LILY'S EROTIC SEXUAL AWAKENING

Ash’s debut novel about an erotically charged cruise and the emotions it conjures.

Finding themselves on a relaxing ocean cruise, Brian and Lily decide that they will experiment sexually. Though the reader never finds out how long the couple has been together, Lily had spent 14 years in a loveless marriage in a repressive Chinese society, and she’s ready for a transformation. With the help of patient Brian, she has explored sexual freedom. Through happenstance and alcohol, the two meet the like-minded couple of Richard and Rose, and a bacchanal ensues, leaving all parties undressed and exhausted. When the couples agree to meet again for Rose’s birthday, the stage is set for even more sensuality, but as might be expected, emotions begin to get in the way. As Richard develops an unhealthy fascination with Lily, and Rose begins to admire a divorcé, the consequences of tangling with emotions emerge. These consequences, much like the erotic scenes that create them, unfold in sometimes stilted, repetitive language. For example, “Rose admitted that she got a sexual thrill from stroking the sexy nylon-clad legs of another woman. Rose found it erotic to touch Lily’s legs.” In a different scene, the language grows clichéd: “Lily added to the erotic images by slowly moving her hands flowingly and caressing Rose’s body as if she was giving appreciation to a work of art.” Though the adventures of Lily and Brian offer moments of excitement and emotional reflection, they are often muddled by prose that is either too obvious—“I could sense what she was feeling from how she was responding”—or indecipherable: “Party fun talk is trivial but lightens the evening with a little wine.”

Thoughtful, sometimes titillating scenes undermined by halting prose.