This isn't a story for "the weak of heart" it is explicit BDSM and the depths of depravity...and I love it! Just like the film it explores O's need to be dominated and enslaved by the darkest of Doms, exposing the deviant side of the human psyche with disturbing reality. It's more a book for those of us in the life-style, probably too heavy for the "FFSOG" set. For most this book crosses a line but if you're open minded and enjoy your erotica dark, you will enjoy the "edge play" in this novel. A good glimpse of the desires a submissive feels, her needs and experiences of slavery. Instead of being repetitive here, I recommend you read other the reviews explaining another important stuff re: this novel. After hearing a lot about The Story of O I decided to check it out for the same reason I've read, but never finished, Fifty Shades of Grey: To harshly attack it. Having made up my mind about this book, as I plunged to it I found that I won't be disappointed. So O, a passive pathetic excuse for a woman in love, submits herself to strangers as a token of love for Rene. I only got through with 20% of the book and even though I thought I knew what to expect, I found the BDSM scenes highly disturbing, inhuman, and sexist. Some paragraphs I read were accompanied by a disgusted cringe on my eighteen year old face. This is not to say that I am attacking the entire erotic literary business and all, I am a big fan of Anais Nin and have thoroughly enjoyed her books, however The Story of O is pathetic, abusive, and not the least bit entertaining. I don't know if I have to give credit for the narrative technique and the detailed description (which both were too boring for my taste) because I'm too overwhelmed by the character of O who devalues herself under the name of love. It pains to think that some people actually enjoyed the book and tried to reflect some of the scenes on their sex lives. Besides being degrading, it sets a bad standard for women and views as objects far away from pleasure.Reading it is no less than a psychological rape. In the first two chapters I was actually feeling sorry for her but upon realizing that she is doing this by her own free will, I thought "to hell with it". It is overrated, silly, and inhumane. Being a woman herself, I don't know what the hell Anne Desclos was thinking as she wrote this.Thank God I downloaded this as a pdf, it's not even worth a penny.
What do You think about Historia De O (1981)?
Not my type of book, very risque for the time. I did not finish it.
—zikky
Much more true to the subculture than Fifty Shades.
—kara
