Reviews

Ovid wrote a 3 volume novel on picking up women. All his ideas were completely ridiculous. The fact that somebody I assumed was a serious ancient greek figure wrote this was so absurd that I actually found the less problematic parts very entertaining, out of sheer disbelief at what he was claiming. I had great fun recounting some of his advice to my friends and family's incredulity. Definately couldn't have gotten through it if it was a modern book, but it being from 1BCE meant I could suspend my outrage and enjoy the absurdity. The third volume is a how-to for women, which was also delightful- he even told us how to style our hair based on our head shapes, being obviously the expert on the subject. Laugh out loud read if you take it with more than a pinch of salt, and ignore the most problematic parts. (I'm also not endorsing him, only making fun of how silly he and his ideas were.)

Content Warnings

a_1212's review against another edition

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1.0

~1.75

v_larr's review against another edition

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Nah bro I had to read book 1 for my mythology course and. WHY ARE PEOPLE CALLING THIS FUNNY AND SEXY? THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT YOU'D FIND IN A FUCKING INCEL THREAD ON REDDIT. We literally have not progressed as a society since this was written (like 1 BCE???) bro this is a compilation of every sexist stereotype ever created: "women play hard to get," "just keep pursuing her she actually likes it," "if you care about your looks you're gay." Just the way the guy writes abt women makes me gag like this isn't the fucking jurassic period bro it's not about hunting and shit. This is the kinda shit guys would read and actually care about and then wonder why they have no female friends let alone girlfriends. Goodbye.

sofinkapoto's review against another edition

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funny relaxing fast-paced

3.0

yliana's review against another edition

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slow-paced

there are maybe three lines in this entire thing that seemed romantic until you read book two and three of the art of love.
i'm reading this for a class and i was annotating it and labeled book two of the art of love 'the incel bible' because i truly could not believe the shit he was saying. it's like he took the words from a fucking incel reddit thread omigod. i can't express how much of a piece of shit ovid is but then again, i'm not at all surprised considering his version of the myth of medusa. he clearly sees women as playthings, i can't fucking stand it. and he's such an outspoken r*pe apologist, it's ridiculous.
the fact that his work has stood the test of time is insane to me, i don't think i could ever trust someone that truly likes this book because what the fuck is wrong with you?

lucy_qhuay's review against another edition

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1.0

I was drawn in by the title and I feel cheated, so let me give you some title suggestions that will give you a truer idea of what this book is about:

1 - The Cheater's Guide To Cheat Some More

2 - A Thousand Ways To Deceive

3 - How To Make Fools Out Of Women

4 - The Liar's Step By Step Manual

5 - Cheating For Dummies

6 - Bros Code

7 - Cheating, said The Love Guru

8 - Seduction Tips For Men (And Slutty Women Too)

And the list could go on and on.

I know one needs to have in consideration the time period in which the book was written when reading it, but The Art Of Love is just one gigantic mess.

Ovid thinks he's some great expert of love, when in truth, he's only talking about lust and teaching men how to be big fat liars, cheaters and huge bastards altogether.

I don't know how women could possibly fall for all that fake crap, but the Lord knows it happens.

mymumwouldbeproud_'s review against another edition

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2.0

Why do I picture Ovidius being to the Ancient Greeks as what the business dude bros are to us? (It makes sense in my head shut up)

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