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A review by sa1twaterfish
Memoirs of Fanny Hill by John Cleland
2.0
2.0⭐Boring Pornographic Literary Puke - but there were at least a few surprises, for someone who doesn't read classic/erotic lit *Review NSFW, spoilers*
My pick 1 of 2 for national banned books week, an 18th century pornographic memoir of one Francis Hill, the last book to be banned by the United States before such actions were deemed unconstitutional. I am not a big reader of romances or erotica, I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. What was so damned shocking that the U.S. gave it the boot in 1821?
Turns out, not much. If you have even the slightest limits in your attention span, you wont make it. This book is boring. If you think you're going to read it for all the saucy, errotic details, lets just go ahead and get this over with right away. The sex isn't interesting, meaningful to the story, shocking, or sexy. It's just this boring, copy cat scene that plays on a broken record, over and over and over. THE SAME SCENE in different settings and circumstances. The book tallies to one very long-winded and weirdly described missionary screw, loaded with inaccuracies about sex, especially regarding the pleasures/virginity of women. Go read something else. Feel free to message me for a recommendation, I know lots of romance authors that write decent sex scenes.
Here are the few note-worthy things about the novel. As another reviewer on goodreads points out, this ain't no Jane Austin. It's a porn, and when you pick it up, expect porn - and per my review, expect a bad one. These are just some things I found surprising for it's time, and its context. I don't read many books published before the 20th century, so if you do, you'll probably be that much more underwhelmed, if not totally disappointed.
Cleland took a surprising amount of time to set up the character and her circumstances before just thrusting the reader -ahem- well, before all the thrusting began, and the author seemed to genuinely care about her plight.
From her parents death, to an uncertain and confusing journey to London, Cleland takes the reader through all the circumstances that lead Fanny into a life of prostitution. Then, porn. But at least you get some set up.
Fanny isn't necessarily a helpless victim being forced into this career
As she starts to understand where she is, Fanny doesn't really experience a lot of dread. She's interested, curious, and a willing participant. She observes the acts performed by her fellow house mates and asks questions, because she doesn't know anything about sex. There are numerous occasions where her housemates and even some of the johns tell her something to the effect of, "You can try other options, you don't necessarily have to do this." and she was like, "No, I sincerely want to be here." She goes through more than one bordello, and they all pretty much hold that same necessity for the girls to be willing, consensual participants. They are rarely portrayed as victims.
The first sex scene is queer
This one really got me. I know that LGBTQ people existed throughout every century, but I was surprised to see it portrayed in 18th century literature, without shame or demonizing. I'm sure this is laughable to you, but my only relationship with literature from that time frame was from doctored/edited material in high school. I'm amused to think how taboo homosexuality was made to be in my life and times, with such influences having been around for over two hundred years. It was always present, always practiced, and should have always been understood.
That being said, gay men in particular were shamed toward the end of the novel, so, maybe it was an ambiguous worldview.
Speaking of progressive concepts....
Rape wasn't romanticized, in fact, an attempted rape on the main character gave her severe PTSD symptoms
When a man tries to force himself on the virgin Fanny, imagine my dismay as the author describes this man tearing at her dress and Fanny fighting to get him off of her. Fortunately, she escapes her attacker, but not unscathed. The trauma gives her shakes and chills, and it turns into a fever. She's bed-ridden for days. I know that's not exactly accurate in the way of trauma side effects, but I was expecting her initiation to be the rape.
I was thinking, "Great, he's going to rape her and in the middle of it, she's going to 'discover' the pleasures of sex." That is not what happened. Cleland paints that character as a villain, he gets black-listed in every brothel. The owner of this brothel apologizes for putting Fanny at compromise and nurses her back to health, and once again, they give her the chance to leave the establishment. Cleland's portrayal of consent was by far the sexiest thing in this novel. There was one character later in her more established days that was into virgin-rape fantasy, but they faked her virginity and played that dude for everything he had. He was also of poor favor and character to everyone. So, Cheers to that.
There was absolutely no mention (that I could find) about oral sex.
I mean, why? Is that a cultural thing? Was it dirty or something? This is an erotic novel, your culture doesn't appreciate queer men and yet you've included a sex scene for them, You've got an impotent rape-fantasy, but there's no head anywhere? I'm just super surprised because oral sex is such a big deal in my culture. If you know why this particular aspect wasn't included, feel free to answer below. Asking for a friend.
Long story short, don't read it. I wish I'd picked a book that made me happy instead. It was a $0.99 book, so I'll chalk it up to an academic read. There are much better banned/challenged books to give your time to. And much better romance/sex novels too.
My pick 1 of 2 for national banned books week, an 18th century pornographic memoir of one Francis Hill, the last book to be banned by the United States before such actions were deemed unconstitutional. I am not a big reader of romances or erotica, I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. What was so damned shocking that the U.S. gave it the boot in 1821?
Turns out, not much. If you have even the slightest limits in your attention span, you wont make it. This book is boring. If you think you're going to read it for all the saucy, errotic details, lets just go ahead and get this over with right away. The sex isn't interesting, meaningful to the story, shocking, or sexy. It's just this boring, copy cat scene that plays on a broken record, over and over and over. THE SAME SCENE in different settings and circumstances. The book tallies to one very long-winded and weirdly described missionary screw, loaded with inaccuracies about sex, especially regarding the pleasures/virginity of women. Go read something else. Feel free to message me for a recommendation, I know lots of romance authors that write decent sex scenes.
Here are the few note-worthy things about the novel. As another reviewer on goodreads points out, this ain't no Jane Austin. It's a porn, and when you pick it up, expect porn - and per my review, expect a bad one. These are just some things I found surprising for it's time, and its context. I don't read many books published before the 20th century, so if you do, you'll probably be that much more underwhelmed, if not totally disappointed.
Cleland took a surprising amount of time to set up the character and her circumstances before just thrusting the reader -ahem- well, before all the thrusting began, and the author seemed to genuinely care about her plight.
From her parents death, to an uncertain and confusing journey to London, Cleland takes the reader through all the circumstances that lead Fanny into a life of prostitution. Then, porn. But at least you get some set up.
Fanny isn't necessarily a helpless victim being forced into this career
As she starts to understand where she is, Fanny doesn't really experience a lot of dread. She's interested, curious, and a willing participant. She observes the acts performed by her fellow house mates and asks questions, because she doesn't know anything about sex. There are numerous occasions where her housemates and even some of the johns tell her something to the effect of, "You can try other options, you don't necessarily have to do this." and she was like, "No, I sincerely want to be here." She goes through more than one bordello, and they all pretty much hold that same necessity for the girls to be willing, consensual participants. They are rarely portrayed as victims.
The first sex scene is queer
This one really got me. I know that LGBTQ people existed throughout every century, but I was surprised to see it portrayed in 18th century literature, without shame or demonizing. I'm sure this is laughable to you, but my only relationship with literature from that time frame was from doctored/edited material in high school. I'm amused to think how taboo homosexuality was made to be in my life and times, with such influences having been around for over two hundred years. It was always present, always practiced, and should have always been understood.
That being said, gay men in particular were shamed toward the end of the novel, so, maybe it was an ambiguous worldview.
Speaking of progressive concepts....
Rape wasn't romanticized, in fact, an attempted rape on the main character gave her severe PTSD symptoms
When a man tries to force himself on the virgin Fanny, imagine my dismay as the author describes this man tearing at her dress and Fanny fighting to get him off of her. Fortunately, she escapes her attacker, but not unscathed. The trauma gives her shakes and chills, and it turns into a fever. She's bed-ridden for days. I know that's not exactly accurate in the way of trauma side effects, but I was expecting her initiation to be the rape.
I was thinking, "Great, he's going to rape her and in the middle of it, she's going to 'discover' the pleasures of sex." That is not what happened. Cleland paints that character as a villain, he gets black-listed in every brothel. The owner of this brothel apologizes for putting Fanny at compromise and nurses her back to health, and once again, they give her the chance to leave the establishment. Cleland's portrayal of consent was by far the sexiest thing in this novel. There was one character later in her more established days that was into virgin-rape fantasy, but they faked her virginity and played that dude for everything he had. He was also of poor favor and character to everyone. So, Cheers to that.
There was absolutely no mention (that I could find) about oral sex.
I mean, why? Is that a cultural thing? Was it dirty or something? This is an erotic novel, your culture doesn't appreciate queer men and yet you've included a sex scene for them, You've got an impotent rape-fantasy, but there's no head anywhere? I'm just super surprised because oral sex is such a big deal in my culture. If you know why this particular aspect wasn't included, feel free to answer below. Asking for a friend.
Long story short, don't read it. I wish I'd picked a book that made me happy instead. It was a $0.99 book, so I'll chalk it up to an academic read. There are much better banned/challenged books to give your time to. And much better romance/sex novels too.