Leash

by Jane DeLynn

Leash extends the logic of S&M to its inexorable and startling conclusion, darkly and hilariously revealing the masochistic impulse as the urge to disappear from the chores, obligations, and emotional vacuity of daily life. No more jobs, no more taxes, no more checkbook, no more bills, no more credit cards, no more credit, no more money, no more mortgages, no more rent, no more savings, no more junk mail, no more junk, no more mail, no more phones, no more faxes, no more busy signals, no more computers, no more cars, no more drivers' licenses, no more traffic lights, no more airports, no more flying, no more tickets, no more packing, no more luggage, no more supermarkets, no more health clubs... While her "current" spends the summer researching public housing in Stockholm, a moderately wealthy, object-oppressed, and terminally hip New York female of a certain age seeks adventure in the sedate dyke bars of lower Manhattan. Finding none, she answers a personal ad. She is ordered to put on a blindfold before the first meeting with the woman she knows only as "Sir." Not knowing what someone looks like turns out to be freeing, as do the escalating constraints that alienate her not just from her former life, but from her very conception of who she is. Part Georges Bataille, part Fran Leibowitz, this is the Story of O told with a self-referentially perverse sense of humor. Leash extends the logic of S&M to its inexorable and startling conclusion, darkly and hilariously revealing the masochistic impulse as the urge to disappear from the chores, obligations, and emotional vacuity of daily life. First published in 2002.

Genres: Fiction, Queer, Lesbian, LGBT, Erotica, Sexuality, Gay

255 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Jane DeLynn is the author of the novels Leash, Don Juan in the Village, Real Estate (a New York Times Book Review “Notable Book of the Year”), In Thrall, Some Do, as well as the collection Bad Sex Is Good. Authors she’s been compared to include Proust, Salinger, Jane Austen, Rabelais, Swift, Oscar Wilde, Proust, Helene Cixious, and Edgar Allan Poe, Aristophanes, Euripedes, & Woody Allen. She was a correspondent in Saudi Arabia for Mirabella and Rolling Stone during the Gulf War, and has published articles, essays & stories in a number of anthologies & magazines in the US & abroad, including The New York Times, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, The Paris Review, and The New York Observer. Her musical theater works have been performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Encompass Music Theater, and Theater for the New City. . Her work has been translated into German, Norwegian, Spanish, Japanese, and French. She splits her time between New York City and Long Island.

Reviews

[knig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve just given 4.5 stars to a book about lesbian BDSM at the end of which the Sub allows her tongue to be cut off and her fingers surgically sewn together so she can live out the remainder of her life chained up, on all fours, and mute, as a dog.

It could be that this is my first lesbian BDSM and I’m young and impressionable.

I happen not to be a lesbian (yet). This is no impediment to enjoying the general gist of the novel, but there were, however, a few ‘technical issues’ that threw me off kilter. Heres some ‘dirty talk’ thats supposed to get me in that ‘Barry White and Bolly’ mood: ‘I have such a monstrously big hole its unlikely theres a cock big enough in the universe to touch both sides at once’. Followed by a couple of fists shoved where the sun don’t shine to underoutline the point. Now the reference to the cock is a red herring. What we need to concentrate on here is the rite of passage whereby you’re supposed to stick both hands in it (said passage) and be able to clap. No, thats not a Koan. Me, I’ve always subscribed to the less is more principle, Kegel is King, and somehow consider it un petit triomphe if my bits don’t flippedy-flop-flap in the wind when I’m walking my dog. See what I mean about technicalities? Am I being t too up tight, is Jane Delynn too loose? The devil is in the detail. (Otherwise lesbians go).

I’m also a BDSM novice, at least in the manner prescribed here. Meaning, I have not had my face smeared with faeces, had someone urinate in my mouthbless me with golden elixir, or copulated with dogs (or any other animals for that matter). Well holy hell, how boring can I get. Wiki says around 25% of the population engage in BDSM. So. Then. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I took out this really long thin plastic ruler, and stared at it for about 10 minutes, trying to think pain is sexy thoughts. Then, I raised my hand and administered a god almighty, take no prisoners smack across my (naked) thigh. Here is what happened: I did feel something instantaneously (well beside the pain)!!. I did not unfortunately feel erotic feelings, because my hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis kicked into gear and I entered ‘fight or flight’ mode. In my case it was ‘fight’: This wave of white anger washed over me: who the fuck just made me wibble-wobble? Oh wait, it was me. Well, thats a doozy. I can’t very well punish myself by hitting myself again: where the hell will that lead? The dog chasing its tail. Total frustration and not being able to take it out on transgressor. (Wait, is that in its own way a form of SM where I am both the S and the M?)

The book is also not written all that well. I mean, it doesn’t drip with impressions hued through the orchestrated pattern of allusions, metaphors, similies a and alliterations. (unless someone disagrees based on ‘My, you’re a real gusher’ she said as I could feel the gunk between my thighs congeal’. I think congealed of anything should always stay off menu).

So if I’m not going to be tipping the velvet with congealed pituito-serous fricassee whilst passing the golden nectar filled loving cup to the left anytime soon, where do the four and a half stars ‘gush’ from?

Simple. This noir little piece is NOT about sex at all. Infact, the more the BDSM gross-me-out-meter rises, the less sex there is, until in the final stages whilst Jane spends months on end as a dog (and this is before her little tongue procedure), the sex disappears entirely.

But, this novel isn’t about BDSM either. I mean yes, there are scenes of it everywhere, and some might take that away with them, but the heart of darkness here is about resigned despair, leading to self-loathing, leading to self-punishment and finally, to self erasure: most might take the easy route out and self terminate, but that doesn’t allow for true penance now, does it?

We’re all unique, each and every one of us, right? Bullshit. Seek and ye shall find. Find that there are people out there who are your mirror image in all the ways that count.

Jane Delynn is my mirror image, my counterpart. She has a voice through which all my personal demons speak. Her long monologues, perhaps devoid of style, as I’ve noted, dry and way too cerebral for the type of work she’s aiming for, crystallise every guilty, stupid, desperate, selfish folly I’ve ever entertained. So how could I not give her close to five stars?

The novel is a philosophical treaty really, of a woman who is tired of life, who knows that its too late to make meaningful changes, that the satisfying of desire is much worse than not satisfying it, that every decision is made within a split second of it being posited, and any subsequent deliberations are fools gold, that we live in our minds and not in our bodies, that it is more erotic to have sex with someone who understands Plato’s concept of the relationship between signifier and signified, that we commit transgressions so we can confess them, and much, much more.

Soul sister.

[Nairne Holtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The nameless and thoroughly neurotic narrator of Leash is an upper-middle-class lesbian whose success (girlfriend, loft, art career, investments) has not assuaged her feelings of emptiness and longing, leading her to place a personal ad in the Village Voice. What follows is an exploration of extreme masochism ending with the narrator’s induction into a secret society, but, dear reader, if you are looking for queer kinky homage to L’Histoire d’O, put this book down. Immediately. (And maybe Google Laura Antoniou’s Marketplace series.) Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho, blurbed Leash, by saying, quite accurately, “it goes places few — if any — books land.” In the hands of a less capable writer, this book would land in the garbage. The controlled and propulsive hyper realism, which is occasionally leavened by humour, held my attention through some truly nauseating scenes — and gave the deranged fantasy of the narrative a disturbing plausibility. DeLynn’s clinically described yet imaginative world of human-dog slaves poses interesting philosophical questions. What can a person consent to? How far can a person go in their fantasies and an author in their writing? Is what we imagine about a person what creates desire? Leash is less smutty, more thinky, and absolutely original.

[Joey Shapiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

will restrain myself a little bit because i wanna save it for my Perverts Book Club discussion next week, BUT love the slow and steady escalation of this from “upper-middle class narcissist bored with her predictable comfortable life” to uhhhh what it becomes in the last fifty pages. I expected this whole thing to be kind of grotesque grimy Dennis Cooper vibes but it’s the opposite: still perverse and shocking but also bright and satirical and so, so funny. It sucks to have free will! Sing it sister!

[Steven Felicelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is an astonishing book - waded through what I thought was garden variety fetishism - gratuitious, indulgent, shock for shock's sake (seen it many times in the purported avant-garde) - and ended up in a really, really dark place

there's so little wiggle room for transgression in the 21st Century (between bad faith shock-mongering and tepid rebellion against always already transgressed prohibitions) - Delynn's found an empty room to sound out an authentically animalistic Howl

just floored by this book - must read (unless you're squeamish - and literature is not for the squeamish - despite what passes for 'literature' these days)

[Carina Stopenski · Rating 5 out of 5]

i was hesitant to rate this book so high but i must--anything that causes me, a true purveyor of filth, to recoil in disgust is worth five stars in my book. absolutely depraved and wicked, with a psychological thrill that can only be achieved through the most subversive of texts. the way that this book mutated from s&m erotica to transgressive terror is so artfully done. would i want to take on the life that our protagonist has? absolutely not. but god, was it interesting to read from the perspective of someone who does.

[Megan O'Hara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up i read most of this today and i was wondering why i feel so whack rn lol fun easy gross read that is commenting both actively and against its will. sorry, i am imagining women my mom’s age all reading this for their book club 🥰. back to Delynn, she could have gone in a lot more interesting directions than buckling down on making her point literal in my opinion but ultimately? i like to have fun. oh and importantly: Free Charlie

[Joc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yowzer! I'm really not sure how to rate this book. It was well-written but truly gross. "Chris" seeks out someone to control her, give meaning to her life or rather demeaning to her life. Written in the first person, she describes her meetings and interactions in a really weirdly distant way. The content is brutal, vile and insane. It reminds me a lot like most of Chuck Palahniuk's novels. The destruction of Chris' persona and identity plays out like a psychological horror.
Still undecided so I'm giving it 4 stars based on the writing, not the content.

[Lindy Bell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hated it. That is all. I wanted to slap the woman with a rolled up newspaper by the end of it.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I kept wanting to stop reading but couldn’t put this down. It’s grotesque and disturbing, enlightening psychologically robust. Completely absorbing. Horrifying like Kafka or the Marquis de Sade.

[Nina M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lesbian fight club! Lesbian fight club!

[adri ☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5✩

Home, an indeterminate time later, I examine myself in the mirror. To the ‘naked’ eye, of course, I am the person in the video, but really I am someone else, someone who has never been in that apartment, or even in my loft, but someone else entirely, who lives in another place. I don’t know where, exactly, though I’ve searched for it my entire life. Nonetheless, that life is my real life, the one I am meant to be living, and this one—with a career I have grown indifferent to and a roommate who is a stranger and objects I do not need—is the imitation. And if this is the imitation, the life I lead with the one I do not know who does things to me in an apartment I have never seen is the dream. I prefer the dream to the imitation but neither is real, and I feel cheated because I know I will never really live my life, my real life. Truly, who would even recognize this shell of a person who does not even share my body but walks a few inches ahead of me, transparent and slightly to the left?

[Charlie Billiard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange how the writing of the book made the actions of the character so understandable almost acceptable yet nonetheless deeply disturbing. Astonishing and horrifying buts still somehow psychologically sound.

[Thaddeus Freer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris was annoying and I’m glad she’s off the streets

[linh · Rating 5 out of 5]

okay....

[Beneficial Fangirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know where to begin... It is probably the most odd and shocking book I've ever read, and I am not saying this lightly. The last line will be forever stuck in my mind " ...but alas I cannot speak. "

There were several gross stuff, I didn't decided yet if they are there for the shock value, but twists and ending were very unexpected. The pet-master theme is very different then other books with similar theme. You won't find lovey-dowey romance here.

[Cassandra Troyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the more accurate or believable accounts of a unlikely slave's devotion to her mysterious master. I would love for this to be mandatory reading if you insist on "Fifty Shades of Grey". You will be offended, disgusted, made aware of the limits of a body's capable interactions, but that is exactly the point of kink. Especially for a jaded wealthy writer who literally needs the boredom and privilege beaten out of her.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a hell of an experience. I won't give away the ending but the process of getting there is impressive. The author manages to turn something that should be horrifying into something... not necessarily appealing but definitely more understandable than you would expect. It's subtle and brutal and well worth a read.

[Simone Beauvoir · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Luz · Rating 5 out of 5]

What the actual FUCK! This plot fucked with my mind in so many ways. Hard to take, but overall a great fucking pay off.

[jules revel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit dude. So well written but so fucked up.

[Skye]

Bruh

[Alisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The unimaginable lengths we will go to be slaves to our taboo desires imagined in horrifying detail. Perverted, grotesque, captivating, and erotic. -1 star because at times it made me physically recoil in disgust, but, like driving past the mangled mess of a car wreck, it was impossible to look away.

DeLynn’s impeccable storytelling in Leash is a careful undoing of the psyche as a bourgeois, haughty lesbian in early 2000s NYC decides to slowly part ways with her vacuous existence to ultimately live a life of mindless obedience as a dog.

Not meant for a reader of delicate sensibilities that gets easily distressed and uncomfortable - you will likely not be able to finish. Perverts and deviants, proceed with caution.

[Erniezzz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this last night randomly after accidentally taking my ADHD meds at 11 pm. The only thing I knew about it was it was about a lesbian BDSM relationship and I have been wanting to read more lesbian books so just decided to go for it.
Part of me wishes I had known more before going in but I also think it spurred me to read it in one sitting. There were times were I felt my heart drop and had to stop reading for a while just to try and process what the fuck was happening.
It was gross and made me feel even more gross but I think I enjoyed it? I still can't really tell how I feel about it lmao but it was well-written and the story was unique enough to keep my attention so that's a win.

[Arnie Kahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris rents of a post office box and places a personal ad saying she is bored, wants to experiment, and is anxious to please. She gets a response, answers it, and is ordered to wear a blindfold before meeting with the woman, whom she knows only as Sir. The "blindness" frees her to follow Sir's instructions. I can't tell you more without giving away major plot devices. If you choose to read this you won't forget it.

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many relevant topics in “Leash” that relate to the kink scene such as M/s relationships and pain processing/endurance play. However, there are many parts that are horrifying and serve of an example of problematic kink. I viewed this novel as a kinky cautionary tale in some ways and a kinky horror story in others. The novel certainly is thought provoking with an unexpected ending that had me thinking about it for weeks afterward.

[T Rauni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is wild. The first 50% was a bit heavy on the pain/humiliation for me, but I found myself curious. From there shit got bizarre. So bizarre. The willingness of 'Chris' was unexplainable (until it wasn't). The commands by 'Sir' became more and more shocking, and funny?, as this is a work of fiction. But then we find ourselves in wacky world. Like, you don't even know. Super entertaining and totally twisted!

[Kevin Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much queer literature is dubbed "challenging" that the term almost doesn't mean anything anymore, but this work is genuinely challenging. Probably one of the most artistically significant works of kink representation from the 20th century, this novel is a strange answer to a strange question. I like to imagine that you could make a robot's head explode by asking whether the ending qualifies as an "HEA."

[Alex Juarez]

Grotesque and not for the sensitive or squeamish! Leash follows an older lesbian who enters a BDSM relationship with an anonymous woman from a personals ad. This is what “Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke” wanted to be. Provocative and gnarly

[Christopher Zeischegg · Rating 5 out of 5]

probably the only good novel about BDSM. actually engrossing, actually transgressive, and not beholden to the rules of any 'community.'

[Theo Dora · Rating 4 out of 5]

wtf just happened