Synopses & Reviews
Few women do it and even fewer will admit to it. But in Toni Bentley's daring and intimate memoir,
The Surrender, she pulls the sheets back on an erotic experience that's been forbidden since the Bible and celebrates "the joy that lies on the other side of convention, where risk is real and rapture resides."
From Story of O to The Kiss to The Sexual Life of Catherine M., readers have been enthralled with sexually subversive memoirs by women. But even those erotic classics didn't navigate the psychosexual terrain that Bentley does when she meets a lover who introduces her to a radical and unexpected pleasure, to the "holy" act that she came to see as her awakening.
The Surrender is a witty, intelligent, and eloquent exploration of one woman's obsession that will be sure to leave readers questioning their own desires.
Review
"[A] brave book....Its bravery lies...in its earnest attempt to do justice to the transcendent dimension of a profane act....While Bentley certainly has the requisite pluck for the job, her prose, alas, proves incommensurate with her ambition." Zoe Heller, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"[S]tylish and amusing....A control freak with a florid but enjoyable prose style, Bentley recounts her romance with a godlike figure...who sodomized her precisely 298 times. Bentley counted. (Grade: B)" Entertainment Weekly
Review
"[A] spectacular flameout....This once elegant writer is hoofing her heart out. And peeking in, you are made to feel there's no other way to say it as silly as an ass." The Washington Post
Synopsis
The outrageously intimate memoir that became a media sensation...
From the author of four New York Times Notable Books: The Surrender is a shocking story of sexual and spiritual awakening, inspired by what is perhaps the last remaining sexual taboo.
Toni Bentley was a ballet dancer. Intensely disciplined, rational, and self-absorbed, she had experienced plenty of sex with both men and women but remained, at her core, an emotional virgin--that is, until she met "A." The Surrender is Bentley's tale of finding "the joy that lies on the other side of comfort"--a compelling, startlingly personal story of one woman's obsession.
Synopsis
From the author of four New York Times Notable Books: the shocking story of an unusual path to sexual and spiritual discovery inspired by a powerful experience with what is perhaps the last remaining sexual taboo.
About the Author
Toni Bentley danced with George Balanchine's New York City Ballet for ten years. She is the author of Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal, Holding On to the Air: An Autobiography (by Suzanne Farrell with Toni Bentley), Costumes by Karinska and Sisters of Salome, all of which were New York Times Notable Books. She has written articles for numerous publications including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Allure, and Rolling Stone.