WHITNEY, MY LOVE [Paperback]

 

 

Create your own review

Judith McNaught has created a story of an abusive relationship that could have been taken from a psychology textbook (minus the sometimes romanticism).
Whitney , an attractive teenager feels like an ugly duckling although she simply is not fully developed, and her aunt who has come to England to take Whitney to Paris sees her possibilities at once. Brought up by a cold and unfeeling father who had wanted a son, Whitney was never able to fulfil his expectations. She therefore developed a deep minority complex. Consequently she falls in love with Paul who has never showed any interest in her and only sees her deficits -
exactly like her father. That sets up the pattern of her future relationships. Whitney unconsciously thinks herself unworthy to be loved, yet like every human being yearns to be loved. When she comes to Paris, blossoming in to a sophisticated and witty young lady, she meets Nicolas DuVille who would be the love of her life in a real romance. He has all the attributes of a regency hero. He is handsome, aristocratic, rich, urbane and sophisticated. Furthermore he is warm-hearted and caring. When Whitney has her debut, he sees that she gets a good start, and provides her with dancers by asking his friends for a favour. He deeply falls in love with Whitney, but never presses his love on her. He patiently waits for years, and offers her friendship instead of the love he would like to give her. But Whitney is unable to respond to true love which comes without abuse. Finally she finds her true match (although not her true love) in Clayton, Duke of Westmoreland. Just like her he thinks himself unworthy of love (although the book never gives a reason for that). Unable to approach Whitney openly for fear of being rejected by her ( a fear that never bothered the far more self-confident and mature Nicolas)he makes his first move at a masquerade (!) where he doesn't have to show his face or reveal his identity to her. The first encounter is a fiasco. The insecure duke therefore prefers to gain Whitney in an underhanded scheme buying her like a horse from her father. He approaches Whitney again, still hiding behind an emotional mask, not giving away his identity, and not revealing the business-like way he acquired her. The way he makes advances to her is typical. Emotionally to insecure to show his feelings for her, he prefers to sexually harass her. But this is exactly the sort of treatment Whitney is able to respond to. She fights her feelings in the beginning, but she fights an already lost battle. In one of her early encounters with the duke, he beats her up after a quarrel (in an earlier and far more consequent version of the book) and makes amorous advances to her after that.. Her destiny is now sealed. This is the ongoing tune of their relationship: The carrot or the stick. The abusive and dominating behaviour of the duke slowly destroys the spunk and feistiness of Whitney which signified her in the beginning. The hurting culminates when the duke who is mad with jealousy hauls away Whitney from a party to brutally rape her, then stops at last, but only to emotionally blackmail her to submitting to violent and painful sex which he uses as a means to punish her (which is even worse then ordinary rape). He shows all the traces of a borderline personality. Othello must have been one of his ancestors. But it doesn't need a cunning Iago to put Clayton into a cruel fit of rage. The grossest lie delivered by an archenemy of Whitney (something Clayton was fully aware of) will do nicely. After that he eases his bad conscience by sending a cheque and breaking of the engagement, unable to really face his behaviour. That's the coward's way out, but nobody seems to notice that, least of all the duke himself. After an arranged meeting Whitney doesn't believe the duke's declaration of love, and he doesn't show any patience with her plight (not accepting it as a part of his richly deserved comeuppance), but treats her with cold indifference instead. He doesn't need much time to come to terms with himself and detracts himself by pursuing another woman, only a few weeks after that fateful night. When Whitney learns about that, she practically throws herself at his feet. This is one of the saddest scenes in the book because it shows the full impact of the damage that his been done to Whitney in her childhood. Again having refused the faithful and loving Nicolas (he hasn't devoted himself to another woman in the meantime!), she loves the duke even more dearly for what he has done to her. But his is not the end of Whitney's self-inflicted torment. After they have married, they don't live happily ever after. The whole hurting and abuse starts all over again after Whitney has got pregnant. Due to a relatively harmless incident the duke concludes at once that Whitney has betrayed him shortly after he had brutally deprived her of her virginity (!). He makes plans to cruelly revenge himself on her by letting her love her child for one year and then take away the child from her. This sadism left me speechless. After a while he sees the errors of his ways, but is unable to reflect his real problem which remains still unsolved. He comes back to Whitney who awaits him with open arms. This is the end of this depressingly real sadomasochistic story which holds all the fascination of a bloody train accident. And this book is considered to be a romantic classic. A lot of women seem to be stuck in similar abusive patterns which I find quite alarming. As a dark tale of subjugation and emotional and physical abuse I would give it a five-stars review. As a romantic love story I can only give but one star.

They say everyone makes mistakes, and JM made hers with this horrid book. I put off reading it for years, despite liking her other books so well (Kingdom of Dreams, Perfect and Almost Heaven are sooo wonderful!) because of the mixed reviews here. But since they averaged out more positive than negative, I finally gave it a chance and read with an open mind. But I could not have disliked this story more had I tried!

I wish I had a new take on what all is wrong with this story, but I can't say anything that hasn't already been said in the numerous one-star reviews here. I'll just say to take the time to read them all, as they are very accurate about the facts of the story. Now, it's how you take those facts that determine whether or not you will like this book. If you think that beating, rape, emotional abuse and betrayal can all be overcome and true, lasting love still result, then you may find this to be a "romantic" story. I just don't. Clayton did nothing to redeem himself in my eyes, but apparently McNaught was operating under the love is blind (and deaf) theory of romance when she had Whitney take him back. In my head, this relationship will not stand the test of time - Clayton is not able to trust enough to let that happen. I like to think that he eventually caught a wasting venereal disease from a mistress and threw himself off a cliff as an easy way out, hopefully while Whitney was still young enough to find a good man.

Congratulations, JM: you now have the distinction of having created the "Worst Hero Ever" in all my years of reading.

I don't generally tend towards romance novels, but I read this one out of a need for something fluffy...and came away from the experience quite disturbed. Here's a sample of why: in the course of this book, the "hero" spanks the girl, all but rapes her, then (when they finally marry) puts her through further emotional torture with his suspicion that he is not the father of the baby she's carrying. And during this mess, we are to root for this couple? Clayton has serious anger-management and communication issues; Whitney is a wilfull heroine at the beginning, but becomes overly submissive toward the middle. Some of her actions made me want to shake her for being so stupid! Their eventual happiness is unbelievable, and I doubt long-lasting, judging by the pattern of their relationship as depicted in this book.
One last thought: I agree with all the reviewers who said she should have married Nicki...I know I would have.

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 160 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

 

5.0 out of 5 stars Whitney, my love
I know this review might be of little help for people trying to get a general storyline, but I do not want to change her words by putting them into my own. Read more

Published on Nov 9 2006 by Stephanie

5.0 out of 5 stars Surpasses all others. . .
I read so many romances that I often forget about the characters soon after closing the book. This was not the case with Whitney, My Love. Read more

Published on Jun 7 2004 by Amanda Moran

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish this could made into a movie!
I have always said, that 'Whitney My Love' should be given to boys in highschool, so that they could learn how to properly court or date a woman! Read more

Published on May 29 2004 by Nicole Garrett

2.0 out of 5 stars Good Beginning, At Least
Oh, Ms. McNaught, you made me exclaim bitterly a few times over this stupid book. I loved the first few chapters -- LOVED them. Read more

Published on May 3 2004

1.0 out of 5 stars I wouldn't give it any stars, but you can't go lower
This novel glorifies the abuse of women -- physical and emotional -- and is disgusting in its portrayal of the devastation and humiliation of a woman as "love. Read more

Published on April 14 2004 by Booklover

5.0 out of 5 stars What a story!
I don't usually like stories that make me cry, which is why I stopped reading Danielle Steel. This book is definitely an exception to my rule. Read more

Published on April 13 2004 by B. Mckee

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
At first the book was awesome. Whitney really made me laugh. But towards the end is a huge disappointment. Read more

Published on Mar 1 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars Sad... (*spoilers*)
I made a commitment, finished the book, and read the reviews, so how do I feel? Depressed...really down. Read more

Published on Feb 19 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Whitney My Love
This is a grand historical. McNaught manages to touch on every emotion in this book. I laughed, I cried, fell in love, and laughed again. Read more

Published on Jan 30 2004

3.0 out of 5 stars Drawn Out
This novel could have been so much better. The story just goes on and on about the same point it is trying to make. Read more

Published on Jan 23 2004

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

› See all 160 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Search Listmania!