In fact, she issues an ultimatum that she will leave for good if he keeps questioning her. Jeremy keeps painting her in various nude poses and tells Belinda not to worry, no one will ever see them. Like Belinda is worried. She thinks he ought to have an exhibition.

Jeremy is not about to stop inquiring about Belinda. He's just going to be more discreet about it, so he tells his good friend and Attorney Dan the story and asks him to surreptitiously make inquiries. Dan is incredulous and tells Jeremy what he already knows. That if his affair became public, he would at least be finished as a writer of children's or any other kind of books and maybe even serve time for statuary rape, where he would get to experience forcible rape firsthand. He also queries another good friend, Alex, a famous movie star.

Little by little a picture emerges about Belinda and people are indeed looking for Belinda and the more he finds out about them, the more they find out about him, whereas this involved story gets even more involved.

CONCLUSION

Is Belinda pornographic? No, it really is a love story. Really! Ok, so it has some erotic sequences and I suppose it resembles an old man's fantasy where a rich older man takes up with a beautiful young girl but it's also real life where rich older men divorce their long time wives for young blood trophy wives. It's not exactly uncommon.

Jeremy seems to have a childish innocence about him, while Belinda is worldly beyond her years. Jeremy is a bachelor, who happens to be a nice man and Belinda sincerely likes him for it. She has had plenty of duplicity and uncaring in her childhood and she is ready for stability.

Belinda is four hundred fifty-two pages long and was well written as any of you familiar with Anne Rice/Rampling might expect. While some of her writing tends to be morbid or even bloody, there was none of that in Belinda. The sexuality that appears was in keeping with the theme of the story and tastefully done. This novel was told in three longer parts and the final shorter part. While the writing was flowing, the story was not too wordy. Descriptions were kept to a minimum and used only to enhance the story. I found Belinda to be a quick compelling read that I enjoyed and no problem recommending, especially for men on the plus side of forty
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VD2400
5.0 out of 5 stars SHOCKINGLY GREAT!
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2005
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I was hesitant to read this novel, because I loved every one of Anne Rice's novels before reading this, and the subject matter was a little shocking. So, I waited to read this book, because I was unsure, but I am sorry I wasted time reading such an outstanding book!

The story centers on a 44 year old illustrator, and how he falls in love/obsession with a sixteen year old female. Belinda is like no one he had ever met before. Quickly she bewitches him, and all he wants to do is be with her and paint.

There is really so much more to this novel, and I would like to go through the entire story, but I think it's best for the reader to find things out for themselves.

Honestly this is a great novel, fun to read, and there are so many twists to this novel that the reader will not see them coming!

Anne Rice is a genius, and if this novel wouldn't have been written by her, I wouldn't have read it. BUT! It is a great read, and I'm glad I read it!
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Angie
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Condition
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2020
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The cover was a little bit ripped, but other than that, the book is in pretty good condition so I am happy with this purchase.
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nincin
5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth the read.
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2017
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I did not like this book at first, I think because it was so different than other Anne Rice novels that I have read. But it grew on me. The characters were very interesting people. Really moral people in a kind, caring way. But some of their actions were disturbing to me. Great dynamic and challenging. Well worth the read.
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Jose L Ferreira
5.0 out of 5 stars A tale of forbidden love
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 15, 2007
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There used to be a time when love could be forbidden for a variety of reasons. The lovers could be from different social classes, or different races, or feuding families, or promised in marriage to someone of their parents' choosing.

This may have brought about countless tragedies in real life, but it certainly provided the materials for some of the most beautiful love stories ever written, from "Romeo and Juliet" to "Jane Eyre".

In the current political climate the only forbidden love seems to be between an adult and someone who is legally a minor. I expect in the next few years we'll see a fair amount of love stories in this vein; but few of them will be as compelling and powerful as this book.
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mhorrighan
1.0 out of 5 stars Totalausfall
Reviewed in Germany on August 17, 2010
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Als großer Fan von Anne Rice's alten Werken (alles, was bis ca. 2001 im Original erschien) war der Kauf von "Belinda" für mich ein Muss. Nicht nur die Vampire Chronicles und Lives Of The Mayfair Witches, sondern auch ihre hauptsächlich auf Erotik und Kunst ausgerichteten Bücher, wie Exit to Eden und Falsetto haben mich schon immer faszinert. Anne Rice war - schritstellerisch gesehen- für mich fast unerreichbar. Umso herber ist die Enttäuschung über "Belinda", ein Buch, wie es flacher, sinnloser, unerotischer und schlichtweg langweiliger kaum existiert.

Von verschiedenen reviews und Kritikern vernimmt man in Bezug auf "Belinda" immer wieder den Vergleich mit Nabokov's "Lolita". Das ist absolut unzutreffend. "Lolita" war kontrovers, es beschäftigte sich mit der Ausnutzung von Macht einer Autoritätsfigur über ein Kind, mit einer an sexueller und körperlicher Gewalt immer stärker zunehmenden Irrfahrt, die in Eifersucht, Gewalt, Wahnsinn und Tod endete. Doch ich will hier nicht in eine Schilderung von Nabokovs Werk abgleiten. Es sei einfach gesagt, dass der Detailreichtum, die Emotionen, die Gewalt und der Irrsinn "Lolita"s in "Belinda" nicht auftauchen.

"Belinda" ist der Versuch eine Liebesgeschichte mit einer Kriminalgeschichte zu verknoten und das ganze Trauerspiel dann im Fluss des Kunstgenres zu versenken. Kinderbuchautor/-zeichner trifft junges Mädchen, verliebt sich, sie wird seine Muse, furchtbare Vergangenheit taucht auf, Drama entfaltet sich. Das ganze wird zum Ende hin mit zwei Kilo Zucker abgeschmeckt und dem verdutzten Leser vorgesetzt, nach dem Motto: die Suppe löffelst du jetzt aus.

Die "Romanze" zwischen der 1) wunderschönen, b) kindlichen aussehenden und äußerlich immer wieder mit einem ->Baby<- verglichenen und c) unglaublich erwachsenen und reifen und so gebildeten Belinda, die einem vorkommt, als hätte sie die letzten 20 Jahre an der Hochschule verbracht obwohl sie erst 16 ist - und dem 45jährigen, selbstverständlich a) unglaublich gutaussehenden, b) reichen, c) tragisch vorbelasteten, super talentierten Künstler Jeremy, den einfach keiner versteht ist so lächerlich und unglaubwürdig, dass sich Emotionen beim Lesen nicht einstellen.

Anne Rice's übliche Bausteine; Reichtum, Attraktivität, New Orleans, Bisexualität aller Beteiligten, fieberhafte Besessenheit mit bestimmten Dingen, Erkenntnisse durch Träume etc. sind allesamt vorhanden. Dennoch gelingt es ihr nicht auf ihr übliches Niveau zu kommen, auf dem sie ihre Leser mit der Entwicklung der Handlung zu fesseln und in ihr Buch zu ziehen vermag. Die Charaktere bleiben farblos und flach, die Handlung unterdurchschnittlich und vorhersehbar. Die große Enthüllung, auf die man die erste Hälfte des Buches wartet und die man sich eigentlich schon selbst zusammengereimt hat, erfolgt hier nach dem Prinzip: 5 Seiten Erklärung -> Umwerfung des Gesagten, neue Erklärung -> Ausbau der Erklärung -> neue Erklärung -- und das nur um noch später auf 50 Seiten das Ganze nochmal vorgekaut zu bekommen. Am Ende will man es gar nicht mehr wissen.

Zwei Dinge haben mich außerdem noch geärgert:

1. Der völlig selbstverständlich Umgang mit Pädophilie zum einen. Die Sexualisierung von Kindern in Anne Rice's Werken ist nicht selten. Wir erinnern uns an Armand aus den Chroniken, Mona Mayfair aus dem Hexenzyklus, Marco Antonio aus Falsetto oder die unzähligen Anspielungen auf Haremsknaben etc. Bisher war alles, was Rice in dieser Hinsicht fabriziert hat mit Stil und Eleganz gemacht. Hier geht es plump um eine Affäre eines Mannes im mittleren Alters mit einem 16jährigen Mädchen, welches immer wieder in ihrer äußeren Kindlichkeit beschrieben wird (wer sich das Buch aus diesem Grund kaufen möchte, dem sei gleich gesagt, dass es glücklicherweise keine graphischen Sexszenen gibt).

2. Das Ende. Nach allem was Belinda von denen ihr am nächsten Stehenden angetan wurde, hilft sie ihnen am Ende aus dem selbst angerichteten Dreck wieder herauszukommen? Die halte-die-andere-Wange-hin-Taktik mag ja einigen Leuten Spaß machen, aber realistisch oder vertretbar ist dieser Ausgang den ich nicht weiter erklären kann, da ich eventuelle Leser nicht spoilen will) meiner Ansicht nach nicht.

Fazit: Ein trauriger Totalausfall einer Autorin, die sonst (bis 2001) durch ihre Brillanz bestach. "Belinda" ist farblos, langweilig, unnötig verworren und schlichtweg enttäuschend. Absolut nicht zu empfehlen.
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Sarah Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars Very fast and wonderful staff
Reviewed in Canada on August 7, 2021
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Staff was very nice when I had a question. The book was delivered very quickly I could hard believe it. The book is a little well-loved, but I guess I might've known that when I ordered it. I knew it wasn't going to be perfect but it's nice to have it on my shelves again.
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