Sex with Shakespeare

Here's Much to Do with Pain, but More with Love

By: Jillian Keenan

Narrated by: Jillian Keenan

A provocative, moving, kinky, and often absurdly funny memoir about Shakespeare, love, obsession, and spanking.

When it came to understanding love, a teenage Jillian Keenan had nothing to guide her - until a production of The Tempest sent Shakespeare's language flowing through her blood for the first time. In Sex with Shakespeare, she tells the story of how the Bard's plays helped her embrace her unusual sexual identity and find a love story of her own.

Four hundred years after Shakespeare's death, Keenan's smart and passionate memoir brings new life to his work. With 14 of his plays as a springboard, she explores the many facets of love and sexuality - from desire and communication to fetish and fantasy. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Keenan unmasks Helena as a sexual masochist - like Jillian herself. In Macbeth, she examines criminalized sexual identities and the dark side of "privacy". The Taming of the Shrew goes inside the secret world of bondage, domination, and sadomasochism while King Lear exposes the ill-fated king as a possible sexual predator. Moving through the canon, Keenan makes it abundantly clear that literature is a conversation. In Sex with Shakespeare, words are love.

As Keenan wanders the world in search of connection, from desert dictatorships to urban islands to disputed territories, Shakespeare goes with her - and provokes complex, surprising, and wildly important conversations about sexuality, consent, and the secrets that simmer beneath our surfaces.

©2016 Jillian Keenan (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Tremendous

What a joy, this book is tremendous. It had me doubled over in laughter, and wondering what it would be like to be doubled over in pain and love.

Fantastic narration and fascinating life story

The author did a fantastic job narrating. It really did personalize the book. I expected to feel validated in my own sexuality, and this story absolutely delivered on that. There were so many points where, as I was driving and listening, I actually started speaking back to the author, agreeing with her, haha. What I didn't expect was that I now plan to revisit Shakespeare. The author brought those characters to life in a way that I have never experienced and I want to get a little piece of her love for them for myself. Excellent work, I will be on the lookout for more from her.

Innovative

Jillian Keenan not only takes a unique take on Shakespeare, but she does something truly innovative in this book. She seamlessly merges Shakespearean analysis with her autobiography and journalistic reporting. The experiment could've gone way off track, but Keenan beautifully melds the three elements. Add in her somewhat neurotic encounters woth Shakespeare's characters, Sex with Shakespeare will make you think, learn, laugh, cry and empathize with those hiding an important part of their lives.

Life changing

I don’t think I can put this into words, but Jillian Keenan might have changed my life.

great book

This was definitely a great read. It was super interesting and made me think of things in a way I would have never done before reading it. The author was funny, honest and smart. I never wanted to put it down (or press pause in this case)
Highly recommend

incredibly written memoir

i was so moved by this book. jillian introduced shakespeare to me in a way i never thought was accessible and did it through the most human through thread-her quest to self acceptance. i am grateful she wrote so vulnerably and i wish she had more books.

The Paraphilic Paradigm

Do you like pop culture that runs parallel to your life and sheds light on your fears and discomforts by leveraging awkward and humorous situations? Maybe, for you it's a sit com or favorite movie. For Jillian Keenan Keenan it's the works of Shakespeare! And the fantasies and situations she's negotiating are deeply sexual in a way that a certain group of people will understand immediately. The intended audience has shared an innate, lifelong, fetish.

Life changing.

There are no words for how much I needed this book in my life. A must read for anyone kinky. The first book talking about masochism where I didn't feel crazy.... It's nice not to feel crazy.

Great Read!

It’s cool when you read a book and learn something about yourself that you didn’t know. That happened to me a few times. Also, it give people on the outside a peek into the mind of a spanko. Thanks for writing this.

What a lovely insight.

I don't know anything about Shakespeare. I could say I missed most of the references. Still, the explanations and comparisons were crystal clear. As a person debating whether I am a "spanko" or vanilla (Maybe I'm both), I saw myself reflected in your adventures in a way I have never had before. Your narration is eloquent and passionate: you succeeded in conveying a world of different emotions to me. I am absolutely delighted that I listened to this masterpiece. Love from Paraguay.