Rating: 
Summary: Just as dull as they said it would be.
Review: This is one of the most tedious books I have ever read. I like vulgarity and a healthy appetite for lots of sex as much as the next man. I looked forward to reading an intelligent woman writing about her extraordinary appetite for group sex in public and private places.
However , this book is muddled , vague, unfocused and downright dull.Maybe it's the translation but I suspect it was pretentious in French and has not changed much in translation.
How someone who is(was?) the editor of a French art magazine could write such dreary stuff I do not know.
It has no colour, no humour, no pace, no joie de vivre, nothing.
Rating:
Summary: Sex-less Sex
Review: I like a good work of erotica as much as the next red-blooded American boy, and, believe me, this ain't one of them. One is tempted to compare this piece of tripe with classics such as "My Life and Loves" by Frank Harris or "Fanny Hill" by John Cleland, but there is no basis to do so: those long-desceased gentlemen knew how to write with grace and style, to say nothing of a fair smattering of wit. Ms. "M" simply knows various names for body parts and how to describe, and not very well, the ways in which they may be conjoined and juxtaposed. That's it, folks. No context, no personality, and in the long run, no interest whatever. Anyone who (presumably) spends this much time putting pen to paper deserves one star, if only for effort. Save your money; I wish I had.
Rating: 
Summary: The Sexual Life of Cathrine M.
Review: This is one of those books that you either love or hate. I love it, probably because I see myself in some of her descriptions. But not because of this, I suggest to all the female readers to read it, just to get a rough idea of their sexual life compering it to Cathrine Mellet's. And a little bit about the autor: I definately look up to her, not because of her, as some may say, promiscuous sex life; but because she found that strenght in her to write this revealing and very personal book. For many women this type of hings may be hard to write even in thier diaries, however to share it the world...a great courage is needed to do that.
Rating: 
Summary: Brazen Catharsis
Review: Ms. Millet is a very gifted writer, whose brilliance is matched by the careful translation by Ms. Hunter. That said, one wonders why Millet exposes the details of her boundaryless depravity to the world. Perhaps the very act of disclosure is a component in her voracious sexuality, which must certainly exhaust her often as it seeks new outlets for expression. Millet benefits from being French--an American woman writing so boldly would have stirred a firestorm in America's current patriarchal climate. One cannot imagine Laura Bush curled up in bed in Crawford, reading selected passages to George W. In such a context, Millet would be viewed as a creature from another planet, one populated by genital-centric intellectuals without a care in their world. I only wish Millet had speculated more on why she is the way she is. Such wanton acts of masochism and self-abnegation call for more postulation and less simple reportage. Nonetheless, this is a remarkable book, probing the corners of a female mind darker than most would imagine exists outside the confines of mental institutions, much less in rarefied Parisian art circles.
Rating:
Summary: She is fooling herself
Review: While promoted as a no-holds-barred feminist track on sexuality, I found this book to be a very sad account of a woman's search for identity and meaning. Sprinkled throughout the long narratives on group sex and sex with strangers, are clues to her lack of self esteem and her disappointment in sex. From her molestation as a pre-pubescent girl to one long-term partner telling her she had a so-so face but a great [butt], I think Millet is fooling herself if she believes the life she has led has not scarred her. The sexually transmitted disease, the abortion, and having "lovers" who pass you to strangers are not sexy. For crying out loud the woman wasn't sure what an orgasm felt like was after years of group sex. I was unable to enjoy the eroticism in the book because I could not get past the self-debasement of the author.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic Tour-de-Force
Review: This is a great book by an incredibly adventurous lady. It is no wonder it is a runaway best seller in Europe. Whether it is all her experiences or not she makes it seem that it is (was) and she is to be admired for her explorations and sexuality.
Rating:
Summary: Not at all erotic...nameless, faceless orgies.
Review: I bought this book in hopes of reading something liberated and erotic. In fact it is descriptions of orgy after orgy, no character building, no plot...who cares? This women degraded herself, left herself completely vulnerable to STD's and never describes any satisfaction she gets from these sordid endeavors.I didn't even finish it, a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated And Not Intelligent
Review: A noted French art critic writes a candid and explicit narrative of her sexual life and receives accolades and praise for being an "intellectual". Reviewers have praised her for her independent and thoughtful insight provided in "essay" form of her sexual experiences. How a reader will perceive this book will largely be determined by what the reader hopes to gain from this book. This work is not meant to be titillating or arousing and will disappoint those who read it for this purpose. This is a chaotic rambling devoid of organization or coherence, which indulges in detached observations of the author's 30 plus years of sexual experience and self-objectification. Essentially Millet has managed to detail her various orgies, gang-bangs, oral exploits, anal-only penetrations and other adventures without conveying any sense of pleasure, guilt, or any emotion for that matter. Perhaps that is the key to this account and it's "intelligence". Millet's attempts to reduce the sex act to a robotic, mechanical event to be viewed only in terms of penetration and the amount of partners one can indulge in is largely successful. One comes away with a feeling of disgust and filth after some of her accounts. Millet's inane claims of being able to mentally detach herself from her body to observe the sex act and enjoy overweight and foul smelling partners among other events suggests the author has pulled the wool over her own eyes in order to protect herself from analyzing the abhorrent behavior she exhibits. Detachment appears to be her shield in her search for the sexual Holy Grail, which she never considers debasing. The reader comes away with no insight about what motivated the author's exploits or any new revelations about the biological desires of the sexual female. In fact one has to wonder how much of this book is actually true since she never was violently abused, mistreated, or infected with any serious std's despite all her prodigious love-making. One could convincingly argue this book contains plenty of fantasy. Conveniently Millet leaves out (including only childhood musings about multiple husbands and remaining a virgin until 18) any factors that would help the reader to logically deduce how she ended up as essentially an unattractive woman with low self esteem and social ineptness using sex to repair these shortcomings. According to Millet, being socially awkward could be overcome by bending over for the next partner. Reviewers and readers have worshipped this work because of it's brutal honesty and slamming of puritanical views of sex while failing to note the book is poorly written. It resembles a Linnaean classification account of sexual acts while failing to be sexy, erotic, or enlightening. Readers who enjoy Penthouse letters and Hustler accounts will find this acclaimed work is only marginally better.
Rating: 
Summary: Self Indulgent
Review: I read with interest the opinions of the other reviewers and find myself heartily disagreeing with many of their conclusions. I do not view this book as brave or groundbreaking nor is it insightful or erotic. It is most like someone on her psychiatrist's couch blurting out the minutia of her life. It is all about her, most of her sex partners were just nameless, faceless genitals. Who could conceivably care about this other than her? Talk about self-indulgent. I agree that it is an unapologetic look at her life but the world is full of ninnies that feel justified in however they choose to live their lives and then feel compelled to us all about it. I don't give a whit about her sexual escapades whether she had one lover or one million lovers. That is her business but the real issue here is why she has lived her life in this manner. That is what interested me in the book. Sadly, she alludes to some childhood issues but never delves deeply enough into her own psyche for any revelation, any insight, an epiphany of any kind. I struggled to get through this short book.
Rating:
Summary: Intellectual Smut
Review: Catherine Millet, a well known French art critic, unabashedly describes her hyperactive sexual life of many decades, with enough sophistication and candor to keep things interesting, even after the sex itself becomes somewhat routine. This woman has done what most of us would fear to fantasize about, and although you eventually start to wonder about her emotional stability, you can't question her bravery or forthrightness. Well written, with some fascinating insights into the endless variety of human sexuality.
|
