2nd in a series, after The Brass Bed (by the same author.)

Finished May 2009.

Oh, my god. Obviously I have not read properly in ages - I was going to document the books I was reading for uni but then I never finished any - but this was EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED TO GET BACK IN. Fucking sublime. I need my own copy immediately. Mmmm.

This was an intense read. It was first published anonymously. Parts of the book were hard to read. This is one I'll probably re-read in the future.

This was a gift from my awesome boyfriend. I'm really looking forward to it.

I am not feeling articulate enough for this, but never mind.

Could have been amazing - Trocchi clearly talented; sad that need for smack overran this. However, tragedy runs nicely alongside book and its content. Several amazing passages. Skeptical at first that a man could convincingly portray first-person womanhood, particularly in erotic context, but was very wrong. Which was nice.

I picked up this book because it was so controversial when it was published. Controversial because of the descriptive sex passages and erotica. It's much less graphic than anything I'd expect to see today.
Parts of the love story rang really true for me, but for the most part the characters fell flat somewhere between a romance and erotica. Not really worth all of the hype.

I read this in one sitting. It was mega, although I found the set-up that bookends the story quite disappointing. Severin really doesn't need that: he's far more compelling and reachable as a slave than as a tyrant. More to the point, it just wasn't necessary. I'd take it out and just have the story as told from his journals - it'd shine more brightly on its own. Still definitely worth a read, though.

I read this in one sitting. It was mega, although I found the set-up that bookends the story quite disappointing. Severin really doesn't need that: he's far more compelling and reachable as a slave than as a tyrant. More to the point, it just wasn't necessary. I'd take it out and just have the story as told from his journals - it'd shine more brightly on its own. Still definitely worth a read, though.