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Story of O #1
Story of O
The classic erotic novel, THE STORY OF O relates the love of a beautiful Parisian fashion photographer for Rene. As part of that intense love, she demands debasement and severe sexual and pychological tests. It is a unique work not to be missed.
204 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1954
2280 people are currently reading
23295 people want to read
About the author
Pauline Réage
43 books244 followersFifty years ago, an extraordinary pornographic novel appeared in Paris. Published simultaneously in French and English, Story of O portrayed explicit scenes of bondage and violent penetration in spare, elegant prose, the purity of the writing making the novel seem reticent even as it dealt with demonic desire, with whips, masks and chains.
Pauline Réage, the author, was a pseudonym, and many people thought that the book could only have been written by a man. The writer's true identity was not revealed until 10 years ago, when, in an interview with John de St Jorre, a British journalist and some-time foreign correspondent of The Observer, an impeccably dressed 86-year-old intellectual called Dominique Aury (born Anne Desclos) acknowledged that the fantasies of castles, masks and debauchery were hers.
Aury was an eminent figure in literary France, and had been when she wrote the book at the age of 47. A translator, editor and judge of literary prizes, for a quarter of a decade, Aury was the only woman to sit on the reading committee of publishers Gallimard (a body that also included Albert Camus) and was a holder of the Légion d'Honneur. She could scarcely have been more highbrow, nor, according to de St Jorre, more quietly and soberly dressed, more 'nun-like'.
Read the full text at http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2004/...
Pauline Réage, the author, was a pseudonym, and many people thought that the book could only have been written by a man. The writer's true identity was not revealed until 10 years ago, when, in an interview with John de St Jorre, a British journalist and some-time foreign correspondent of The Observer, an impeccably dressed 86-year-old intellectual called Dominique Aury (born Anne Desclos) acknowledged that the fantasies of castles, masks and debauchery were hers.
Aury was an eminent figure in literary France, and had been when she wrote the book at the age of 47. A translator, editor and judge of literary prizes, for a quarter of a decade, Aury was the only woman to sit on the reading committee of publishers Gallimard (a body that also included Albert Camus) and was a holder of the Légion d'Honneur. She could scarcely have been more highbrow, nor, according to de St Jorre, more quietly and soberly dressed, more 'nun-like'.
Read the full text at http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2004/...
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July 7, 2018
i am not going to write a serious review of this book. if you want to talk about why bondage erotica is bad for women or how negation porn makes its readers complicit in the victimization of women halfway across the globe or to sip tea and talk about depersonalization or dehumanization or anything even remotely intelligent - more power to you, but this book bored me so much i don't even care to elevate it or grant it any sort of intellectual discussion. i am really only interested in talking about why this book is boring.
i have said it before on here, but it bears repeating: despite my recent fascination with monster erotica, i personally find reading about sex boring. but even more boring than reading about sex? reading about non-sex. which is basically what this book is.
despite the lingering on the violence and the restraining, piercing, branding, whipping, the sex act itself is glossed over to the extent that at one point o has taken on several lovers, to completion, in the span of three sentences.
for example, the last line in the book:
it was only after daybreak, after all the dancers had left, that sir stephen and the commander, awakening natalie who was asleep at o's feet, helped o to her feet, led her to the middle of the courtyard, unfastened her chain and removed her mask and, laying her back upon a table, possessed her one after the other.
penthouse letters, that is not.
and it's all like that.
but sir stephen's hands pried open her loins, forced the buttocks' portal, retreated, took her again, caressed her until she moaned.
obviously, this is intended to be a sadean experiment in impersonal and objectified sex, but more detail is given in this book to the construction of dresses than to the sex act. and that's fine, like i said, i have no regrets at not reading about "glistening honey-pots" or "man-roots."but at least that would have gotten a giggle out of me.
and why am i the only one reading lactation porn and wondering who is supposed to clean up after it? and reading this and completely focusing on the hygiene?? the fact that her lover will not permit her to wear underwear. fine. but then he will also not let her sit upon her dress, so no matter where she is: on a bar stool, at a restaurant, in the backseat of a public conveyance, she is always bare-assed, and bare-"bellied" directly on the seats.and that grossed me out more than any of the more violent tearing and whipping and piercing she undergoes.do you know where that barstool has been? then don't go rubbing your open bits about on it!seriously. why would your lover/master want you to get scabies? it is contagious!
and don't go bloodying up the good towels after a rough session of buttsecks.it's so nasty.
this is what i took from story of o and i apologize, but i have my hang-ups same as anyone, and i just feel like a place like roissy, with all those bodily fluids squirting everywhere and all the blood all over the floor and how often do they clean those riding crops??? is all i could think about.
it is interesting that the bodice rippers chose this book to read during the height of fifty shades of gray mania. here are some pictures from the fifty shades event at my store:
seriously, do you see how many people are there?
insanity. i wasn't able to get a good photo of the author, just the woman interviewing her, but she was there, i swear.
as you can see, female-penned BDSM erotica is insanely popular.(is that redundant??is there BDSM that is just casual and unerotic? yes! and it is this book!) and i get why this book (story of o, i do not yet understand the shades phenomenon)is a BIG DEAL because at the time, it was unprecedented that a woman would have written such a violent and debasing novel. but i read it now and i can't help but think, "is that all??"
incidentally,this fifty shades phenomenon is out of hand. little old ladies reading bondage porn has got to be one of the signs of the end times.
but even fifty shades is having troubles:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05...
and of course i am totally anti-censorship, but if that book is as dull as this one, who's to say that they aren't dodging a bullet here by not being allowed to read it.
full disclosure: i read a shitty translation. i am sure manny will come out and say it is better in its original language, and of that i have no doubt. but i honestly don't feel that i would have enjoyed it any better in french, even if my fluency in that language had not been severely compromised by years of disuse.
i read this first when i was in high school, when i thought that subversive literature would be cool. i read some de sade and i read story of the eye, and i read this, and honestly, it just bored the crap out of me. but i thought i still had my copy lying around. turns out, i did not. and i wasn't going to buy a new copy when the bodicers chose this book because i figured, quite rightly, that i wouldn't enjoy it any more the second time around than i had on the first. i read the introduction of the hard copy on my break at work, and i ended up borrowing a nook so's i could read it without having to shell out the whopping 8 bucks for it. and the introduction is worth reading, if you are interested in the history of its translation:
there exists an earlier translation of o, made in paris several years ago. i trust i shall not be accused of a corresponding lack of generosity if i say (and i am not the first, and far from the only one, to say it) that this earlier version is less a translation than an adaptation. it reads somehow as though the adapter-translator were in fact embarrassed by the work: certain parts are glossed over; whole descriptions, nonexistent in the original, are written in; and, indeed, much of the book is paraphrased rather than translated directly. as one who had read the work in french when it first appeared, and admired not only its contents but the extreme felicity of the style, what troubled me mostly about the earlier english version was its seeming disdain for this obvious style. subsequently, i learned this translator was a man, and it seemed to me that this fact alone sufficed to explain both the embarrassment - male embarrassment manifest in his version, and also why pauline reage had gone out of her way to comment favorably on mine: story of o, written by a woman, demands a woman translator, one who will humble herself before the work and be satisfied simply to render it, as faithfully as possible, without interpretation or unwanted elaboration. faced with a work such as o, male pride, male superiority - however liberal the male, however much he may try to suppress them - will, i am certain, somehow intrude.
now, i don't know about all that, but i do know that the translation i read was atrocious. it was boring. and at one point, it cuts off abruptly, and i was like "weird," so i went to the hard copy only to find that eleven "pages" were missing in the electronic version! what the hell?
as grateful as i am that lulu press exists, because they gave semen recipes to the world, i do not think they have the best copyeditors.not only were the ELEVEN pages missing, but there were roughly a million typos, which are terribly distracting when you are trying to focus on the buttsecks. and those pages were the whole part about her and jacqueline and the command sir stephen gives o regarding jacqueline, and is kind of a big deal, plot-wise, and is followed by one of the only interesting sections in the book, where she contemplates her role in sir stephen's orbit, and speculates upon his intent and his feelings blah blah. but stephen is such a douche ,who cares, right?
but so why am i not going to go back and read the "better" translation? because that sums it up: i really don't care. i just wanted to let everyone know that if you are interested in reading this book, DO NOT read the version on the nook or kindle or the POD lulu press one. because from what i can tell, it definitely is just an adaptation, and since you probably aren't going to go learning french just to read this book, if you are going to read it, READ IT.
AND OH MY GOD!!!
i wrote all that part yesterday, but i didn't post it because i wanted to do a side-by-side comparison of the text on the nook and the text in the hard copy, so i had to wait until i was at work to take notes and everything and I WAS WRONG! they are exactly the same. so this is not just an adaptation-mistranslation. this is the one that is supposed to be "good". that reage praised.
holy hell.
this ruins my whole review, but i do not care enough to rewrite it and this may well be my worst review ever, but i don't even care because this book bored the shit out of me TWICE and that should not be rewarded.
in more personal news, (because the rest of this review has been such intensive impersonal lit-crit, i know...)i read this on the new glow-y nook.
which is pretty cool. were i ever to buy a device for myself, i would probably buy the glow-y one because i like to read while i am walking and it is much easier to read on a nook while walking than a book because you can do it all one-handed (LGM) but the problem i was having was with night-walking, and the light-em-up feature solves all of that. i can also late-night read without the lights on. i want to read something scarrrry on it, all alone in the dark, and see what happens.
SPOOKY!!
even maggie approves:
and, no - barnes and noble is not making me say this. i actually like this thing. and if i could get one for free and get all my books on it for free like i do when i borrow one, my life would be awesome. as is, it is just mediocre. like this review. no - this review sucks. like the book.
come to my blog!
i have said it before on here, but it bears repeating: despite my recent fascination with monster erotica, i personally find reading about sex boring. but even more boring than reading about sex? reading about non-sex. which is basically what this book is.
despite the lingering on the violence and the restraining, piercing, branding, whipping, the sex act itself is glossed over to the extent that at one point o has taken on several lovers, to completion, in the span of three sentences.
for example, the last line in the book:
it was only after daybreak, after all the dancers had left, that sir stephen and the commander, awakening natalie who was asleep at o's feet, helped o to her feet, led her to the middle of the courtyard, unfastened her chain and removed her mask and, laying her back upon a table, possessed her one after the other.
penthouse letters, that is not.
and it's all like that.
but sir stephen's hands pried open her loins, forced the buttocks' portal, retreated, took her again, caressed her until she moaned.
obviously, this is intended to be a sadean experiment in impersonal and objectified sex, but more detail is given in this book to the construction of dresses than to the sex act. and that's fine, like i said, i have no regrets at not reading about "glistening honey-pots" or "man-roots."but at least that would have gotten a giggle out of me.
and why am i the only one reading lactation porn and wondering who is supposed to clean up after it? and reading this and completely focusing on the hygiene?? the fact that her lover will not permit her to wear underwear. fine. but then he will also not let her sit upon her dress, so no matter where she is: on a bar stool, at a restaurant, in the backseat of a public conveyance, she is always bare-assed, and bare-"bellied" directly on the seats.and that grossed me out more than any of the more violent tearing and whipping and piercing she undergoes.do you know where that barstool has been? then don't go rubbing your open bits about on it!seriously. why would your lover/master want you to get scabies? it is contagious!
and don't go bloodying up the good towels after a rough session of buttsecks.it's so nasty.
this is what i took from story of o and i apologize, but i have my hang-ups same as anyone, and i just feel like a place like roissy, with all those bodily fluids squirting everywhere and all the blood all over the floor and how often do they clean those riding crops??? is all i could think about.
it is interesting that the bodice rippers chose this book to read during the height of fifty shades of gray mania. here are some pictures from the fifty shades event at my store:
seriously, do you see how many people are there?
insanity. i wasn't able to get a good photo of the author, just the woman interviewing her, but she was there, i swear.
as you can see, female-penned BDSM erotica is insanely popular.(is that redundant??is there BDSM that is just casual and unerotic? yes! and it is this book!) and i get why this book (story of o, i do not yet understand the shades phenomenon)is a BIG DEAL because at the time, it was unprecedented that a woman would have written such a violent and debasing novel. but i read it now and i can't help but think, "is that all??"
incidentally,this fifty shades phenomenon is out of hand. little old ladies reading bondage porn has got to be one of the signs of the end times.
but even fifty shades is having troubles:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05...
and of course i am totally anti-censorship, but if that book is as dull as this one, who's to say that they aren't dodging a bullet here by not being allowed to read it.
full disclosure: i read a shitty translation. i am sure manny will come out and say it is better in its original language, and of that i have no doubt. but i honestly don't feel that i would have enjoyed it any better in french, even if my fluency in that language had not been severely compromised by years of disuse.
i read this first when i was in high school, when i thought that subversive literature would be cool. i read some de sade and i read story of the eye, and i read this, and honestly, it just bored the crap out of me. but i thought i still had my copy lying around. turns out, i did not. and i wasn't going to buy a new copy when the bodicers chose this book because i figured, quite rightly, that i wouldn't enjoy it any more the second time around than i had on the first. i read the introduction of the hard copy on my break at work, and i ended up borrowing a nook so's i could read it without having to shell out the whopping 8 bucks for it. and the introduction is worth reading, if you are interested in the history of its translation:
there exists an earlier translation of o, made in paris several years ago. i trust i shall not be accused of a corresponding lack of generosity if i say (and i am not the first, and far from the only one, to say it) that this earlier version is less a translation than an adaptation. it reads somehow as though the adapter-translator were in fact embarrassed by the work: certain parts are glossed over; whole descriptions, nonexistent in the original, are written in; and, indeed, much of the book is paraphrased rather than translated directly. as one who had read the work in french when it first appeared, and admired not only its contents but the extreme felicity of the style, what troubled me mostly about the earlier english version was its seeming disdain for this obvious style. subsequently, i learned this translator was a man, and it seemed to me that this fact alone sufficed to explain both the embarrassment - male embarrassment manifest in his version, and also why pauline reage had gone out of her way to comment favorably on mine: story of o, written by a woman, demands a woman translator, one who will humble herself before the work and be satisfied simply to render it, as faithfully as possible, without interpretation or unwanted elaboration. faced with a work such as o, male pride, male superiority - however liberal the male, however much he may try to suppress them - will, i am certain, somehow intrude.
now, i don't know about all that, but i do know that the translation i read was atrocious. it was boring. and at one point, it cuts off abruptly, and i was like "weird," so i went to the hard copy only to find that eleven "pages" were missing in the electronic version! what the hell?
as grateful as i am that lulu press exists, because they gave semen recipes to the world, i do not think they have the best copyeditors.not only were the ELEVEN pages missing, but there were roughly a million typos, which are terribly distracting when you are trying to focus on the buttsecks. and those pages were the whole part about her and jacqueline and the command sir stephen gives o regarding jacqueline, and is kind of a big deal, plot-wise, and is followed by one of the only interesting sections in the book, where she contemplates her role in sir stephen's orbit, and speculates upon his intent and his feelings blah blah. but stephen is such a douche ,who cares, right?
but so why am i not going to go back and read the "better" translation? because that sums it up: i really don't care. i just wanted to let everyone know that if you are interested in reading this book, DO NOT read the version on the nook or kindle or the POD lulu press one. because from what i can tell, it definitely is just an adaptation, and since you probably aren't going to go learning french just to read this book, if you are going to read it, READ IT.
AND OH MY GOD!!!
i wrote all that part yesterday, but i didn't post it because i wanted to do a side-by-side comparison of the text on the nook and the text in the hard copy, so i had to wait until i was at work to take notes and everything and I WAS WRONG! they are exactly the same. so this is not just an adaptation-mistranslation. this is the one that is supposed to be "good". that reage praised.
holy hell.
this ruins my whole review, but i do not care enough to rewrite it and this may well be my worst review ever, but i don't even care because this book bored the shit out of me TWICE and that should not be rewarded.
in more personal news, (because the rest of this review has been such intensive impersonal lit-crit, i know...)i read this on the new glow-y nook.
which is pretty cool. were i ever to buy a device for myself, i would probably buy the glow-y one because i like to read while i am walking and it is much easier to read on a nook while walking than a book because you can do it all one-handed (LGM) but the problem i was having was with night-walking, and the light-em-up feature solves all of that. i can also late-night read without the lights on. i want to read something scarrrry on it, all alone in the dark, and see what happens.
SPOOKY!!
even maggie approves:
and, no - barnes and noble is not making me say this. i actually like this thing. and if i could get one for free and get all my books on it for free like i do when i borrow one, my life would be awesome. as is, it is just mediocre. like this review. no - this review sucks. like the book.
come to my blog!
May 6, 2015
The original ending of this book was suppressed because it supposedly objectified women. However, I think the book is very empowering for women. It makes very clear the difference between being submissive as a person and being submissive as a sexual preference. O is a successful career woman who gets her freak on as a sexual slave. We are all hedonists at heart!
The prudish, Protestant roots of society plus the pc attitudes for which feminism is responsible in part, make this a very shocking book now. But not as much as in the past for its pornographic content,no now it is seen as the choices its protagonist makes that are shocking.
I would recommend the book to loads of people if only because it's fabulously well-written, a real literary classic and of course, it's hot, really hot. How many classics can you say are that?
The prudish, Protestant roots of society plus the pc attitudes for which feminism is responsible in part, make this a very shocking book now. But not as much as in the past for its pornographic content,no now it is seen as the choices its protagonist makes that are shocking.
I would recommend the book to loads of people if only because it's fabulously well-written, a real literary classic and of course, it's hot, really hot. How many classics can you say are that?
August 17, 2007
Since my child is currently one of my 2 friends, I will refrain from writing a real review of this book. Manon, when you're living far far away and are much older you should check this out. And when you do, please don't tell me about it.
May 13, 2012
I never had any intention of reading Story of O until I was recently asked to review it. I knew I wouldn't like it, that it is not the kind of erotica I usually waste my Sunday afternoons with, so rather than purchasing the whole thing, I instead decided to read the Amazon Kindle sample. That, I'm afraid, was way more than enough. I'm not sure whether the sample starts at the beginning of the story or not, the first chapter felt a little out of place, but then none of what I read really followed the format of a regular novel.
The sample starts as it means to go on:
"Get in," he says. She gets in.
I laughed at this. Perhaps I shouldn't have. Perhaps I shouldn't laugh at the fact that O allows herself to be objectified and used sexually, perhaps I should pity her for feeling that it's okay to be ordered around in this way. Oh well, I'm just a firm believer that if someone tells you to jump off a cliff and you jump off said cliff, then it's your fault for being a cliff-jumping moron. Just sayin'...
Anyway, as far as your regular run-of-the-mill sex goes, there's hardly any description. It's all entering and plunging and then it's all over. The whipping, however, gets a lot more attention than the sex does, the whole sample doesn't actually feel like erotica unless you're the kind to masturbate while Crimewatch is on. This is a story of violence, not sex. Because sex is a two (or more) way thing regardless of whether it is BDSM or straight-up (lol, pun!) vanilla. If all the participants aren't invested in the sexual activities and aren't getting pleasure out of it then it isn't sex, it's rape.
Okay, okay, before I get carried away with that idea, it's kinda important to point out that it wasn't clear as to whether O was giving consent to what the people were doing to her. She screams and she cries, which to me is something negative, but I'm no expert on how people behave during this kind of sexual encounter. We are not treated to O's thoughts, only her actions and the actions of the people around her. She doesn't express regret, sadness or even pain inwardly.
The only thing that is clear to me (and makes me feel sick) is that the men who are doing all this stuff to her are not concerned with her pleasure. Which, as I said in my review of Fifty Shades of Grey, is important because all parties are supposed to get something out of it. In BDSM relationships, submission is something that a person chooses to do and wants to do because they enjoy what it gives them and what it gives the dom. It is not forced out of someone. The psychological aspect of BDSM is a lot like how it is (or should be) with regular sex. You give pleasure, you get pleasure. However:
"If you do tie her up from time to time, or whip her just a little, and she begins to like it, that's no good either. You have to get past the pleasure stage, until you reach the stage of tears."
These men are evidently trying to break O. They rejoice when she is in pain, when she is distressed, and when she screams or cries. For me, trying to hurt someone for the sake of hurting them - not to give them what they want - is no different from rape. It is sick. This is sick:
The gag stifles all screams and eliminates all but the most violent moans, while allowing tears to flow without restraint. There was no question of using it that night. On the contrary, they wanted to hear her scream; and the sooner the better.
You could argue with me that O actually wants all of this to happen, so I have no point. We are not told what O is thinking, she never speaks to say whether she wants it or not, but I cannot be the only one thinking that this is not the sign of a woman enjoying herself:
Then one of the men, holding her with both hands on her hips, plunged into her belly. He yielded to a second. The third wanted to force his way into the narrower passage and, driving hard, made her scream. When he let her go, sobbing and befouled by tears beneath her blindfold, she slipped to the floor, only to feel someone's knees against her face, and she realized that her mouth was not to be spared.
Though, personally, I think her mouth is the least of O's problems if he's shagging her belly. What's that all about?
So, has Story of O changed my opinion about BDSM erotica and whether it is dehumanizing/sexist/etc.? Nope. But I'm learning more and more that people automatically categorize books that combine pain and sex as BDSM, even though they're not, or it's questionable. In BDSM, both the dom and the sub have got to want what's happening, or else it's simply abuse. Though O is hard to understand, there are about twenty quotes from the sample alone that suggest she isn't enjoying being tied up and hurt. And that's why this story is not erotic, but merely fucked up.
The sample starts as it means to go on:
"Get in," he says. She gets in.
I laughed at this. Perhaps I shouldn't have. Perhaps I shouldn't laugh at the fact that O allows herself to be objectified and used sexually, perhaps I should pity her for feeling that it's okay to be ordered around in this way. Oh well, I'm just a firm believer that if someone tells you to jump off a cliff and you jump off said cliff, then it's your fault for being a cliff-jumping moron. Just sayin'...
Anyway, as far as your regular run-of-the-mill sex goes, there's hardly any description. It's all entering and plunging and then it's all over. The whipping, however, gets a lot more attention than the sex does, the whole sample doesn't actually feel like erotica unless you're the kind to masturbate while Crimewatch is on. This is a story of violence, not sex. Because sex is a two (or more) way thing regardless of whether it is BDSM or straight-up (lol, pun!) vanilla. If all the participants aren't invested in the sexual activities and aren't getting pleasure out of it then it isn't sex, it's rape.
Okay, okay, before I get carried away with that idea, it's kinda important to point out that it wasn't clear as to whether O was giving consent to what the people were doing to her. She screams and she cries, which to me is something negative, but I'm no expert on how people behave during this kind of sexual encounter. We are not treated to O's thoughts, only her actions and the actions of the people around her. She doesn't express regret, sadness or even pain inwardly.
The only thing that is clear to me (and makes me feel sick) is that the men who are doing all this stuff to her are not concerned with her pleasure. Which, as I said in my review of Fifty Shades of Grey, is important because all parties are supposed to get something out of it. In BDSM relationships, submission is something that a person chooses to do and wants to do because they enjoy what it gives them and what it gives the dom. It is not forced out of someone. The psychological aspect of BDSM is a lot like how it is (or should be) with regular sex. You give pleasure, you get pleasure. However:
"If you do tie her up from time to time, or whip her just a little, and she begins to like it, that's no good either. You have to get past the pleasure stage, until you reach the stage of tears."
These men are evidently trying to break O. They rejoice when she is in pain, when she is distressed, and when she screams or cries. For me, trying to hurt someone for the sake of hurting them - not to give them what they want - is no different from rape. It is sick. This is sick:
The gag stifles all screams and eliminates all but the most violent moans, while allowing tears to flow without restraint. There was no question of using it that night. On the contrary, they wanted to hear her scream; and the sooner the better.
You could argue with me that O actually wants all of this to happen, so I have no point. We are not told what O is thinking, she never speaks to say whether she wants it or not, but I cannot be the only one thinking that this is not the sign of a woman enjoying herself:
Then one of the men, holding her with both hands on her hips, plunged into her belly. He yielded to a second. The third wanted to force his way into the narrower passage and, driving hard, made her scream. When he let her go, sobbing and befouled by tears beneath her blindfold, she slipped to the floor, only to feel someone's knees against her face, and she realized that her mouth was not to be spared.
Though, personally, I think her mouth is the least of O's problems if he's shagging her belly. What's that all about?
So, has Story of O changed my opinion about BDSM erotica and whether it is dehumanizing/sexist/etc.? Nope. But I'm learning more and more that people automatically categorize books that combine pain and sex as BDSM, even though they're not, or it's questionable. In BDSM, both the dom and the sub have got to want what's happening, or else it's simply abuse. Though O is hard to understand, there are about twenty quotes from the sample alone that suggest she isn't enjoying being tied up and hurt. And that's why this story is not erotic, but merely fucked up.
August 22, 2012
At first most people read this as erotica. However I read it for a psychology class. There is a much deeper story if you read it from a different perspective. Sad, definitely. This woman gives up everything. I don't mean everything in the passive way we use it today. I mean right down to her voice. She only speaks a few times, I can count the number of times on one hand. She gives away her core, her voice and her soul. Just to be loved. And what a silent psychological break she makes to remain a body but nothing more than a toy. The things some women do longing to be loved. In the end there is no more to give when all is taken. What is left?
September 24, 2021
Veámosla como lo que es, literatura erótica en el estricto sentido de la palabra, el concepto que, actualmente, conocemos del amor y del placer, se rebasan en esta historia. El dolor y la sumisión descritos a la perfección en cada página para intentar entender el comportamiento de los personajes y los motivos que llevan a O a entregar el poder de su placer a otras personas.
May 26, 2024
Rather than "read," I would have to check the box "half-read," but it does not exist. So, I couldn't finish this book because I couldn't find what I was looking for.
I was hoping for eroticism and sensuality. Instead, I had violence, twisted power plays, and a submissive heroine.
Still, I have to admit it's well-written. It is not vulgar, the vocabulary after, and the author knows how to create an atmosphere.
Too bad it's not the kind of atmosphere I like!
I was hoping for eroticism and sensuality. Instead, I had violence, twisted power plays, and a submissive heroine.
Still, I have to admit it's well-written. It is not vulgar, the vocabulary after, and the author knows how to create an atmosphere.
Too bad it's not the kind of atmosphere I like!
September 24, 2014
The most useful piece of advice on literary criticism that I've ever come across is Nabokov's dictum to identify with the author, not the characters. This book is a perfect example. If you make the mistake of identifying with O, it's all a bit bewildering. Why exactly is she interested in being blindfolded, tied up, whipped, and fucked from all angles by a bunch of people she doesn't even know? It seems bizarre and rather distasteful.
The rest of this review is available elsewhere (the location cannot be given for Goodreads policy reasons)
The rest of this review is available elsewhere (the location cannot be given for Goodreads policy reasons)
November 22, 2018
Anonymous author grabs her reader by the proverbial balls right before bedtime god damn it
E. L. James should be ashamed. What I'm reading here is pure artistry and I almost wonder if the author isn't writing from experience. It's very difficult to explain these types of sexual and psychological relationships unless you've been in one.
RTC but let me say this...REALLY ANONYMOUS??? What's with that ending?
Audiobook #210 11/20/18
E. L. James should be ashamed. What I'm reading here is pure artistry and I almost wonder if the author isn't writing from experience. It's very difficult to explain these types of sexual and psychological relationships unless you've been in one.
RTC but let me say this...REALLY ANONYMOUS??? What's with that ending?
Audiobook #210 11/20/18
January 11, 2014
I did read this some years ago so honesty compels me to list it here. For those of you who haven't yet had the pleasure, I can save you some time. All you need are these few verses from Tom Lehrer - the book itself is much less amusing. I quote them here because it's just possible some of you will not know this lovely ballad.
I ache for the touch of your lips, dear,
But much more for the touch of your whips, dear.
You can raise welts like nobody elts,
As we dance to the masochism tango.
Say our love be a flame, not an ember,
Say it's me that you want to dismember.
Blacken my eye,
Set fire to my tie,
As we dance to the masochism tango.
Your eyes cast a spell that bewitches
The last time I needed twenty stitches
To sew up the gash
That you made with your lash,
As we danced to the masochism tango.
Bash in my brain,
And make me scream with pain,
Then kick me once again,
And say we'll never part.
Take your cigarette from it's holder,
And burn your initials in my shoulder.
Fracture my spine,
And swear that you're mine,
As we dance to the masochism tango
I ache for the touch of your lips, dear,
But much more for the touch of your whips, dear.
You can raise welts like nobody elts,
As we dance to the masochism tango.
Say our love be a flame, not an ember,
Say it's me that you want to dismember.
Blacken my eye,
Set fire to my tie,
As we dance to the masochism tango.
Your eyes cast a spell that bewitches
The last time I needed twenty stitches
To sew up the gash
That you made with your lash,
As we danced to the masochism tango.
Bash in my brain,
And make me scream with pain,
Then kick me once again,
And say we'll never part.
Take your cigarette from it's holder,
And burn your initials in my shoulder.
Fracture my spine,
And swear that you're mine,
As we dance to the masochism tango
March 14, 2022
it takes some level of mediocrity to write an entire book about bdsm and still make it awfully boring
February 6, 2018
English - Español
OMG what did I just read? This is horrible and tremendously boring, every time I started reading my eyes closed.
It did not seem erotic, but totally abusive to those who not only accept it, but also yearn for it, demonstrating that it must be a person with serious psychological problems and zero self-esteem.
O, the protagonist, a beautiful Parisian fashion photographer, has Rene as a lover. As he had already told her that he wanted to prostitute her, it does not take her by surprise when he takes her to Roissy where she is treated as a sex slave, beaten and all included. She leaves there with a ring that allows to possess her to every man who knows what it means. Rene, for whom she would do anything because she loves him with madness and without whom she can not live, lends her to a friend and tells her that he is now her new master. Sir Stephen is more possessive and depraved than Rene and only takes her by where men and women have in common. After lending her, forcing her to be with women and marking her permanently in every possible way, then he abandons her.
"O was happy that Rene had had her whipped and had prostituted her, because her impassioned submission would furnish her lover with the proof that she belonged to him, ..."
I know that this book has mixed reviews. I hated it, but every head is a world and my opinion should be taken as just that, my very personal opinion.
✨✨✨
OMG que acabo de leer? Esto es horrible y tremendamente aburrido, cada vez que comenzaba a leer se me cerraban los ojos.
No me pareció erotico, sino totalmente abusivo con quien no solo lo acepta, sino que además lo anhela, demostrando que debe ser una persona con graves problemas psicológicos y cero autoestima.
O, la protagonista, una hermosa parisina fotógrafa de modas, tiene a Rene como amante. Como ya le había dicho que quería prostituirla no le toma por sorpresa cuando la lleva a Roissy donde es tratada como una esclava sexual, golpes y todo incluido. Sale de allí con un anillo que le permite poseerla a todo hombre que sepa lo que significa. Rene, por el que haría cualquier cosa porque lo ama con locura y sin quien no puede vivir, la presta a un amigo y le dice que ese es ahora su nuevo amo. Sir Stephen es más posesivo y depravado que Rene y solo la toma por donde hombres y mujeres tienen en común. Después de prestarla, obligarla a estar con mujeres y de marcarla permanentemente de todas las formas posible, entonces la abandona.
Sé que este libro tiene críticas encontradas. Yo lo odié, pero cada cabeza es un mundo y mi opinión debe tomarse como solo eso, mi opinión muy personal.
OMG what did I just read? This is horrible and tremendously boring, every time I started reading my eyes closed.
It did not seem erotic, but totally abusive to those who not only accept it, but also yearn for it, demonstrating that it must be a person with serious psychological problems and zero self-esteem.
O, the protagonist, a beautiful Parisian fashion photographer, has Rene as a lover. As he had already told her that he wanted to prostitute her, it does not take her by surprise when he takes her to Roissy where she is treated as a sex slave, beaten and all included. She leaves there with a ring that allows to possess her to every man who knows what it means. Rene, for whom she would do anything because she loves him with madness and without whom she can not live, lends her to a friend and tells her that he is now her new master. Sir Stephen is more possessive and depraved than Rene and only takes her by where men and women have in common. After lending her, forcing her to be with women and marking her permanently in every possible way, then he abandons her.
"O was happy that Rene had had her whipped and had prostituted her, because her impassioned submission would furnish her lover with the proof that she belonged to him, ..."
I know that this book has mixed reviews. I hated it, but every head is a world and my opinion should be taken as just that, my very personal opinion.
✨✨✨
OMG que acabo de leer? Esto es horrible y tremendamente aburrido, cada vez que comenzaba a leer se me cerraban los ojos.
No me pareció erotico, sino totalmente abusivo con quien no solo lo acepta, sino que además lo anhela, demostrando que debe ser una persona con graves problemas psicológicos y cero autoestima.
O, la protagonista, una hermosa parisina fotógrafa de modas, tiene a Rene como amante. Como ya le había dicho que quería prostituirla no le toma por sorpresa cuando la lleva a Roissy donde es tratada como una esclava sexual, golpes y todo incluido. Sale de allí con un anillo que le permite poseerla a todo hombre que sepa lo que significa. Rene, por el que haría cualquier cosa porque lo ama con locura y sin quien no puede vivir, la presta a un amigo y le dice que ese es ahora su nuevo amo. Sir Stephen es más posesivo y depravado que Rene y solo la toma por donde hombres y mujeres tienen en común. Después de prestarla, obligarla a estar con mujeres y de marcarla permanentemente de todas las formas posible, entonces la abandona.
Sé que este libro tiene críticas encontradas. Yo lo odié, pero cada cabeza es un mundo y mi opinión debe tomarse como solo eso, mi opinión muy personal.
November 22, 2010
This book must have been really something when it first came out, but to me, this was just another one of those unintentionally funny chick flicks. I do realize I completely missed the point of this book, because it just completely flew by me.
I won't go into detail too much but the story begins when O and her lover Rene (I use an Allo Allo! accent here) are in the backseat of a taxi, and O is instructed to take her underwear etc off, walk into a building and let herself be abused and tortured, no questions asked. And she'll learn to love it. Why? Because Rene keeps telling her he loves her so much. Because she wants to do whatever he wants her to do.
Maybe it's because I'm unable to see myself in this position, or to be more accurate, these positions, but I really don't see the point of everything that happens to O. If anybody ever suggested doing something that's even remotely in the general direction of the stuff they make her do, to me, I will laugh, to see if they are serious, and if it turns out they are, I will go batshit on their ass. And I do mean that in the literal sense. Because it's the woman who keeps getting degraded, not the man. See how he likes it.
Chains, whips (a riding crop for christ's sake), multiple men at multiple entrances (real friends come in through the back door!), wearing a ring that means you'll have to do it with every guy who knows what that ring means, wearing stuff that expands certain holes, clothes designed for 'easy access' and last but not least: never cross your legs and always part your lips.
Try that last one. I'm serious. Try looking hot and ready by doing that. And I don't just mean for like a few minutes, anybody can make that pose look hot. But try it everywhere and all the time. You'll look like an ill mannered peasant with a saliva problem after 20 minutes.
After a while it even stopped being funny and it just got boring. I'm sure there is a purpose for this book. Possibly something of the door stopper variety.
I won't go into detail too much but the story begins when O and her lover Rene (I use an Allo Allo! accent here) are in the backseat of a taxi, and O is instructed to take her underwear etc off, walk into a building and let herself be abused and tortured, no questions asked. And she'll learn to love it. Why? Because Rene keeps telling her he loves her so much. Because she wants to do whatever he wants her to do.
Maybe it's because I'm unable to see myself in this position, or to be more accurate, these positions, but I really don't see the point of everything that happens to O. If anybody ever suggested doing something that's even remotely in the general direction of the stuff they make her do, to me, I will laugh, to see if they are serious, and if it turns out they are, I will go batshit on their ass. And I do mean that in the literal sense. Because it's the woman who keeps getting degraded, not the man. See how he likes it.
Chains, whips (a riding crop for christ's sake), multiple men at multiple entrances (real friends come in through the back door!), wearing a ring that means you'll have to do it with every guy who knows what that ring means, wearing stuff that expands certain holes, clothes designed for 'easy access' and last but not least: never cross your legs and always part your lips.
Try that last one. I'm serious. Try looking hot and ready by doing that. And I don't just mean for like a few minutes, anybody can make that pose look hot. But try it everywhere and all the time. You'll look like an ill mannered peasant with a saliva problem after 20 minutes.
After a while it even stopped being funny and it just got boring. I'm sure there is a purpose for this book. Possibly something of the door stopper variety.
September 19, 2012
This is a fascinating, uncomfortable but fascinating and intense book. IDGAF. I loved it.
December 18, 2024
قصة 'أو' رواية كتبتها الكاتبة الفرنسية آن ديكلو تحت إسم مستعار وهو بولين رياج وقد كتبت هذه الرواية إهداء لعشيقها المتزوج الكاتب الصحفي جان بولان
وذلك رداً على ملاحظته الارتجالية، أن ليس بمقدور امرأة أن تكتب رواية جنسية حقيقية!
نشرت الرواية عام ١٩٥٤ و تحولت إلى فيلم فرنسي –ألماني عام ١٩٧٥..
تدور أحداث الرواية حول 'او' التي حُبست في أماكن غامضة وتعرضت لشتى أنواع التعذيب والإذلال والعنف والعبودية في سبيل إثبات إخلاصها لعشيقها رينيه الذي كان له الحق هو و أصدقائه في استخدام جسدها كما يريدوا، في أي مكان أو بأية طريقة يختارونها ..
كان لهم الحق في تقييدها بالسلاسل،ضربها بالسوط كأمَة أو سجينة مقابل أي خطأ صغير قد ترتكبه أو لمجرد التسلية....
"يداك ليستا ملكاً لك، ولا ثدياك، ولا حتى أي ثقب في جسدك على وجه الخصوص، والذي يمكن أن نكتشفه أو نخترقه ساعة نشاء ذلك..ستذكرين طيلة الوقت، أو بشكل دائم قدر المستطاع، أنك فقدت كامل الحقوق المتعلقة بالخصوصية والاختباء"
الرواية طبعاً تعتبر رواية إباحية،شبقية وكانت صادمة للقراء عند نشرها بدلالاتها السادية المازوشية...
هو الصراحة أنا مش عارفة أحكم عليها كرواية أوي:) يعني كقصة سادية هي مكتوبة حلوة و حتي مشوقة في قراءتها بس طبعاً فيها بعض الفجوات و الحبكات الغير مقنعة أوي..
الترجمة كانت غير موفقة في أجزاء كتير والنهاية كانت غريبة شوية..
أول مرة أقرأ كتاب من هذه النوعية الصراحة وكانت تجربة غريبة و جديدة بالنسبة لي و مش عارفة ممكن أكررها تاني ولا لأ :)
وذلك رداً على ملاحظته الارتجالية، أن ليس بمقدور امرأة أن تكتب رواية جنسية حقيقية!
نشرت الرواية عام ١٩٥٤ و تحولت إلى فيلم فرنسي –ألماني عام ١٩٧٥..
تدور أحداث الرواية حول 'او' التي حُبست في أماكن غامضة وتعرضت لشتى أنواع التعذيب والإذلال والعنف والعبودية في سبيل إثبات إخلاصها لعشيقها رينيه الذي كان له الحق هو و أصدقائه في استخدام جسدها كما يريدوا، في أي مكان أو بأية طريقة يختارونها ..
كان لهم الحق في تقييدها بالسلاسل،ضربها بالسوط كأمَة أو سجينة مقابل أي خطأ صغير قد ترتكبه أو لمجرد التسلية....
"يداك ليستا ملكاً لك، ولا ثدياك، ولا حتى أي ثقب في جسدك على وجه الخصوص، والذي يمكن أن نكتشفه أو نخترقه ساعة نشاء ذلك..ستذكرين طيلة الوقت، أو بشكل دائم قدر المستطاع، أنك فقدت كامل الحقوق المتعلقة بالخصوصية والاختباء"
الرواية طبعاً تعتبر رواية إباحية،شبقية وكانت صادمة للقراء عند نشرها بدلالاتها السادية المازوشية...
هو الصراحة أنا مش عارفة أحكم عليها كرواية أوي:) يعني كقصة سادية هي مكتوبة حلوة و حتي مشوقة في قراءتها بس طبعاً فيها بعض الفجوات و الحبكات الغير مقنعة أوي..
الترجمة كانت غير موفقة في أجزاء كتير والنهاية كانت غريبة شوية..
أول مرة أقرأ كتاب من هذه النوعية الصراحة وكانت تجربة غريبة و جديدة بالنسبة لي و مش عارفة ممكن أكررها تاني ولا لأ :)
September 2, 2019
I think this has become a classic in the BDSM genre and just about everything has been said about it. This is my second reading. I first read it some years ago and O's self serving masochism and debasement horrified me then. Rene didn't care for her in any emotional sense, yet that is what she desperately sought. Rene uses O to titillate and satisfy his sadistic appetite as well as passing her on to others for further humiliation and pain. O can't say no..becomes in need of whatever pain they administer in my opinion purely to be noticed and seeking an emotional as well as physical need to her abusers. I don't see this as a safe, sane even knowingly consensual relationship...there is no relationship except in her hope, her mind. Her debasement and abuse as a submissive is absolute. I didn't like it, yet it drew me to read it the first time, and I reread it to see if i would have a change of opinion. Yet her type of submissive slavery and debasement to another human with nothing reciprocated emotionally just confirmed my first opinion, and the intervening years make me dislike her subservient character less and Rene and friends even less.
It is still reasonably well written, and gives as is, regardless of human niceties and conventions. I would like to say two star for lack of pleasure it gave me personally and the horror of her situation, which saddened me greatly...yet five star for presentation of a sadomasochistic couples relationship if this example could be said to be such, not healthy and written with no holds barred. Therefore, averaged to border 3/4 star.
It is still reasonably well written, and gives as is, regardless of human niceties and conventions. I would like to say two star for lack of pleasure it gave me personally and the horror of her situation, which saddened me greatly...yet five star for presentation of a sadomasochistic couples relationship if this example could be said to be such, not healthy and written with no holds barred. Therefore, averaged to border 3/4 star.
January 7, 2008
While this was one of the most original and mind blowing books I've ever read (and the history behind it is fascinating as well), it is definitely not for everyone, especially the sexually squeamish and the faint of heart. It deals with a sadomasochistic relationship in early 20th century France. It feels very reminiscent of Marquis de Sade's type of literary eroticism, but is a much easier read in terms of language and prose. This book stayed with me for months after I read it leaving me with that type of sadness you feel when you know it may take years to find another book that is so intense, mind opening, and truly original.
June 17, 2007
My parents had a pretty hands-off attitude to my compulsive reading, and so in my early adolescence I read a lot of stuff that probably did my developing sexuality no good. Finding this book at a garage sale (I picked it up because I had read of it in /Playboy/, another ungoverned input) and reading it at the age of 13 was likely not to my benefit.
Re-reading it as an adult, I found it interesting in many ways that my eighth grade self could not have, such as noticing the exploration of the boundary between will and circumstance. It really is much more than a story of a woman who just gives it up, and repays a thoughtful reading. But it's also good wanking material for a middle schooler lucky enough to have the vocabulary to follow the narrative.
Re-reading it as an adult, I found it interesting in many ways that my eighth grade self could not have, such as noticing the exploration of the boundary between will and circumstance. It really is much more than a story of a woman who just gives it up, and repays a thoughtful reading. But it's also good wanking material for a middle schooler lucky enough to have the vocabulary to follow the narrative.
August 31, 2016
Όχι που θα άφηνα την κατηγορία erotica να μου ξεφύγει!!! Η ιστορία της Ο είναι ένα βιβλίο μιας γαλλίδας δημοσιογράφου, που το έγραψε μετά από ένα στοίχημα με τον εραστή της ότι μια γυναίκα μπορεί να γράψει μια ιστορία επιπέδου Μαρκήσιου Ντε Σαντ (και αυτός της το προλογίζει). Μέχρι σχεδόν το τέλος της ζωής της δεν είχε παραδεχτεί ότι αυτή ήταν η συγγραφέας του, και είναι το δεύτερο – λένε – πιο διαδεδομένο γαλλικό βιβλίο σε πωλήσεις μετά το Μικρό πρίγκηπα, δηλαδή πούλησε σαν τρελό (τα γαλλάκια την είχαν τη φήμη πάντως από το Μεσαίωνα ακόμα). Επίσης, τη συγκεκριμένη έκδοση από το Μεταίχμιο τη βρήκα προσφορά 3 € στον Ιανό. Το βιβλίο είναι μικρό και διαβάζεται πολύ γρήγορα.
Η Ο είναι μια γυναίκα που κάνει πολλά τα οποία ο κοινός νους θα χαρακτήριζε «αρρωστημένα», προκειμένου να την αγαπάει περισσότερο ο εραστής της, μέσα στα οποία περιλαμβάνεται μεταξύ άλλων να συνευρίσκεται με άλλους άντρες μπροστά του, με κάθε τρόπο που αυτοί επιθυμούν. Πρέπει να υπακούει στις διαταγές τους, σαν ιδιοκτησία τους, και δεν έχει δικαίωμα να αρνηθεί ή να φέρει αντίρρηση. Τα μαστίγια, τα βασανιστήρια, τα σκοινιά και τα σημάδια στο σώμα είναι επίσης μέσα στο καθημερινό πρόγραμμα. Μάλιστα, εκπαιδεύτηκε καταλλήλως από τα ανάλογα «κέντρα» με τους πιο εξειδικευμένους «δασκάλους».
Δεν θα καθίσω να αναλύσω τις ιδιοσυγκρασίες των πρωταγωνιστών και να αναρωτηθώ για το κατά πόσο το γυναικείο φύλο φαίνεται κατώτερο με όσα κάνει η Ο – μην ξεχνάτε όμως πως το έχει γράψει γυναίκα – ή περί συναισθημάτων και κινήτρων, στην τελική μια σεξουαλική ιστορία είναι, διαβάστε την και απολαύστε την, ή μην τη διαβάζετε. Σίγουρα θα σοκάρει όσους δεν έχουν προσωπική επαφή με το BDSM, είτε με θετικό (!) είτε με αρνητικό τρόπο. Εντύπωση πάντως μου έκανε η γλώσσα, λόγος για τον οποίο βάζω τουλάχιστον ένα αστεράκι παραπάνω στη βαθμολογία μου: παρόλο που περιγράφει hardcore ερωτικές σκηνές, δεν χρησιμοποιείται ούτε μία «υβριστική» ή «χυδαία» λέξη: απεναντίας, το λεξιλόγιο είναι υπερβολικά κομψό και φιλοτεχνημένο σαν πραγματικό έργο τέχνης. Σκοπός της συγγραφέα, λοιπόν, δεν ήταν να προκαλέσει με φτηνούς τρόπους, αλλά να πει μια ιστορία, κάπως διαφορετική. Στην τελική, μην ξεχνάτε ότι το έγραψε για να αποδείξει ότι μπορεί!
Από την άλλη θα σας έλεγα ότι αυτά τα σαδομαζοχιστικά δεν είναι ακριβώς το στυλ μου, αλλά αμέσως μετά σκέφτηκα ότι είμαι ελεύθερη επαγγελματίας στη σύγχρονη Ελλάδα, άρα ποιον πάω να κοροϊδέψω; Αλήθεια πάντως, είναι δυνατόν κάποιοι άνθρωποι να σκέφτονται διαρκώς το σεξ σε όλη τη διάρκεια της μέρας τους; Ούτε ένα ΙΚΑ, έναν ΕΝΦΙΑ ή το πότε σου κόβει το ρεύμα η ΔΕΗ ρε αδερφέ… Υπομένουν εκεί με το μαστίγιο αντί να προσπαθούν να βγάλουν άκρη με τον ΟΑΕΕ; (Τουλάχιστον η Ο γούσταρε, δεν νομίζω κανένα νοσηρό μυαλό να γουστάρει με τη δημόσια διοίκηση… Μόλις εν τω μεταξύ συνειδητοποίησα ότι το διάβασα στις δυο τελευταίες μέρες του μήνα, εκεί που μαζεύουμε λεφτά για να πληρώσουμε… τα σχόλια δικά σας!!!!!)
Η Ο είναι μια γυναίκα που κάνει πολλά τα οποία ο κοινός νους θα χαρακτήριζε «αρρωστημένα», προκειμένου να την αγαπάει περισσότερο ο εραστής της, μέσα στα οποία περιλαμβάνεται μεταξύ άλλων να συνευρίσκεται με άλλους άντρες μπροστά του, με κάθε τρόπο που αυτοί επιθυμούν. Πρέπει να υπακούει στις διαταγές τους, σαν ιδιοκτησία τους, και δεν έχει δικαίωμα να αρνηθεί ή να φέρει αντίρρηση. Τα μαστίγια, τα βασανιστήρια, τα σκοινιά και τα σημάδια στο σώμα είναι επίσης μέσα στο καθημερινό πρόγραμμα. Μάλιστα, εκπαιδεύτηκε καταλλήλως από τα ανάλογα «κέντρα» με τους πιο εξειδικευμένους «δασκάλους».
Δεν θα καθίσω να αναλύσω τις ιδιοσυγκρασίες των πρωταγωνιστών και να αναρωτηθώ για το κατά πόσο το γυναικείο φύλο φαίνεται κατώτερο με όσα κάνει η Ο – μην ξεχνάτε όμως πως το έχει γράψει γυναίκα – ή περί συναισθημάτων και κινήτρων, στην τελική μια σεξουαλική ιστορία είναι, διαβάστε την και απολαύστε την, ή μην τη διαβάζετε. Σίγουρα θα σοκάρει όσους δεν έχουν προσωπική επαφή με το BDSM, είτε με θετικό (!) είτε με αρνητικό τρόπο. Εντύπωση πάντως μου έκανε η γλώσσα, λόγος για τον οποίο βάζω τουλάχιστον ένα αστεράκι παραπάνω στη βαθμολογία μου: παρόλο που περιγράφει hardcore ερωτικές σκηνές, δεν χρησιμοποιείται ούτε μία «υβριστική» ή «χυδαία» λέξη: απεναντίας, το λεξιλόγιο είναι υπερβολικά κομψό και φιλοτεχνημένο σαν πραγματικό έργο τέχνης. Σκοπός της συγγραφέα, λοιπόν, δεν ήταν να προκαλέσει με φτηνούς τρόπους, αλλά να πει μια ιστορία, κάπως διαφορετική. Στην τελική, μην ξεχνάτε ότι το έγραψε για να αποδείξει ότι μπορεί!
Από την άλλη θα σας έλεγα ότι αυτά τα σαδομαζοχιστικά δεν είναι ακριβώς το στυλ μου, αλλά αμέσως μετά σκέφτηκα ότι είμαι ελεύθερη επαγγελματίας στη σύγχρονη Ελλάδα, άρα ποιον πάω να κοροϊδέψω; Αλήθεια πάντως, είναι δυνατόν κάποιοι άνθρωποι να σκέφτονται διαρκώς το σεξ σε όλη τη διάρκεια της μέρας τους; Ούτε ένα ΙΚΑ, έναν ΕΝΦΙΑ ή το πότε σου κόβει το ρεύμα η ΔΕΗ ρε αδερφέ… Υπομένουν εκεί με το μαστίγιο αντί να προσπαθούν να βγάλουν άκρη με τον ΟΑΕΕ; (Τουλάχιστον η Ο γούσταρε, δεν νομίζω κανένα νοσηρό μυαλό να γουστάρει με τη δημόσια διοίκηση… Μόλις εν τω μεταξύ συνειδητοποίησα ότι το διάβασα στις δυο τελευταίες μέρες του μήνα, εκεί που μαζεύουμε λεφτά για να πληρώσουμε… τα σχόλια δικά σας!!!!!)
November 15, 2015
This story was written in 1954... I cannot even begin to imagine the outrage this novel must have caused.
Taken at face value it’s a strange, odd, and confusing tale of female submission. The main character, known as O, is brought to the château of Roissy where she is taught to be constantly ‘available’ to the men who belong to that ‘elite group’. Like I said, awkward. You’re not given much background story at all so you don’t quite understand the O and why she’s allowing this to happen when she doesn’t even appear to be enjoying this (regardless of the fact that she actually gives her permission frequently for them to do such things to her).
After reading more about Anne Desclos (The Story of O being written under the pen name Pauline Réage) the story begins to make a bit more sense. It wasn’t originally intended to be a novel; however, it was written as a series of love letters to her lover Jean Paulhan. Her lover had been a fan of the work of Marquis de Sade and had once said that a woman could not write anything such as that. Taking it as a dare, she set out to accomplish it. So it probably wasn’t meant to make sense, her lover may have been into stuff like that and she was trying to … pacify him. Either way it was quite the difficult read and wasn’t exactly enjoyable.
Taken at face value it’s a strange, odd, and confusing tale of female submission. The main character, known as O, is brought to the château of Roissy where she is taught to be constantly ‘available’ to the men who belong to that ‘elite group’. Like I said, awkward. You’re not given much background story at all so you don’t quite understand the O and why she’s allowing this to happen when she doesn’t even appear to be enjoying this (regardless of the fact that she actually gives her permission frequently for them to do such things to her).
After reading more about Anne Desclos (The Story of O being written under the pen name Pauline Réage) the story begins to make a bit more sense. It wasn’t originally intended to be a novel; however, it was written as a series of love letters to her lover Jean Paulhan. Her lover had been a fan of the work of Marquis de Sade and had once said that a woman could not write anything such as that. Taking it as a dare, she set out to accomplish it. So it probably wasn’t meant to make sense, her lover may have been into stuff like that and she was trying to … pacify him. Either way it was quite the difficult read and wasn’t exactly enjoyable.
March 29, 2025
Claramente no es algo para todo el mundo, eso está plasmado a perfección. Pero sin evitarlo o pensarlo de más, encontré un debate bastante interesante en la narración de los hechos. Y no me refiero al punto clave o centro, que vendría a ser la dominación, sino, lo que va más allá de esta.
Entrega, miedo, descubrimiento, aceptación, confianza, deseo.
Son las distintas etapas que he logrado mascar y han resalto por mayoría durante el viaje que fue esta lectura. Y es que la historia de O es fascinante. No existirá otra palabra para definirla, al menos no en mi vocabulario. Y es que, viéndolo como un simple estudio de comportamiento, recalca los límites del qué somos capaces de hacer por amar, así como la aceptación sin pena de lo que uno anhela, le hace sentir cómodo.
Y es que lo convencional no siempre mantiene satisfecho, O lo sabe, aunque al principio parece temer de ello, no tarda en aceptarlo. Y resulta bastante intrigante conocer la historia, pues, a pesar del domino sobre su persona sexual, jamás se da a conocer un sentimiento ajeno al de ella o un punto distinto para empatizar. Simplemente la vemos a ella: a carne viva, contada por si misma.
Entrega, miedo, descubrimiento, aceptación, confianza, deseo.
Son las distintas etapas que he logrado mascar y han resalto por mayoría durante el viaje que fue esta lectura. Y es que la historia de O es fascinante. No existirá otra palabra para definirla, al menos no en mi vocabulario. Y es que, viéndolo como un simple estudio de comportamiento, recalca los límites del qué somos capaces de hacer por amar, así como la aceptación sin pena de lo que uno anhela, le hace sentir cómodo.
Y es que lo convencional no siempre mantiene satisfecho, O lo sabe, aunque al principio parece temer de ello, no tarda en aceptarlo. Y resulta bastante intrigante conocer la historia, pues, a pesar del domino sobre su persona sexual, jamás se da a conocer un sentimiento ajeno al de ella o un punto distinto para empatizar. Simplemente la vemos a ella: a carne viva, contada por si misma.
August 30, 2018
Genre: Erotica
Type: Standalone Book 1 of Story of O Duet
POV: Third Person
Rating:
O was a fashion photographer in the heart of Paris. With her lover René, she decided to explore the darker side sexuality. She developed a taste for being used and abused, but how much more could she endure in the name of love?
I’ve wanted to read this book for a while now, unfortunately it ended up as a painful experience. This book is not long but I struggled to finish due to the writing with the very long paragraphs and chapters. Same thing with the sentences. They went on and on, started with one thing and ended with completely different thing. I had hard time holding my attention and had to re-read parts a lot of times to keep up with the story.
The story itself posed its own problem. The book started and ended abruptly with things missing in between. Apparently the final chapter was “suppressed” from original version which significantly lessened the impact of the psychological aspect, making the story seemed ineffective.
Everything felt detached. I didn’t feel anything for O. I wasn’t repulsed/horrified by what happened. It wasn’t erotic. The only thing remotely interesting was the FF and the happenings towards the end of the last chapter.
Story of O is iconic because it pushed boundaries. Unfortunately for me the writing and the content did not have enough power to uphold the status.
⛓ 🔌 ⛓ . . . (F)BR With Twinsie CC . . . ⛓ 🔌 ⛓
For more reviews/reveals/giveaways visit:
Type: Standalone Book 1 of Story of O Duet
POV: Third Person
Rating:
O was a fashion photographer in the heart of Paris. With her lover René, she decided to explore the darker side sexuality. She developed a taste for being used and abused, but how much more could she endure in the name of love?
“Your hands are not your own, nor are your breasts, nor, most especially, any of your bodily orifices, which we may explore or penetrate at will.”
I’ve wanted to read this book for a while now, unfortunately it ended up as a painful experience. This book is not long but I struggled to finish due to the writing with the very long paragraphs and chapters. Same thing with the sentences. They went on and on, started with one thing and ended with completely different thing. I had hard time holding my attention and had to re-read parts a lot of times to keep up with the story.
That she should have been ennobled and gained in dignity through being prostituted was a source of surprise, and yet dignity was indeed the right term.
The story itself posed its own problem. The book started and ended abruptly with things missing in between. Apparently the final chapter was “suppressed” from original version which significantly lessened the impact of the psychological aspect, making the story seemed ineffective.
She liked the idea of torture, but when she was being tortured herself she would have betrayed the whole world to escape it, and yet when it was over she was happy to have gone through it, happier still if it had been especially cruel and prolonged.
Everything felt detached. I didn’t feel anything for O. I wasn’t repulsed/horrified by what happened. It wasn’t erotic. The only thing remotely interesting was the FF and the happenings towards the end of the last chapter.
She did not wish to die, but if torture was the price she had to pay to keep her lover’s love, then she only hoped he was pleased that she had endured it.
Story of O is iconic because it pushed boundaries. Unfortunately for me the writing and the content did not have enough power to uphold the status.
⛓ 🔌 ⛓ . . . (F)BR With Twinsie CC . . . ⛓ 🔌 ⛓
For more reviews/reveals/giveaways visit:
April 14, 2021
I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and I have SO MANY REGRETS. My brain is not in a place (and never will be) where I can handle a nameless protagonist finding the ultimate freedom by becoming a sex slave to various awful men, to the point where it encompasses her whole life. Nice writing but um, nope.
Obviously, lots of triggers. Torture, rape, etc etc
Obviously, lots of triggers. Torture, rape, etc etc
August 30, 2018
2.5 Stars
Story of O begins with the protagonist, only known as “O,” being trained as a submissive at the request of her then lover. Consenting to his wishes, O’s life changes as she learns about her deep needs in regard to love, freedom and submission. Treated as a possession, O finds pleasure in pain and the concept of feeling owned.
“And yes, by the way: while it is perfectly all right for you to grow accustomed to being whipped—since you are going to be every day throughout your stay—this is less for our pleasure than for your enlightenment.”
As the story progresses, O transitions from simply wanting to please and obey her lover to wanting the peace and satisfaction she finds from being enslaved. But as O seems to find the man who can control her mind and body, and she goes to extremes to ensure his love, she remains on a precipice of uncertainty. The question remains whether O found solace in her ultimate submission or if her sacrifice was based on misunderstood affection.
“Would she ever dare tell him that no pleasure, no joy, no figment of her imagination could ever compete with the happiness she felt at the way he used her with such utter freedom, at the notion that he could do anything with her, that there was no limit, no restriction in the manner with which, on her body, he might search for pleasure?”
Told from a narrator’s perspective, the plot is divided into four parts, with each signifying O’s progression into debasement. Originally published in 1954 and in French, there is debate about the quality of translations; however, the third person POV is quite detached, flowery and verbose which left me feeling unattached to O until practically the last twenty percent of the book. Though I had suspicions how O’s story would end, I didn’t expect the abruptness or the suppressed alternate endings. While I could potentially deal with all three possibilities, why not publish as the author intended and ground the story with a proper finale.
As for other characters, the men remained aloof, entitled and selfish. The sole standout character was Ann-Marie because she thrust herself into this world by choice and dictated her own terms. In comparison, it seems O came to a certain acceptance at the end but being led was still part of her needs.
Ultimately, Story of O didn’t work for me and it wasn’t due to the subject matter but rather the narrative feeling choppy and incomplete.
*This was a (F)BR with Twinsie Hawkey!*
For more reviews/reveals/giveaways visit:
December 15, 2025
If you think about it, we are only part humans. And our sexual instincts still come from our animal part - thankfully, just consider 1984 and Brave New world universes to get an idea of what would happen if we let it be too governed by social values (with exception of consent which is a must of course). That is probably true for feminism too - I am sure I have read somewhere feminists have objections to some of sexual positions and I think that is going too far. If you really want to write a code of conduct, then that would look like something straight out of some medical church. Sex costs a lot more to women than to men and that is balanced by their bargaining power.
Now this book has some beautiful prose and some occasional glimpse of aesthetic but some other qualities bring it down to too vulgar a taste. The characters are ridiculously unidimensional. It is not that O is submissive but that there are no stop words which bothers one. Again, she is always submissive. There is no moodiness to her. What really bugs me is that she seems to give up her career, her Social life etc (something I don't much like, even when it has nothing to do with BDSM, for example when women do it after marriage) and it crossed all lines when O go suicidal in one of alternative endings upon being abandoned by her lover and seeks his permission for even that.
Now this book has some beautiful prose and some occasional glimpse of aesthetic but some other qualities bring it down to too vulgar a taste. The characters are ridiculously unidimensional. It is not that O is submissive but that there are no stop words which bothers one. Again, she is always submissive. There is no moodiness to her. What really bugs me is that she seems to give up her career, her Social life etc (something I don't much like, even when it has nothing to do with BDSM, for example when women do it after marriage) and it crossed all lines when O go suicidal in one of alternative endings upon being abandoned by her lover and seeks his permission for even that.
May 21, 2014
Like The Song of Solomon, this is evidently an allegory of Christ's love for the Church. Or so I was told by a defrocked French priest with whom I once had a brief liaison.
January 27, 2023
The Story of O was written in response to a challenge. Anne Desclos, who wrote O under the pen name Pauline Réage, revealed that her lover, a fervent admirer of the Marquis de Sade, claimed that no woman could write an erotic novel. She proved him wrong. Her highly literate, psychologically complex, sadomasochistic erotic novel was a sensation when published in 1954, and 70 years later remains a classic of the genre.
When reading The Story of O, it helps to keep in mind that its author was purposely using the works of Sade as a template. It is not a how to guide to sadomasochism, but a dark, psychological, sadomasochistic fantasy. Not everyone should read it. If you have no appreciation of the erotic possibilities of sadomasochism — if you just don’t get it and it’s not your kink — this probably isn’t for you. If you don’t distinguish between fantasy and reality, or can’t read a book without critiquing it using some politicized orthodoxy, you should probably avoid it as well.
I recommend experiencing this novel through the audiobook. Kathe Mazur does an outstanding job of giving voice to O, and bringing out the lushness of the prose.
When reading The Story of O, it helps to keep in mind that its author was purposely using the works of Sade as a template. It is not a how to guide to sadomasochism, but a dark, psychological, sadomasochistic fantasy. Not everyone should read it. If you have no appreciation of the erotic possibilities of sadomasochism — if you just don’t get it and it’s not your kink — this probably isn’t for you. If you don’t distinguish between fantasy and reality, or can’t read a book without critiquing it using some politicized orthodoxy, you should probably avoid it as well.
I recommend experiencing this novel through the audiobook. Kathe Mazur does an outstanding job of giving voice to O, and bringing out the lushness of the prose.
December 7, 2015
I read this quite a while ago, and thought I had already rated it.
Anyway, what I still cannot fathom is why a woman would write fiction that so thoroughly dehumanizes women. Even the Marquis doesn't come close,and one could excuse it more from a man. One can only feel sorry for poor Desclos.
On the other hand, I'm possibly missing the point, which might be put across more subtly than it was in 9 1/2 weeks, the point being that if you play around too much with, and slide deeper and deeper into the game of S & M, chances are that you will eventually find yourself either a killer, mad, dead, or all of the above; in which case I should probably be giving the piece 5 stars.
Which I won't do on accountof it having left me feeling brutalised, violated, and with feelings of despair. Which is probably what was intended, and admittedly it was because it was rather well-written that it managed to achieve this.
Anyway, what I still cannot fathom is why a woman would write fiction that so thoroughly dehumanizes women. Even the Marquis doesn't come close,and one could excuse it more from a man. One can only feel sorry for poor Desclos.
On the other hand, I'm possibly missing the point, which might be put across more subtly than it was in 9 1/2 weeks, the point being that if you play around too much with, and slide deeper and deeper into the game of S & M, chances are that you will eventually find yourself either a killer, mad, dead, or all of the above; in which case I should probably be giving the piece 5 stars.
Which I won't do on accountof it having left me feeling brutalised, violated, and with feelings of despair. Which is probably what was intended, and admittedly it was because it was rather well-written that it managed to achieve this.
May 26, 2023
May 2023
I actually have a YouTube channel now, so there’s that lol
—-—————————
March 2022:
I genuinely might create a YouTube channel just to make a video essay about this book.
Full review to come. I’m going to need time to let this settle in my mind. I’m SHOOK this was published in 1954… easily the wildest, most shocking work of erotic fiction I’ve read.
I actually have a YouTube channel now, so there’s that lol
—-—————————
March 2022:
I genuinely might create a YouTube channel just to make a video essay about this book.
Full review to come. I’m going to need time to let this settle in my mind. I’m SHOOK this was published in 1954… easily the wildest, most shocking work of erotic fiction I’ve read.
September 10, 2024
Story of O is a somewhat strange and an increasingly awkward story of female submission, and with this being written in 1954, I imagine many referred to this book as scandalous, but being honest here, I've read worse on that scale, and I found this book to be severely lacking in several areas.
O is brought to the château of Roissy for one reason only; to make herself readily available for all of the men that are members of a particular group. Before her arrival at the château the reader knows nothing more about O, about why she seems to just be allowing these men to have their way with her when it's painfully clear that she is not enjoying the experiences.
I didn't feel anything for the characters because there simply wasn't any depth. I expected a solid plot to help me understand as to why this woman was so submissive to entire strangers but unfortunately, it didn't happen. There was plenty of submissive sex, in and out jobs which seem to end quickly and with that severely lacked feeling and connection. I noticed from the outset it was more about violence including a lot of whipping, and with the obvious notion that O did not seem to be enjoying anything that was done to her, I see this as nothing more than rape.
But, who knows? Maybe O did give consent but the reader is not told. Maybe that crying and screaming is another way of consenting. Forgive me if I'm wrong here, but my idea of Submission is something someone does because they want to, and usually because they want gain sexual pleasure from it with the other individual involved. These men that O was subjected to gained sexual gratification from physically hurting her. They had no interest in giving her any kind of pleasure, it was literally all about them.
I can understand people disliking this book. It seemed unnecessarily violent and abusive at times so I get that might not sit well with some individuals. I would never put this in the BDSM section of literature because to take part in that, both parties need to consent, otherwise, it's just abuse.
I'd say this book would have probably pushed boundaries for the time with it's content, but for me, Anaïs Nin still emerges on top.
O is brought to the château of Roissy for one reason only; to make herself readily available for all of the men that are members of a particular group. Before her arrival at the château the reader knows nothing more about O, about why she seems to just be allowing these men to have their way with her when it's painfully clear that she is not enjoying the experiences.
I didn't feel anything for the characters because there simply wasn't any depth. I expected a solid plot to help me understand as to why this woman was so submissive to entire strangers but unfortunately, it didn't happen. There was plenty of submissive sex, in and out jobs which seem to end quickly and with that severely lacked feeling and connection. I noticed from the outset it was more about violence including a lot of whipping, and with the obvious notion that O did not seem to be enjoying anything that was done to her, I see this as nothing more than rape.
But, who knows? Maybe O did give consent but the reader is not told. Maybe that crying and screaming is another way of consenting. Forgive me if I'm wrong here, but my idea of Submission is something someone does because they want to, and usually because they want gain sexual pleasure from it with the other individual involved. These men that O was subjected to gained sexual gratification from physically hurting her. They had no interest in giving her any kind of pleasure, it was literally all about them.
I can understand people disliking this book. It seemed unnecessarily violent and abusive at times so I get that might not sit well with some individuals. I would never put this in the BDSM section of literature because to take part in that, both parties need to consent, otherwise, it's just abuse.
I'd say this book would have probably pushed boundaries for the time with it's content, but for me, Anaïs Nin still emerges on top.
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