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Pleasure and Power
Race, sex, and justice...In 1950, in a world before #MeToo, charming Jake plays fast and loose with the women — until the conservative Alice stops him short. Their romance changes the rogue ... or seems to.On the other side of the tracks, a brain-damaged teen in the “crazy house” delivers a mixed-race baby. Her sister Ruby races to rescue the child — and find the white man who did this.When the baby brings them all together, each one — Jake, Alice, and Ruby — has secrets to preserve, as they wrestle with rage and fear, doubts and suspicions.Victims and villains merge and morph in this deeply emotional story of competing and intertwining motives.Can racism be right? Can sexism be acceptable? Can violence be justified?
238 pages, Paperback
Published March 10, 2018
About the author
Doug Brendel
40 books10 followersDoug Brendel is a novelist, essayist, actor, and speaker. His latest work is the novel "Pleasure and Power," a riveting drama about race, sex, and justice.
He also writes "The Outsidah" at Outsidah.com, a weekly dose of lighthearted commentary on life in small-town New England from the viewpoint of a newcomer. "The Outsidah" became a springboard for Doug's popular "Only in Ipswich" books, which also include Doug's fanciful cartoon illustrations.
Doug works professionally as a copywriter of direct mail fundraising letters for non-profit organizations. Some of his books deal with this industry.
He's also active as an amateur actor in community theatre in New England.
Doug served as a clergyman for 15 years, including work as the leader of a drama ministry; a number of his sermon series have been turned into books.
Doug and his wife, the international documentary art photographer Kristina Brendel, have three children. Doug holds a degree in Social Science from Evangel University.
Doug is a popular speaker for all sorts of groups. Please contact him personally via Unconventional@DougBrendel.com or http://www.DougBrendel.com/
He also writes "The Outsidah" at Outsidah.com, a weekly dose of lighthearted commentary on life in small-town New England from the viewpoint of a newcomer. "The Outsidah" became a springboard for Doug's popular "Only in Ipswich" books, which also include Doug's fanciful cartoon illustrations.
Doug works professionally as a copywriter of direct mail fundraising letters for non-profit organizations. Some of his books deal with this industry.
He's also active as an amateur actor in community theatre in New England.
Doug served as a clergyman for 15 years, including work as the leader of a drama ministry; a number of his sermon series have been turned into books.
Doug and his wife, the international documentary art photographer Kristina Brendel, have three children. Doug holds a degree in Social Science from Evangel University.
Doug is a popular speaker for all sorts of groups. Please contact him personally via Unconventional@DougBrendel.com or http://www.DougBrendel.com/
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 28, 2018
The sheer physicality of long-standing author and popular public speaker Doug Brendel’s latest novel, Pleasure and Power, is overwhelming at times. His brutally honest depiction of his diverse characters is so tangible that you can sense their vulnerabilities and are made aware of their human frailties from the very first page. The immediacy of his text is graphic in the extreme, so that you feel immersed in their world from the start of this poignant and deeply moving tale of warped love and emotions.
Set in the late 1940s, Pleasure and Power reveals the harshness and raw reality of the decade, where racism was so extreme that to find a mental health institution that would accept a Colored woman as an inmate was a real battle. When the sixteen-year-old Maddie gets hit in the head by a baseball, and her family can no longer cope with tending for her needs as a teen with the mind of a three-year-old, she gets placed in a largely white-dominated institution, where she is raped and falls pregnant by a white health worker. In the meantime, her younger sister, Ruby, is befriended by Alice, the manager of a white-run Mission dedicated to helping the poor. Despite Alice’s firm religious beliefs, she marries a rubber manufacturer’s representative, Jake, who turns out to be a philandering male, keenly intent on pursuing any available good-looking woman.
How the lives of all the main protagonists intermingle and become wrapped up in one another makes for fascinating reading, but there are, in addition, several strands that underlie the text throughout, primarily those relating to racism, sexism and violence. The ethical ramifications of the stance taken by each of the characters in relation to the major themes should arouse the interest of any reader who looks for deeper meaning in the books that they read. The raw sexuality of some scenes stands in stark contrast to the more profound feelings that one finds particularly in Alice and Ruby, where compassion for family and friends is accompanied by personal misgivings and shortcomings.
Alice’s role as wife and Mission leader is somewhat dichotomous, in that her personal deep-set religious beliefs would seem to run counter to the sexual freedom that she allows herself with Jake. Brendel explains Alice’s ability to swing from one extreme to the other in terms of her impoverished background, where, as a young child, she was subject to both verbal and physical abuse, and her adolescence, which was spent in the care of a devout uncle and aunt. Her mother is depicted as telling her at an early age, when Alice hears her parents making love in an adjoining room: “‘Some folks think it’s bad, what men and women do in bed. Husbands and wives. But I never found it to be bad. I believe God made it for pleasure. So I take the pleasure.’” Jake, too, is caught up in a dilemma between staying faithful to Alice, and in his desire to continue bedding other women. As Brendel describes it, Jake is attracted by “The pull of the possibility. The pleasure of the pull. The power of the pleasure. … The presence of the past. The possibility of the pleasure. The power of the possibility. The pull of the power.”
In short, the novel Pleasure and Power is both pleasurable and powerful in its scope, and well deserves to be read by all who have an interest both in romance and in the social forces that are capable of binding us, and, equally, of tearing us apart.
Set in the late 1940s, Pleasure and Power reveals the harshness and raw reality of the decade, where racism was so extreme that to find a mental health institution that would accept a Colored woman as an inmate was a real battle. When the sixteen-year-old Maddie gets hit in the head by a baseball, and her family can no longer cope with tending for her needs as a teen with the mind of a three-year-old, she gets placed in a largely white-dominated institution, where she is raped and falls pregnant by a white health worker. In the meantime, her younger sister, Ruby, is befriended by Alice, the manager of a white-run Mission dedicated to helping the poor. Despite Alice’s firm religious beliefs, she marries a rubber manufacturer’s representative, Jake, who turns out to be a philandering male, keenly intent on pursuing any available good-looking woman.
How the lives of all the main protagonists intermingle and become wrapped up in one another makes for fascinating reading, but there are, in addition, several strands that underlie the text throughout, primarily those relating to racism, sexism and violence. The ethical ramifications of the stance taken by each of the characters in relation to the major themes should arouse the interest of any reader who looks for deeper meaning in the books that they read. The raw sexuality of some scenes stands in stark contrast to the more profound feelings that one finds particularly in Alice and Ruby, where compassion for family and friends is accompanied by personal misgivings and shortcomings.
Alice’s role as wife and Mission leader is somewhat dichotomous, in that her personal deep-set religious beliefs would seem to run counter to the sexual freedom that she allows herself with Jake. Brendel explains Alice’s ability to swing from one extreme to the other in terms of her impoverished background, where, as a young child, she was subject to both verbal and physical abuse, and her adolescence, which was spent in the care of a devout uncle and aunt. Her mother is depicted as telling her at an early age, when Alice hears her parents making love in an adjoining room: “‘Some folks think it’s bad, what men and women do in bed. Husbands and wives. But I never found it to be bad. I believe God made it for pleasure. So I take the pleasure.’” Jake, too, is caught up in a dilemma between staying faithful to Alice, and in his desire to continue bedding other women. As Brendel describes it, Jake is attracted by “The pull of the possibility. The pleasure of the pull. The power of the pleasure. … The presence of the past. The possibility of the pleasure. The power of the possibility. The pull of the power.”
In short, the novel Pleasure and Power is both pleasurable and powerful in its scope, and well deserves to be read by all who have an interest both in romance and in the social forces that are capable of binding us, and, equally, of tearing us apart.
July 12, 2018
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer for Reader View (7/18)
“Pleasure and Power” by Doug Brendel is an engaging fast-paced read that will keep you on your toes trying to figure out how an innocent young black girl who is bright, talented and hopeful ends up in a crazy house only to be sexually abused and pregnant. Readers also follow Jake Valentine, a wheeling-dealing, arrogant man who takes advantage of everyone for his own personal gain.
The story takes place in the 1950s in Leland, Ohio, where a dirt field serves as a divide between the black and white parts of town. Fourteen-year-old Maddie is black, dirt poor, and is magical on the baseball field – until she is hit in the head with a ball one day and ends up “crazy” and is placed in an institution where she is the only black patient.
Jake Valentine originally from Leland, leaves the deadbeat town to attend college where he finds everything so easy if you just put on the charm. He decides to return to Leland for a chance to become rich in a “smaller pond.” It is during this time he meets and falls in love with Alice Bohannon, the total opposite of his normal affairs. He and Alice get to know Ruby, Maddie’s sister when she comes to the Mission to get food for her family.
The storyline has a lot going on with the characters and the switch between Maddie and Jake’s story. Jake in the beginning just appears in the story after a brief narrative about Maddie and her crisis. I found both characters to be well developed and essential for the plot, but sometimes it was confusing to see them suddenly appear.
I thought the author did an excellent job of describing the racial divide during the timeframe. The attitude that blacks were only good for menial jobs and treated like second-class people lends itself to other subplots in this read. Having lived in the south in the 1950s I can relate to terms used about blacks, the racial divide and mistreatment in all areas of their lives.
I loved the concept of the book; the author accurately describes the era and keeps readers glued to the story to see what happens next. It certainly gives a lot of food for thought.Riveting and captivating, I highly recommend “Pleasure and Power” by Doug Brendel as you will experience every emotion on the spectrum. It has all the elements necessary in an excellent read.
“Pleasure and Power” by Doug Brendel is an engaging fast-paced read that will keep you on your toes trying to figure out how an innocent young black girl who is bright, talented and hopeful ends up in a crazy house only to be sexually abused and pregnant. Readers also follow Jake Valentine, a wheeling-dealing, arrogant man who takes advantage of everyone for his own personal gain.
The story takes place in the 1950s in Leland, Ohio, where a dirt field serves as a divide between the black and white parts of town. Fourteen-year-old Maddie is black, dirt poor, and is magical on the baseball field – until she is hit in the head with a ball one day and ends up “crazy” and is placed in an institution where she is the only black patient.
Jake Valentine originally from Leland, leaves the deadbeat town to attend college where he finds everything so easy if you just put on the charm. He decides to return to Leland for a chance to become rich in a “smaller pond.” It is during this time he meets and falls in love with Alice Bohannon, the total opposite of his normal affairs. He and Alice get to know Ruby, Maddie’s sister when she comes to the Mission to get food for her family.
The storyline has a lot going on with the characters and the switch between Maddie and Jake’s story. Jake in the beginning just appears in the story after a brief narrative about Maddie and her crisis. I found both characters to be well developed and essential for the plot, but sometimes it was confusing to see them suddenly appear.
I thought the author did an excellent job of describing the racial divide during the timeframe. The attitude that blacks were only good for menial jobs and treated like second-class people lends itself to other subplots in this read. Having lived in the south in the 1950s I can relate to terms used about blacks, the racial divide and mistreatment in all areas of their lives.
I loved the concept of the book; the author accurately describes the era and keeps readers glued to the story to see what happens next. It certainly gives a lot of food for thought.Riveting and captivating, I highly recommend “Pleasure and Power” by Doug Brendel as you will experience every emotion on the spectrum. It has all the elements necessary in an excellent read.
May 7, 2019
Power and Pleasure, Doug Brendel’s first work of fiction, is both a compelling and disturbing read. Set in the 1950’s, it’s a tale of charm, lust, duplicity, tragedy, racism, and revenge. That’s a lot to fit into a relatively short book, and every page is packed with action, surprises, and disappointments in the lives of the characters. Told from the points of view of these various characters, Brendel’s storytelling style is engaging, making for a quick read, and his characters are well-developed. This book has left me thinking about the events that took place and how they came about, and wondering about how differently things might have turned out. So many lives were affected by a single action early in the story. One takeaway is that people can change their stripes when the right circumstances come their way, and that we as individuals can influence others around us. I’d love to see what Brendel can do with a longer novel. If anything, I felt this one ended too soon and perhaps had too pat an ending. I eagerly await his next book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews