It wasn't until I read fiamaya's comments and some of the other comments upstream that I realized how much of the story was about the US Military culture in particular as opposed to women's issues in general. (I tend to be kind of thick about picking up on things like that. :-/ )
Elizabeth was kind of a mystery in this, possibly because she was more of a plot device used to inflict/portray oppression, and because her relationship with John was irrelevant to the story Helen wanted to tell.
I fall into the camp that liked Helen's story for the lack of fetishized BDSM. I read large portions of both General & Dr. Sheppard and Coming Home, but was unable to finish either, partly because of the style and partly because of the BDSM. At the risk of being too personal, I think my issues with BDSM are so ridiculously out of proportion as to be indicative of some other, unrelated issue that hasn't quite made it to my conscious mind yet. I suspect that in time whatever the real issue is will come to a head and be dealt with, and my feelings about BDSM, D/s, etc. will return to something more normal. (The irony is that I used to like it a lot as a fictional theme, and have even written it. Go figure.)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2006-11-17 06:11 pm (UTC)Elizabeth was kind of a mystery in this, possibly because she was more of a plot device used to inflict/portray oppression, and because her relationship with John was irrelevant to the story Helen wanted to tell.
I fall into the camp that liked Helen's story for the lack of fetishized BDSM. I read large portions of both General & Dr. Sheppard and Coming Home, but was unable to finish either, partly because of the style and partly because of the BDSM. At the risk of being too personal, I think my issues with BDSM are so ridiculously out of proportion as to be indicative of some other, unrelated issue that hasn't quite made it to my conscious mind yet. I suspect that in time whatever the real issue is will come to a head and be dealt with, and my feelings about BDSM, D/s, etc. will return to something more normal. (The irony is that I used to like it a lot as a fictional theme, and have even written it. Go figure.)