A review by aront
Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin

4.0

I will review the reviews of this book: the 4/5 star reviews give many excellent insights into why this is such a compelling read and definitely worth your time. The people who complain “ick incest/necrophilia/rape/pedophilia/any other perversion” seem to be people who were looking for porn and are annoyed that instead they got a book about the complex intersection between humanity’s animal nature and our overly evolved and somewhat fucked up brains, all from a brilliant woman’s perspective. If you are looking for sexy smut, the brief parts of her diaries that I have already read seem a better option, although I also found lots more insights into human psychology, fun reads and interesting stories.

PS Nin seems a better, more interesting and still relevant writer than Henry Miller, again from the brief readings of his works I’ve done. In many ways (style, subject matter, genre) she reminds me of George Moore.