This book was an enjoyable read mainly because it encouraged me to write a letter of my own. I think the sex scenes really make the meat of the book, since the most character development happens within them. Or maybe my generation is just numb to those sorts of perverse things. It's certainly no Harlequin Romance cheese, but it doesn't use unfruitful language like some four-letter c-words I know every five seconds, either. They were detailed, but I didn't think they were horrific. It was criticized, though, for the sexual scenes being too 'graphic' and 'obscene'. On Amazon (since it's my prime source for any book review), this book received mixed reviews. It reminds me of an unsent letter I wrote to an old flame years ago, chronicling our relationship and the unspoken words surrounding it. The book plays out as a confessional letter to her ex-lover, explaining bit by bit the details of their relationship. Not just because she was dating an older man (much like I had), but the way she spoke of her relationship as more a game than an actual event struck an all-too-familiar chord.

What really grabbed me about this book was how easily it was to identify with the nameless narrator.

But, isn't fiction supposed to be slightly unrealistic?Ĭoote was only 19 when she wrote this book, but her use of the metaphorical language is amazing. Once the book gets into their relationship, it starts to taper off into less fathomable circumstances. But the complexities within the story really help to shape it. The plot is simple: A 16-year old girl falls for her 34-year old teacher, a la Lolita. Show More inspired to take on literature regarding this subject matter. 'Coote is a natural, wryly dissecting the workings of human desire.' - The New York Times Book Review … ( more) Unforgettable, disturbing, and morally complex, Innocents permanently unsettles our notions of innocence, experience, and power. She leaves the aunt and uncle who are her guardians and moves in with her teacher together, they quickly embark on a journey into their darkest desires. But when the perpetrator is a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl, is she culpable? And if the victim is her thirty-four-year-old teacher, shouldn't he have known better? When the nameless young narrator of Innocents decides to seduce her teacher, she immediately realizes that the power of her sexuality is greater than she ever imagined. We all know that manipulating someone naïve and vulnerable into a sexual relationship to satisfy a twisted desire is wrong-even evil. Written when Cathy Coote was nineteen, Innocents draws readers into the anatomy of an adolescent obsession. enthralling and ultimately sobering' ( Kirkus Reviews). A young novelist 'turns Nabokov on his head in this tale of an Aussie Lolita who sets her sights on a witless teacher . . .

Cathy coote