120 Days of Sodom - Marquis de Sade

...their actions over the following 120 days are chronicled to prove who is indeed the most debauched. And that, my friends, is the plot. I was very curious to know how good a standard of writer Sade actually was and I can confirm with confidence that he was well, distinctly poor. The writing style is ironically rather stilted and unimaginative in my opinion. The characters are never fully explored and the plot is tenuous in the extreme. The principle ...
...it rather difficult to care: 120 days of debauchery quickly came to feel like 120 years. The interest in the novel is in determining to what extent the man and the author can be separated. It can be contended that the lonely figure writing in his prison cell courted infamy in his lifestyle yet purposefully wrote in an unreadable and distant style to push the reader away but to justify himself to himself at the same time. It is just about possible, ...

Kirsty1 28.06.2002 (13.03.2003) · Read full review
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Review of 120 Days of Sodom - Marquis de Sade

...this book entirely justifies. 120 days has only a loose plot that concerns a group of rich men meeting for 120 days of pleasure in a large country house. The main thrust of the book is its description of sexual acts. The descriptions are detailed and explicit. They become more depraved as the book continues. The book is split into four sections that each deal with different things. Only the first section is truly detailed, the rest are mainly short ...
...work laid the foundations for other writers such as Poppy Brite. Many people will find his in-depth descriptions of sex and other depraved acts sickening and it does require a strong stomach to read the whole book. On the other hand the way the book is divided makes it easy for people to read the first chapters and stop whent hey feel uncomfortable. The plot and characters here are incidental and remain very stereotypical throughout the work. However, ...

Telute 06.11.2000 · Read full review
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Review of 120 Days of Sodom - Marquis de Sade