Nira/Sussa

Nira / Sussa #1

by Julian Darius

He’s a tenured creative writing professor. A well-respected novelist. And a recovering sadistic pervert with a penchant for young girls. His name is Julian Darius, which by great coincidence just happens to be the name of this novel’s author.

She’s a teenage groupie who insists he buy her a collar before they have sex. She seems to know his desires better than he does. And she wants to fulfill them — even ones he claims not to have.

The result is a strange love story that explores how far we’d really go, given the opportunity… and whether men and women could truly live together, if they were completely honest about their desires.

This erotic and violent novel, criticized as pornographic, is nonetheless supremely literary and won its author a Ph.D. in English.

CAUTION: SEXUAL CONTENT, VIOLENCE, TRANSGRESSIVE THEMES.

From Martian Lit. More info at http://martianlit.com

Genres: Erotica, Dark, BDSM, Fiction, Horror, Literary Fiction, Adult Fiction

337 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

A creative writer and comics scholar, Dr. Julian Darius holds degrees in English (Ph.D., M.A.) and French (M.A.).

Darius founded Martian Lit, for which he writes several acclaimed comics titles, including Martian Comics, Necropolitan, Kimot Ren, Forever Man, and The Synthetics. He's also published a novel, some short stories, and a screenplay.

In 1996, while still an undergraduate, Darius founded what would become Sequart Organization, an organization devoted to promoting comic books and pop culture as a legitimate art form. He wrote copiously for Sequart’s website, has authored books on comics, and has produced documentary films for the organization.

He co-hosts the Stories out of Time and Space podcast with Scott Weatherly. It covers science-fiction movies and TV shows.

He currently lives in Illinois.

Reviews

[Michael Dunellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you look this book up on GoodReads, it is classified 3 ways - Literary Fiction, Horror, and Erotica | BDSM. Since it falls into such diverse categories, I am going to write 3 reviews. And if you are eager to read this and want to know nothing going in, you probably want to stop reading now.

Literary Fiction

You have to give the author credit. I would never have thought of combining Lolita with X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga. For the most part, he pulled it off.

The first 4 chapters are virtually unreadable. I don't think I have ever read anything more self-indulgent. After that, it gets better. It is still a bit flowery for my taste but it actually was entertaining for awhile.

One quick tip if you read this and still want to read the book. The title comes from an imaginary pseudo-Gorean language.

Sussa means slave.

Nira means an uncollared free woman who under this convention is less than a slave, or nothing. You will see the word used quite a bit throughout the book.

Horror

So last year while the Occupy Wall Street protesters were gathering in Zuccotti Park to protest against the 1 percent, the people they were protesting against were regularly meeting a few blocks away in a hidden club where they torture and kill young girls (notice I did not say women) they bring in via human trafficking. Oh, and if you don't understand the X-Men reference, it has been going on for centuries.

Erotica | BDSM

I don't think the author knows anything on the subject.

Our male protagonist was once a 16-year-old boy whose 14-year-old girlfriend told him he was too nice. So he irrevocably overwrote his original personality.

Our female protagonist was once a 13-year-old who had a relationship with a pedophile who was a friend of her mother's.

Now she is 17 and he is 34. She wears his collar and calls his Master and offers to kill herself at his command. Oh, and murder other young girls for his pleasure.

Conclusion

The GoodReads ratings are all over the place on this one which I do understand. I am going with my first instinct and rate this in terms of being a BDSM Novel.

Oh, and one other thing - if you enjoy this, you would probably enjoy The Trials of Madeline. I certainly didn't. Both of them involved clubs where inhuman activities take place. I kept wondering if the references to the Paris Club were references to this.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, I would like to thank GoodReads, the author, Julian Darius, and all other parties involved for the opportunity to read this book, as it was provided to me as part of a contest here on Goodreads. Now, with the formality out of the way, let’s discuss Nira/Sussa by Julian Darius.

Julian Darius is a pretentious fool, a subliminal genius, or perhaps both, making him a pretentious genius. There, I said it. That’s the kind of quote that book publishers eat up; cutting it up into little paraphrased pieces to best fit the necessity of positive reviews to try to sell more copies of their latest book. I can see it now. "Julian Darius is a pretentious genius. " The kind of ambiguous quote that people are unsure of its connotation. Does that mean he's a genius in a good way, or pretentious in a bad way? That'll stir up some interest out of sheer curiosity. I hate to make it this easy for them, but admittedly, it’s true. A genius is a genius, after all, pretentious or not.

I wanted to not like this book, initially. After all, I think that any book that gives an opinion of itself is just asking for it. If you’re curious what I’m talking about, refer to the back cover of the book. It refers to itself as, “supremely literary,” and I think that when you do that, you’re asking for it. When it comes down to it, I think that any piece of literature can be criticized, peeled layer for layer while looking for all the meanings underneath. Hell, I had an undergraduate class in which I had to analyze, “The Giving Tree,” in each different field of literary criticism. No one would ever consider a short children’s book to be supremely literary, but given the right context, I think that even it fits the bill. There’s no need to give your readers a conclusion that they are more than capable of coming to.

This, perhaps, is one of my biggest criticisms for this entire novel. From the violent eroticism that pervades this novel, to the analysis of major themes in this novel that the characters within have amongst themselves, everything is seemingly force-fed to its audience. I don’t feel that there’s much opportunity for interpretation throughout this narrative simply because it gives its own opinion throughout. Perhaps the author, Julian Darius, should take the advice of Julian Darius, the narrator, who notes, during a writing workshop within the novel, that a writing mechanic used was perhaps a little too obvious.

If that last line confuses you, allow me to elaborate. You see, the author, Julian Darius, named the narrator of the book, Julian Darius. This, in my opinion, is one of the more clever and thought provoking aspects of the book. It constantly makes you think about just who is actually telling the story. Are we reading a sordid autobiographical account of an enlightening moment in the author’s life? Or did he just so happen to give his own name to a completely fictional character? Who then do I find the source of pretentiousness to be? Is the author the culprit, or perhaps he has successfully created the narrator in his entirety and I’m supposed to feel this way about the narrator and praise the author for making me feel this way? Interestingly enough, this concept is layered upon even further. In this novel, the narrator writes a book about a writer who develops a fan club and has sexual encounters with his groupies. So, we have the author, Julian Darius, writing a book about Julian Darius, who wrote a book about an author who develops groupies and has sex with them, and then life imitates art as the Julian Darius, the narrator, then develops groupies, one of which he develops a sexual relationship with. On one hand, there are many interesting discussions to be had here about the author drawing readers into the story and piercing the veil, so to speak. On the other hand, I can’t help but feel that maybe Julian Darius is trying too hard. (But which Julian Darius? See what I did there?)

It’s this concept of always trying to hard that stuck with me throughout the novel. There’s nothing subtle about Nira/Sussa. At each junction, the characters converse about what they did or what they saw, making their intentions obviously clear. The layers that the author tries to build upon the narrative are obviously clear. Each scene, each action is told in graphic, sordid detail. It’s clear that the author’s passion is in supporting graphic novels as this is indeed a graphic novel of a different kind. Julian Darius paints a clear picture of what he wants his readers to see. And, as the synopsis notes, this novel is indeed violent and erotic. So much so that I feel like I’m reading a snuff novel at times. Admittedly, this is going to make this novel difficult for some people to read if they’re squeamish.

Unfortunately, this is not the only aspect of the novel that makes it inaccessible to some readers. The language is not simple; the concepts within are not simple. This is not the kind of book that you can pick up and read without a second thought. And, although I hate admitting it for some reason because I think it’ll only serve to stoke Julian Darius’ ego (but which one?) it does require a bit of intelligence to read through and comprehend. I would like to note, though, that I felt it became easier to read as the novel progressed. I’m honestly not sure if it is because the language became simpler, or because I just became accustomed to the complexity of the writing.

Lastly, I want to address all the comparisons to other novels that are being made of Nira/Sussa. I read one reviewer note that it is the smart person’s Fifty Shades of Grey. It is not. I think that everyone needs to realize that eroticism and BDSM existed before and will exist after the hype around Fifty Shades dies down. This is BDSM on a very different level; an extreme and then some. Also, as the synopsis notes, this is a “very strange love story”, but one very different than Fifty Shades. In fact, I would argue that the only thing the narrator is in love with is himself, although that’s an argument I’d be glad to have with someone some other time.

It is this infatuation, along with everything else discussed up until this point, which separates Nira/Sussa from Lolita. It’s easy to want to make this comparison; so much so that even the book itself does it. After all, both books deal with statutory rape; in both there is an adult male professing his love for an underage female in the midst of a sexual relationship of sorts. Both books are thus about taboo topics that society is destined to scoff at. But here is where the similarities end.

Aside from this, these are two very different novels. If you take the age factor out of Lolita, I’d like to think that we are left with a very convincing story about a man in love with something he cannot have. If you take the age out of Nira/Sussa, I don’t think the story would change very much. At its core, it’s a story about a man in denial about his love with sex and violence, until he meets a woman that helps him rediscover it. Her age is irrelevant. If she was of legal age, she would simply be another woman that offers herself to him, and helps him realize that he was in love with sex and violence all along. Her being underage is simply another mechanism to make the readers feel uneasy about the situation because, as I’ve previously noted, this books likes to hit us over the head with itself over and over again. The woman is irrelevant. In fact, the title of the novel says as much. As I interpreted it, the woman is quite literally nothing without a man in her. This is its own novel; it is not a 21st century Lolita.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you shouldn’t read it. That is, after all, the question that we want answered when we read reviews, isn’t it? When I first started reading this novel, I thought it was a pretentious piece of trash. My opinion changed as I progressed through the book, however. This is a controversial book. This is a thought-provoking book. Don’t read this book if you’re looking for a love story; don’t read this book if you’re looking for an erotic story to satiate your sexual desire. It is neither. This is a book that presents the depravity of humanity without any filter. This is a graphic novel in the literary sense. It is written to shock you; it is written to make you angry. It is a book written to make you feel, albeit feelings that most people don’t like to deal with. I think there’s a lot of merit to be given to a book that manages to do that without compromise. It does make for one definitively uncomfortable read…if you’re into that kinda thing, that is.

[Pavarti Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I bought this book, the opinions of this review are my own.

Review: Now and then there are books which remind you why it is you love the things you do, why you started down the path you now find yourself. At one time I devoured books which crossed over the bounds of morality and common decency, now I spend more time breaking down the academic value of Vampires. Not a bad thing to spend your time on, sure, but not at all where I started.

Nira/Sussa brought me back to the girl I was when I discovered Antonin Artaud, when I revelled in his unrequited and insane adoration of Anais Nin, when I first read of June Miller, a woman who could have everything but wanted nothing. I was reminded of the girl who at one time had longed to write something as brilliantly deviant as this book. I was reminded that without the exercise of pushing limits, I myself am but nira.

Julian Darius has delved into the depravity of the modern sexual revolution to a depth which defies erotica, pushes beyond literature and broaches that which can only be referred to as truly transgressive. By breaking every taboo placed upon humanity at large - specifically rape, murder, and paedophilia - Darius creates a book truly sussa in it's scope.

This is not a sex positive book. This is not the kind of literature you will find next to Steinbeck and Shakespere, but it is a work which must be read. I encourage you all to read it, to allow your mind to become sussa and simply absorb what is presented without judgement. The reality is, this book is deeply disturbing and to the uninitiated terribly pornographic. However, if you can step back from your cultural assumptions and allow the demented logic presented some room to breathe within your mind, you'll find that Darius has done what all great literature sets out to do.

This book challenges your notions of self. It pushes your concept of humanity, morality and sexuality. But beyond that, it reaches in an unearths a deep truth we hide from. Only in this post-modern venue could a truth so raw be exposed and then serrated. Without Sussa we are Nira, but the act of fulling embracing Sussa will render us Nira.

From a literary stand point, this book is full of post-modern self-serving indulgences and stereotypical academic pretentia. Because the main character is named after the author in this fantastical fiction/completely true autobiography, it is difficult to dissect what is purposeful and what is arrogance. But again, like all great thinkers, Darius thinks either too much of himself or thinks to much, using himself as subject. Does it matter which?

Subject or Object?

Nira or Sussa?

Based in structure and form on Nabokov's Lolita, this novel/exposé takes the classic to a new low/high bringing the modern world face to face with the worst of our reality/imagination. Darius plays with the narrative as easily and seamlessly as a child plays with legos. Switching at times from the dominant 1st person style to 3rd person depending on the impact intended and at a critical point passing into 2nd. It's a book to lose yourself in, to immerse in, but beware the wholesale absorption, lest you become Sussa to Darius' deviance.

Nira/Sussa is the epitome of the publishing revolution. Darius has founded his own imprint and with this work, forced upon the market the kind of raw brilliance usually shunned until well after it's time. Due to this there are a number of strange editing issues, incorrect words ("to" instead of "till") and missing pronouns. At times it's hard to tell if it's an error or a choice as so much of Darius' work is riddled with unanticipated flare. There are also stylistic choices which are not consistent like in the beginning Darius' lines are demarcated not with quotes but with "-" but this convention is later abandoned, sometimes making it difficult to know who is talking as the author shies away from too many dialogue tags, if he deigns to use any at all. However, I do think a line editor could easily do a pass to bring the work up to perfect. What I do doubt is that he could find someone able to do this who wouldn't get so caught up in the story they too would miss words for the rush of reading the next phrase.

Should I ever have the fortune to meet Mr. Darius, I shall say nothing and simply hand him a note hand written on blue paper:

[Johnathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now...

I won't lie.. it took me about 3 days to grind through the first hundred pages or so.. The part titled "Nira".. It took me three hours to pound out the last couple hundred pages

I have just freshly finished reading the book and should probably have waited a day before writing this review, but here I am.

I think that Julian Darius managed to put something together that delves beyond BDSM/pornography. I believe that Julian has put together a philosophy book that challenges our deepest carnal desires.

Even if your particular "cup of tea" is not young women, we can all identify with some deep-rooted "wants" that we distract ourselves from because of the rules that society has dictated we shall follow. Do not misunderstand, there were parts in this book that made my stomach turn as if I were experiencing motion sickness. In fact, some of these parts were abhorrent in my opinion.

However, the literary genius is beyond refute. I found a point where I could no longer put the book down. I ate while reading, smoked while reading.. I had to reach the end of this book. If nothing else, that alone gives credit to the author's genius.

Now that I have read this work, I shall read it once more. I had previously never read anything of this nature and was not ready for the type of information I was to digest.

This book is not about sex, or it is, but only indirectly. It's about love, wealth, power, but most importantly.. it is about you, me, people.

"And I see you now, and it doesn't matter....And I'm nowhere without you. And more than everything, my everything, I just wanted to tell you I love you."

[Alaina Hulvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the most disturbing/beautiful piece of literature that I have ever read. It is not for the faint of heart but with that being said it was brutally honest. I wouldn't even compare this book to Fifty Shades of Grey aside from the BDSM parts. Of course Nira/Sussa takes even those parts and amplifies them. I was rendered speechless until now and still my review probably won't do this book the justice it deserves. Unforgettable and Haunting to it's core. It has earned it's place on my bookshelf.

"But if all you see is sex, that says more about you than about this blot of Rorschach ink, no drop of which has been gratuitous."

[Cliff Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nira/Sussa requires some intelligence to read and truly appreciate. Can a moron enjoy it? Sure. But not as it is meant to be enjoyed. I mean this book is CRAZY! The craziest thing I have read in ages. And yet, it doesn't really compare to anything I have ever read. I keep hearing people roaring about how violent and awful it is for women, but honestly I just dig it all the way. People need to get over themselves and quit being so uptight about everything.

[Kevin Thurman · Rating 5 out of 5]

There isn't a lot I can say about the plot without ruining things for possible readers. I can say that if you are a fan of writers like Philip Roth, Brett Easton Ellis you will love this book. It can take a little bit to get into but once you do, it's a wild and amazing ride that will leave you questioning not only yourself, but sex and relationships throughout time.

[Nika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy f*ck, this book is brilliant. You should read it.

I'm trying to write some decent review of this amazing book, but english is not my first nor second language and everything I write seems disjointed.

['Q' aka CoCo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not a light read...

It was an interesting premise though I feel I must warn potential readers that you need at least a college education to get through this book. I felt like I was studying vocabulary for the SATs just trying to get through this thing. There were chapters that had me completely enthralled but more that had me nodding off in boredom. It's a heavy read, an intellectual read with a little sexual sadism thrown in. It probably deserves more stars because it truly is very well written but I just can't. Bottom line--Even though I understood the historical/literary references and the vocabulary, I want to be entertained not educated so this wasn't my cup of tea.

[Sylvia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read David Kassin's review. It is far more eloquent than I ever could be.

My own thoughts are that I wish I could wash my eyes out with soap and water to erase what I just read. Why did I just put myself through it? It was not an easy read in either subject or prose. I just didn't think it could get any worse. It did. Damn me for not being able to leave a book unfinished. This book will teach me to put one down when my stomach starts to churn.

Now...it might take a couple dozen Harlequin Presents to help erase this one. I like happy. I'm comfortable with that.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well...um...yeah. There's not much to say after you've read a book that kinda totally blows your mind. It's raw, honest, graphic, and more than a little creepy in it's insight. That said, there are a significant amount of typos that really cut into the enjoyability of the book. After a good editor review, this could go quite far...blows 50 shades out of the water with it's depth and detail.

[Didi Gakovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best written novels i've ever read. Haunting.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

what was that? eyes wide shut? tropic of cancer? lolita? not for the faint of heart, and slow to start, but it definitely captured my interest. still not sure how to classify it, though....

[Bobbi Ruggiero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing. Beautiful. Scary. Gorgeous. Sickening. My emotions were all over the place while reading this. It's a book that made me think. A lot. And I will never forget it.

[Martinez A. Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book and its characters are wonderful.

[Es Summer · Rating 3 out of 5]

"You were my everything, my Aphrodite,
innocent though you were of the crushing waves pounding
within me."

Hours after finishing Nira/Sussa I am still not sure of my rating.
Am I repulsed by this book or fascinated?

You can say a lot about Nira/Sussa, but one thing is for sure:
this book is not like any other book I've ever read.
There is no beginning, middle and end.
The story functions around the words, the syllables. This book reads like poetry.
The writing style makes it more difficult to read this story, but eventually it gets better or I got used to it. One of the two.

“One loses love for any lover who loves too desperately.”

The first half of the book was very hard to read. It felt like there was no direction to the story. A lot of ramblings. With the entering of Nonette the story got better.
What my problem was with the story was the lack of humanity of the characters. Julian Darius and Nonette were not very likeable characters. They lacked humanity, while the author still tries to portray the characters as empathic lovers. BUT because of trying so hard to make these lifeless people seem humans, they also didn't come across like psychopaths.
They were something in the middle. I am still unsure where they really stand.

Some situations in this book really rubbed me the wrong way.
*mild spoilers*

Trying to convince the readers that human trafficking is okay?! That was the message I got from it.
Maybe I should push my morals aside, but a few scenes really repulsed me.
The book would have been better if those last scenes were nonexistent.

“The monster once awakened, may go into hibernation, but he is always lurking, just beneath the polite suits and phallic ties.”

But, once again, maybe that was the purpose of this book and those scenes.
To shock me and show the monster that was lurking behind the fake humanity.
I am still not sure, but this book wasn't a book that you should understand.
You read it for the words, you give it your own meaning and your own interpretation of the reality of this book.

Overall, I enjoyed Nira/Sussa. It was a hard read, but the writing style was very intense.
The words were bleeding on the pages. It wanted to make you feel.
The book was so raw. The characters were raw and animalistic.
Read it if you want to try something else and aren't afraid of some immoral scenes.

“All I ever wanted, nira I expected: Nonette, upon whom my life pivots.
The name I give my fire when I lay down, defenseless before its majestic awfulness."


*ARC kindly received from the author in exchange of an honest review.*

Link to the book's official page (http://martianlit.com/books/2/nira-su...).

[Brandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

What to say about this book....This book is excellent, disturbing, thought provoking and interesting. I wanted to be mad at the writer for writing what he wrote, I kept thinking this man has to be put in jail and what was he thinking! This took 50 Shades of Grey to a whole new level.

An author and professor has a 17 year old girl write him a note during one of his book signing tours and follows her to her hotel room knowing she is 17 and while there receives sexual favors. He leaves this hotel thinking he will never see her again only for her to show up at the college he teaches at taking a tour to surprise him. He panics thinking she is going to turn him in for statutory rape only to be told that she wants to be his sex slave. So what would any normal male do, well of course move her in and begin a relationship with her. This story continues until they begin to get bored with each other and she takes him to a "CLUB" where they do other sex acts that are unbelievable and so glad I read it in a book and did not happen to see them in real life! From there they go home only to continue their boring life where she becomes so bored she complains about him writing. And in the end he writes a book about his experiences. While reading this one I had so many thought provoking feelings, I was angry, interested, questioning reading the rest of the book and stubborn upon finishing a book that I started. In the end I am glad I finished this book it was really good once I gave it a try....and I am glad it's fiction!!

[Tacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woa! So far, so good. Like Facebook says about Fifty Shades of Gray," women won't watch porn, but they will read the shit out of it."

This book is definitely the "writer's 5o Shades," or, as its preface mentions, Lolita. Loved this read.

That said, Butthead's voice still echoes in my head, "Oh yeah, well I'm gonna get a tattoo of a butt that has a butt-shaped tattoo on it. And I'm gonna get it right on my butt!"

[Lydia Grier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was one of the oddest books I have ever read. However I was intrigued the entire read. It is a little racey for my taste but I did enjoy the complexity.

[Vee41dmb]

I REALLY want to read this!!

[Csimplot Simplot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!!

[Lindsey]

Amazon freebie 4/19/13

[Delta]

Added to "Did Not Finish" shelf