Members with This Book
Most Helpful Reviews
see all reviews
Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “I was pushed into reading this as a reaction to the fifty shades of grey phenomenon. I couldn't bear to read that, so I went for the literary equivalent. It's wonderful too, it's full of graphic, explicit horrors, but it's all explained without any obscenity whatsoever. If you take a step back...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It3 of 5 members found this review helpful “a friend asked me to read The Story of O, which follows the story of a beautiful parisian fashion photographer as she gives up everything, even self-worth, for the man (Rene) she loves. she allows herself to be whipped, debased, mutilated, and used by a succession of men in the name of love....” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
see all reviews-
“Poetic and quite wonderful”
Ashley Soothill wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The absolute erotic classic. Wonderful Stuff. So beautifully written.”
Lucy Collins wrote this review Thursday, April 18, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I enjoyed it, not so much the movie :)”
Atiya wrote this review Tuesday, January 1, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No1 of 1 members found this review helpful“I was pushed into reading this as a reaction to the fifty shades of grey phenomenon. I couldn't bear to read that, so I went for the literary equivalent. It's wonderful too, it's full of graphic, explicit horrors, but it's all explained without any obscenity whatsoever. If you take a step back and think about the content then it seems so horrid and gruesome, but when you're in the midst of the story it doesn't seem crude at all. It's a very clever book. Also, I liked the fact that it was created as a riposte: her lover claimed that no woman could ever write erotica as well as the Marquis de Sade, and so she sent the chapters as a series of letters to him before revealing her true identity. Wonderful. ”
Amy Alice D wrote this review Sunday, December 23, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Wow interesting. Uncomfortable to have a massive hard-on all the time while listening to it but a fascinating read. Problem was it did not really go anywhere. And the ending where they just kill her is fucked. IN the end the reaction is that ; so they really did not give a shit and she was debased for nothing; was nothing. I got irritated at that Jackelyn bitch, but no comeuppance came on her; which was lousy. It was like O got nothing and did all for nothing. There was no growth or achievement and the asshole guys as it turned out did not give a shit. But right up until like 3/4 way through it was quite the heady story. ”
Docta wrote this review Sunday, December 9, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“My first and most prominent impressions of this book were: What a shilling shocker! Why is it even on the list?
Charisma wrote this review Wednesday, October 10, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The story and the language of the story (or at least the translated version of it) is quite simple and plain, I would say. I'm not sure about the authenticity of it though. And it lacked some sort of higher purpose. In my opinion at the end it didn't really lead the reader anywhere. I've ended up where I've started...
I had to read a bit more on the history of the story, to find the reason for it to be on the list. I guess I might have found one and it is possible that it is a good one. I don't know, please judge yourselves:
From Wikipedia page: "Jean Paulhan, who was the author's lover and the person to whom she wrote Story of O in the form of love letters, wrote the preface, "Happiness in Slavery". Paulhan admired the Marquis de Sade's writing and told Desclos that a woman could not write in a similar fashion. Desclos interpreted this as a challenge and wrote the book. Paulhan was so impressed that he sent it to a publisher."
Actually, when I read a few passages to my husband he said something like: "Let me guess, it was written by a guy?" I guess it answers a question why the story might have been added to the list...”
“It made me sick.”
Lise Lyng Falkenberg wrote this review Tuesday, July 10, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Originally published in French in 1954, Story of O follows a year in a young woman's life as she allows herself to be raped, whipped, beaten, pierced, and branded by a group of men in a BDSM (bondage/dominance/sadism/masochism) community outside Paris called Roissy. As the character O gives up her entire sense of self for her lover Rene, reducing herself as an object to be used by Rene and the men he is friends with, Rene eventually grows so bored with O that he hands her over to another man to be used and abused. When this man also grows bored with O and leaves her, O decides she is so worthless that she shouldn't live anymore. She asks the man she's been given to if she may kill herself, and he gives his consent. The story ends when O takes her own life. Throughout the novel, O is whipped and beaten so severely that her numerous rapists draw blood and leave scars (as well as piercing her labia and branding her buttocks, which causes so much pain she blacks out) and this extreme physical abuse is always coupled with the word love, with O constantly professing that she loves her torturers, and with her torturers cooing to her that they love her while they're beating her, covering her skin with black bruises, and drawing blood. The situations in this book were so mind-boggling disgusting that I practically gagged and threw the book across the room, and it wasn't until I compared the Story of O to domestic violence that I calmed down enough to finish the novel. All across the world, women live with men who brutally beat them and rape them (as well as their children), whether in marriage or just a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship, and the word "love" is often used to justify and defend the abuse. In Story of O, the BDSM details could be traded for domestic violence and make perfect sense. In both cases, women negate their own minds and bodies in order to be used by a man. While O kills herself in the novel, a lot of victims of domestic violence are killed by their lovers or husbands. In its own twisted way, this novel shows what women are willing to do to themselves in order to feel "loved" by a man. ”
Melissa S. wrote this review Tuesday, May 29, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“ Honestly I didn't care for the book, a bit beyond my scope of acceptable things I would allow done to me. That said if you want to read about a woman who so looses herself into the desires and pain a man can give her in the name of love, than you will read this.”
RogueWren wrote this review Saturday, April 21, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
