A review by kaszawiniary
The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade

challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I knew some old books were like this, but it was really hard to get used to such long sentences. The introduction took me a while to read, but the rest was much better. Also, I would like to applaud the translators.

Reading 120 Days of Sodom was like a fever dream. I thought it'd be some hardcore bdsm fantasy with crazy tortures, but most of it was de Sade’s possible love for asses and utter filth. My favourite (the funniest) quote: “I’ll have someone shit in my breeches, and I'll keep the treasure the whole evening.” Yeah, there was too much scat. 

I've seen people mention that the book fails to convey that the four main characters are bad people. In my version of the book, I've seen them being called villains and outright saying that what they were doing was disgusting, etc. Correct me if the original French version does not have that. (Not like de Sade needs to take the reader by hand, point and say, “Hey, this is wrong.”)

Also, the fact that executing someone by breaking them on a wheel was still used before the revolution surprised me.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings