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emmaratty's review
2.0
18th century porn. not much more to say. very clearly written for a male audience (note that fanny accepts sex with another woman but is disgusted by the concept of two men having sex)
thesawyerbean's review against another edition
3.0
Wow, what a romp. I was honestly surprised an 18th century writer could be so bawdy, but I stand corrected.
This book follows the story of Fanny Hill, an smallpox-orphaned 15 year old girl who essentially descends into debauchery of all kinds when she travels to London just to get by. The entire book is intensely lascivious, in fact you can't really get much further than page 15 without encountering something explicit. And somehow, through the thick fog of smut and wanton that encapsulates this book, Cleland managed to pull together a decent storyline. Although it is almost entirely comprised and driven by sex, the plot did intrigue me to an extent. It seemed to have an air of tragedy and desperation, which was interesting to see developed.
All in all, a rather good book. Evidently not for everyone due to the extravagantly voyeuristic nature of the memoirs, but if you can stand horrifyingly-in depth descriptions of intercourse, frankly hilarious euphemisms for the anatomy and a thoroughly sultry narrative, then this book is definitely fit for you.
This book follows the story of Fanny Hill, an smallpox-orphaned 15 year old girl who essentially descends into debauchery of all kinds when she travels to London just to get by. The entire book is intensely lascivious, in fact you can't really get much further than page 15 without encountering something explicit. And somehow, through the thick fog of smut and wanton that encapsulates this book, Cleland managed to pull together a decent storyline. Although it is almost entirely comprised and driven by sex, the plot did intrigue me to an extent. It seemed to have an air of tragedy and desperation, which was interesting to see developed.
All in all, a rather good book. Evidently not for everyone due to the extravagantly voyeuristic nature of the memoirs, but if you can stand horrifyingly-in depth descriptions of intercourse, frankly hilarious euphemisms for the anatomy and a thoroughly sultry narrative, then this book is definitely fit for you.
nwhyte's review against another edition
5.0
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3186318.html
Comparison with Candide: The purpose of the two books is very different of course. Fanny Hill is supposedly realistic - she doesn't leave London, but has plenty of adventures while there (meanwhile her first lover is banished to the South Seas). We are meant to take it as more or less documentary of what actually went on in the sex trade in mid-18th century London (probably not all that different from the sex trade before or since). It is of course meant to be very titllating, though I must say that the language used is a lot less explicit than you can find on Archive of Our Own without looking too far. Where Candide varies the geographical setting, Fanny Hill varies the sexual activity.
Both are Bildungsromane, but actually I think Fanny has the more interesting and convincing character arc. Candide has grown up a bit by the end of the book; Fanny has grown up a lot, and has moved from complete dependence to almost complete independence. She was also new to me (I had read Candide many years ago) and I enjoyed her adventures more. You can get Candide here and Fanny Hill here.
Comparison with Candide: The purpose of the two books is very different of course. Fanny Hill is supposedly realistic - she doesn't leave London, but has plenty of adventures while there (meanwhile her first lover is banished to the South Seas). We are meant to take it as more or less documentary of what actually went on in the sex trade in mid-18th century London (probably not all that different from the sex trade before or since). It is of course meant to be very titllating, though I must say that the language used is a lot less explicit than you can find on Archive of Our Own without looking too far. Where Candide varies the geographical setting, Fanny Hill varies the sexual activity.
Both are Bildungsromane, but actually I think Fanny has the more interesting and convincing character arc. Candide has grown up a bit by the end of the book; Fanny has grown up a lot, and has moved from complete dependence to almost complete independence. She was also new to me (I had read Candide many years ago) and I enjoyed her adventures more. You can get Candide here and Fanny Hill here.
fangirljeanne's review against another edition
3.0
The original Penthouse Letters. It’s hilarious in some of its porny bits. But it’s also interesting to see how women’s live, and sex workers for that matter, were viewed at this time. Trashy, titillating fun.
joncoughlin's review against another edition
3.0
really impressive language, but really just erotic fiction - no story/plot, not really a novel in my mind, still recognize the historical significance
samanthabryant's review against another edition
3.0
The tone was light and entertaining. I smiled and laughed often while listening (I borrowed the audio book from my library). While it wasn't particularly erotic for me, it was engaging. I think what I enjoyed most was the very formal language used to describe sexual situations. There were some hilarious euphemisms for genitalia. I picked it up out of a sort of historical curiosity and I'm glad I did.
caughtbetweenpages's review against another edition
No rating because... I don't even know how to rate this actually.
I don't think my setting/character/plot method works because it's mostly just smut. It's a weird collection of quasi-empowerment and shaming sex workers, of allowing women agency and weird homophobic (m/m) rants... I don't know. It also icks me out that an adult man was writing a young woman's sexual awakening (like, age 16 I think? She ends the book at just under 19 years old) and then goes, after writing smut, on a soapbox speech about how the only RIGHT way to be is to get married and only enjoy sex if married to someone you love. I really don't know.
I DO stand by being fascinated that this exists, though. Victorians.....
I don't think my setting/character/plot method works because it's mostly just smut. It's a weird collection of quasi-empowerment and shaming sex workers, of allowing women agency and weird homophobic (m/m) rants... I don't know. It also icks me out that an adult man was writing a young woman's sexual awakening (like, age 16 I think? She ends the book at just under 19 years old) and then goes, after writing smut, on a soapbox speech about how the only RIGHT way to be is to get married and only enjoy sex if married to someone you love. I really don't know.
I DO stand by being fascinated that this exists, though. Victorians.....
scott_gunpowderfictionplot's review against another edition
2.0
“It’s banned book week, you should read a banned book.” Suggested my wife.
So I picked Fanny Hill, because why not? I was expecting a raunchy novel with some plot or something to justify the facts that I’ve heard of it and it’s 250 years old. What did I get?
Raunch? More like full on porn. Like the porn today, it’s unrealistic, what with everything being so pleasurable; it’s trying to push boundaries without really knowing how and it’s clearly directed by a man who doesn’t understand women. Footnote, I am a man, I don’t pretend to understand women; but I’m pretty sure no women is reading Fanny Hill and thinking, that’s exact same thing happened to me.
Plot? No, this is porn, the only reason Pablo didn’t turn up to “clean the pool” is because that cliche isn’t as old as this novel. You’re told when the last sex sense begins, that’s it’s the last one, I really feel that’s to save you having to read the last 5 minutes of the book in which the story is wrapped up.
Should you read this book? I mean, do you like porn?
So I picked Fanny Hill, because why not? I was expecting a raunchy novel with some plot or something to justify the facts that I’ve heard of it and it’s 250 years old. What did I get?
Raunch? More like full on porn. Like the porn today, it’s unrealistic, what with everything being so pleasurable; it’s trying to push boundaries without really knowing how and it’s clearly directed by a man who doesn’t understand women. Footnote, I am a man, I don’t pretend to understand women; but I’m pretty sure no women is reading Fanny Hill and thinking, that’s exact same thing happened to me.
Plot? No, this is porn, the only reason Pablo didn’t turn up to “clean the pool” is because that cliche isn’t as old as this novel. You’re told when the last sex sense begins, that’s it’s the last one, I really feel that’s to save you having to read the last 5 minutes of the book in which the story is wrapped up.
Should you read this book? I mean, do you like porn?
eheslosz's review against another edition
4.0
Love this as an anti-Pamela response, very creative use of innuendo and euphemism to be as pornographic as possible without being explicit. Although there was some interesting exploration of women's pleasure and the b.s. of virginity/"virtue", I still found the narrative lens insidiously voyeuristic. Surprisingly (or maybe not!) I saw lots of links between this and Zola's 'Nana' which I read recently.
katerina_p98's review against another edition
2.0
This is just some well written porn. That's it.
There was no plot, no story whatsoever, just a main character who fell in love with a different man every couple of pages and a lot, I mean a lot, of sex.
I actually skipped some of the sex parts, because they got too repetitive and boring after a while.
Nothing really happens in this book and I was a bit disappointed by that. I was actually quite excited to read this because of how controversial it was when it first came out all those years ago, and I live for controversial books.
I was expecting an intriguing story, but all I got was freaking porn.
I read it super quickly though, which I guess is a plus.
There was no plot, no story whatsoever, just a main character who fell in love with a different man every couple of pages and a lot, I mean a lot, of sex.
I actually skipped some of the sex parts, because they got too repetitive and boring after a while.
Nothing really happens in this book and I was a bit disappointed by that. I was actually quite excited to read this because of how controversial it was when it first came out all those years ago, and I live for controversial books.
I was expecting an intriguing story, but all I got was freaking porn.
I read it super quickly though, which I guess is a plus.