The Thin Wall

Young, innocent college freshman Laleana O’Reilly, disenchanted with societal norms, decides that she needs a new philosophy. One dreary late night in the college library, she discovers the Marquis deSade . . . and Julian. One book. One desire. One unbridled act of passion. Laleana might submit her body, but to the abyss, she'll never surrender her soul.

The story on the other side of that Thin Wall posits, agitates, and contradicts. It’s a belief-driven story full of people who are grotesquely stupid, predictable, and complacent. It’s a story about the simple albeit flawed beauty in that which is to be human.

Thin Wall was inspired by the psycho-sexual studies of Georges Bataille and a de Sadien idea. Bataille, along with de Sade, are quoted in the beginning of the book, and the book starts and ends with a direct intertextual tribute to Bataille. As for de Sade … those who have read de Sade understand that he never really wrote about Sex. He was a satirist, and in his more famously belligerent works, he wrote about Power: or rather the abuse of for the sole purpose of manipulating, intimidating, and subjugating others. He used sexualized violence to get his point across because people have and always will fear sex. In Thin Wall, Julian and Laleana discover each other and de Sade in college when they both choose to write about him for their Philosophy papers. Julian understands de Sade thoroughly, but Laleana naively and grossly misinterprets the text, literally taking it to mean: alternative sexual exploration equals freedom. She embraces this idea in an effort to alleviate the isolation and loneliness she feels. She embraces Julian’s anti-conformism and his power over her.

It's the story of a woman who seeks to escape a prison she has made for herself. It’s a story about the power of friendship, which is the belief here that never falters.