Reviews

When you consider this book was written almost 300 years ago, you begin to realize that human sexual nature (and appetite) hasn't changed much over the past few centuries. Anyone who has watched a campy 70s or 80s porn, where the screenwriters literally use any kind of human interaction to instigate a sex scene, you would surprised to know that that mentality existed in 1749 as much as it does today.

Having read modern erotica, I was impressed with how tastefully and artistically the author describes the explicit sex scenes. True that it was raunchy, but those without a decent vocabulary and vivid imagination might not get the whole picture.

As far as a plot - just as in modern porn - there really isn't much of one. If you jump into the book looking for literary depth, you will be very disappointed. If you're looking for well-written, so-silly-it's-entertaining erotica, then this is a good book.

cdhotwing's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

xenobio's review against another edition

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4.0

I saw the Penguin edition of this on the classics shelf in the children's section of Borders Singapore (before it followed its US parent and Australian big brother into obliviion) and nearly died laughing. I don't know if it was put there by a troll, or by a particularly stupid employee who assumed that anything "classic" must be wholesome.

theresejs's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I was entertained by this book. I listened to it in my own language, norwegian, and i found it mostly enjoyable. It was sometimes very funny, sometimes sad, and always very descriptive.
However, it might not be the book for you if you suffer from trauma regarding rape or other forms of sexual abuse, because in my opinion some of the descriptions are downright describing rape instead of consensual sex, at least from what would be our modern point of view (which it should have been at all times, but was not regarded as such…).
But i think it’s an interesting story and how sexuality was viewed, and i love being able to read it several hundred years later.

Content Warnings

cara_selene's review against another edition

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1.0

What an utter disappointment! A few years back I had seen a BBC adaptation of this novel and I liked it enough that when I found an inexpensive copy at a used book store, I immediately bought it. Finally beginning the read this week, I was stupidly expecting a somewhat intelligent romp into 18th Century sexuality and prostitution. Instead, if I had read the reviews here, I may have come to realize that this novel was, in fact, little more than badly written, plot-less porn (as porn so often is). Strangely enough, it actually began somewhat promising, in which the first half, or "letter", of the novel had my interest as Fanny was beginning to dive into these new exploits. Shortly into the second letter, I quickly realized how repetitive and senseless the whole thing really was. Each exploit is utter drivel as the same words, the same descriptors, even the same types of women are used ad nauseum. Variety was clearly not John Cleland's spice of life. The best part is that when Cleland seems to run out of adjectives to describe his lovely ladies, he falls back on his old staple, "perfect". Every thigh is "perfect", every breast is "perfect", even every facial expression in the heights of passion is, surprise surprise, "perfect" (to be fair, perfect was often interchanged with "white", what genius!). Most offensive of all is that the girls' descriptions of their first sexual encounters nearly all start off with a borderline rape and ends with the ladies in a state of bliss. Words like "torn and bleeding", "victim", "murder" and "attack" are used often to describe their virgin-less state. Cleland's opinion of women is that they are weak and often swooning (and thus are left completely at the will of men), and describes men as conquerors. This was clearly a novel written by a man, for the sheer purpose of entertaining other men of his time.

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