Book Review: The Wounded Name

[osprey_archer]

I am delighted to inform you that D. K. Broster’s The Wounded Name continues extremely extra to the very end. After Aymar’s beloved Avoye rejects him! because he lied to her!! to spare her the pain of knowing that his seeming treachery came about as a ruse to protect her from being executed as a spy!!! when she was actually never in danger and it was actually a stupid Bonapartist prank…

Anyway, Aymar is SO distraught that he tears himself away from his natal home, leaving Laurent behind to explain to Avoye what really happened (Aymar as usual being too punctilious of his honor to ever explain the extenuating circumstances of any of his actions - AYMAR) and then sulk back to his own home, where Laurent’s various relations deduce that he must be in love. Why else should he be so withdrawn and sullen, when France has at long last been freed from that tyrant Napoleon? They are of course quite right! Wrong as to the object of his affections, but correct that he is in love.

Meanwhile, Aymar has realized that the only way to clear his name (and perhaps win back Avoye?) is to call for a military tribunal. He sends Laurent a letter, including a postscript in an unsteady hand: "I doubt if I can face it, when the time comes, without you, Laurent!" Laurent of course flies to his side.

When said tribunal finds him innocent of all changes, Aymar faints in Laurent’s arms. “Aymar's head lay against Laurent's shoulder, and Laurent, who rather thought he was crying himself, and didn't care, was battling with a most unseasonable desire to kiss it there, before everyone; and would very likely have succumbed only that he was sure Aymar had not quite lost consciousness.”

Just holding your buddy in front of a whole entire courtroom of cheering spectators, battling the desire to press kisses on his beautiful bracken-colored hair! Holding back ONLY because Aymar is still awake and might be displeased, as he is generally not quite so romantic about Laurent as Laurent is about him! And then Aymar leaves the court, and the whole town cheers for his acquittal, and a man who spat on him the day before comes up to kiss his hand…

Later on, Aymar comments that in all his bad luck, he has also had “a piece of such transcendent good fortune that I might well spend the rest of my life thanking God for it!”... and when Laurent is slow on the uptake, Aymar adds, “‘You don't know what I mean? Well, go and stand in front of your looking-glass, and perhaps it will dawn upon you!’

But it dawned then and there, for as he stared at him Laurent slowly began to turn crimson…”

CHAPTER END, presumably because Broster couldn’t include the part where they fall into each other’s arms immediately thereafter. And then there is a little tag chapter where Aymar reunites with Avoye, but this is definitely in the manner of a bonus extra: the heart of the book lies in clearing Aymar’s name and also Aymar coming to return Laurent’s friendship in its full blood-heat fever-heat intensity. SUCH INTENSITY. FULL BORE ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Truly a tour-de-force of slashy hurt/comfort!

Comments

[regshoe]

It is the absolute bestest most extra book, isn't it :D

Argh, I love all the parts you mention, especially that postscript (so romantic...). And Aymar's beautifully-expressed appreciation for Laurent near the end of the book, and Laurent's reactions to it, are just the best thing. I think my favourite bit is this:

Aymar suddenly wheeled round and put his hand on Laurent's shoulder. "Yes, magically," he said. "He mended it . . . like a good many other things."

His smile pretty well finished Laurent.

[osprey_archer]

Aymar's journey from telling Laurent to go AWAY (while Aymar is so sick that if Laurent leaves Aymar will probably DIE, no less) to begging Laurent to come for the trial is just beautiful. And YES the smile that "pretty well finished Laurent"! One envisions Laurent stumbling through the rest of that day in a transport of joy.

[philomytha]

This whole book is the MOST EXTRA and I love it to bits even though I was unable to read it in one burst because it was just so MUCH. Broster knew what she wanted and by God she went for it <3

[osprey_archer]

Oh, it's definitely taken me some time to get through, because it is indeed SO MUCH. Like eating an extremely rich chocolate cake. DELICIOUS but you can't do it all at once.

[luzula]

So glad you enjoyed this epic of slashy hurt/comfort! : D

Life decisions I do not regret: buying a first edition of The Wounded Name with D K Broster's autograph in it. Actually it was surprisingly cheap.

[osprey_archer]

WONDERFUL life decision honestly. It's truly a shame that more people don't know about Broster's epic slashy hurt/comfort, but it would serve to make first editions easier to get one's hands on!

[black_bentley]

It is without a doubt the most extra book I've ever read. Every time I thought it could not possibly get more ridiculously slashy, Broster went right ahead and proved me wrong. It's tremendous fun :D

[osprey_archer]

Broster truly had a VISION for this book and she pursued that VISION to the absolute hilt and I bless her for it! Would not be surprised AT ALL if Broster at least wrote down one scene where they actually kissed (possibly after Aymar makes Laurent blush at the end of the penultimate chapter; it has such a fade to black feel) and simply kept it for her own delectation and perhaps that of a few trusted friends.

[black_bentley]

I admire her commitment to the noble cause of slashy h/c.

You're right, that bit definitely feels like a fade to black, especially after the whole "You're not in bed" "Well neither are you" conversation. And I think Aymar makes comments at least twice about Laurent coming to bed earlier in the book. Including my absolute favourite, from the scene in the cave...

"What are you doing over there, Laurent? Did I disgust you so with my . . . my want of manhood, that you will not share the same bed with me?"

Let me tell you, that line just about killed me off.

[osprey_archer]

YES, also an amazing line! Aymar is so physically weak at that point that it's hard to imagine anything more than snuggling happening, but surely he NEEDS some hardcore snuggling after telling Laurent that terrible story...

[regshoe]

I love that line too! Also Aymar's casual 'Laurent, come back to bed' earlier in the cave section when Laurent is being tearfully anguished about Aymar's secret. And I totally agree with osprey_archer about Aymar's need for hardcore snuggling—a missing-scene fic waiting to be written :D

[osprey_archer]

YES that line slayed me. And we know they haven't been sharing a bed hitherto because we've basically seen all the time they've spent together, yet the way he says it makes it sound so customary between them!

[black_bentley]

I very much want to read a hardcore snuggling fic :D Aymar definitely needs it at that point!

[marginaliana]

You absolutely sold me on this. So extra! Must acquire from library immediately!

[osprey_archer]

The book is a hundred years old so it may or may not be available at the library, but it definitely is available for free on Gutenberg.org! An amazing source of slashy literature tbh.

[genarti]

Oh my GOD, this is so incredibly over the top in all ways; I love it!

[osprey_archer]

Broster knew exactly what she wanted to do and she gave it 110% for the entire book!