Rating: 
Summary: Depravity disguised as avant-garde intellectualism
Review: The only possible value of de Sade's writing is to show how anyone, no matter how degenerate, can cloak his ideas in false intellectualism. De Sade advocates a reversion to barbarism, to an ethic of might makes right. De Sade's intellectual rehabilitiation is one of the great crimes of the 20th century. Anyone who finds de Sade appealing should read Roger Shattuck, "Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography."
Rating: 
Summary: fascinating
Review: A frightening insight into the wants and desires of frail human beings. Admittedly I did have to "step away" from the book every 50 pages or so just to catch my breath. An algebreic equasion of the darkest corners of the human mind.
Rating: 
Summary: Most disturbing book I ever read.
Review: Wow! I just finished Salo 5 minutes ago, and this had to be the most disturbing, horrifying book I ever read. Sade just doesn't catalogue depravity, he enacts it, and allows the reader to enter into the scenes, becoming a libertine. Some of the passions included werein are ones that people could not even remotley DREAM of, nor act out. Sade is an excellent writer, and the other works in the volume are great, also. His play Oxtiern is included, as is the Oedipus-like Florville and Courval. But none are as brutal or as shocking as Salo: the 120 Days of Sodom, and only read this novel if you have a strong stomach. DK
Rating:
Summary: Among the worst books in the history of Western Civilization
Review: Sade is one of those authors that I believe many decide to like for reasons that have nothing to do with his actual work. He is an author it is easier to have opinions about than he is to read. If one, however, takes the time actually to read his books with any degree of critical assessment, he comes across as one of the least literally satisfying authors. Sade did write about a plethora of taboos, but I think his interest is exclusively historical in nature. I can't imagine that anyone truly would enjoy his books as literature.What are the impediments to enjoying Sade as an author? First, he is not a memorable writer. The English translations are amazingly lackluster, and my understanding is that the translations, if anything, mask the weakness of the French originals. The translators actually produce better literature than existed in the original. Second, his characters are, at best, cartoonish and are, in fact, utterly cardboardish. They lack motivation, except in the most primal, biological senses. They lack depth, complexity, and charisma. More disastrously, the supposedly most sympathetic characters are impossible to sympathize with. For instance, in his novel JUSTINE, the heroine is raped repeatedly. The plot could be reduced to the words: "Justine gets raped a few hundred times." But no matter how frequently she is raped, Justine is perpetually stunned, never becomes sufficiently defensive, never learns anything about human nature. E. M. Foster distinguishes between flat and round characters, but Sade's characters don't even come up to the level of flat. Instead, they seem more like paper cut outs. Third, the plot is nonexistent, and the action uninteresting. This is especially true in 120 DAYS OF SODOM, in which the point is merely as many forms of sexual and physical torture as possible. It might be mildly titillating for a few pages, but it very quickly becomes boring and ends by being impossibly tedious. I doubt if one in one thousand readers makes it all the way through the book. The release of the movie QUILLS might direct far more attention to de Sade than might normally be the case. One interesting thing in that film is that while de Sade is presented as a character with a passion for writing, no one at any point hints that he is in any sense a good writer. Outrageous, perhaps, but not good. I think that is a fair summary of de Sade. He did break taboos, but he didn't thereby manage to be in any identifiable sense an interesting or good writer. And that is, after all, the point of writing. The social context and his place in society, as well as some of the intellectual pretences underlying his work, are the only things that kept him from being a mere and second-rate pornographer.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant anarchist thought, an introduction to reality!
Review: De Sade is one of the greatest, and certainly the most misunderstood philosophers. His time constrained his ideas only slightly - his over zealous debunking of religion is still relevant in the god-ridden USA, but not in the free world. His understanding, explanation and glory in the truths of atheism and anarchism are crucial reading to anybody who either doesn't understand or support these, or anybody who thinks that they have an original idea. Oh, yes. It is also quite sexy stuff for philosophy.
Rating:
Summary: a catalog of sexual depravity in the guise of fiction
Review: _The 120 Days of Sodom_ is about four thoroughly
perverse libertines who hold a four-month long retreat in an isolated chateau at which they are free to practice any form of debauchery imaginable.
Four storytellers are each given the task of spending a month telling 150 stories of different sexual practices. The theme of the first is "simple passions," the second "complex passions," the third "criminal passions," and the fourth "murderous passions." Given that the "simple" passions include stories of everything from coprophilia to necrophilia, one can imagine what kind of stories are related in the remaining three months.
Only the first 150 stories are fully fleshed out; the remaining 450 are written in draft, "laundry list" fashion. Perhaps the sketchy nature of the remaining 450 is for the best, as the first 150 "simple" passions are quite graphic and not for the squeamish.
_The 120 Days of Sodom_ is less a story than it is a vehicle for Sade's moralizing and a catalog of sexual depravities. Despite some tedious repetition and internal inconsistencies, the book is fascinating in that with each new perversion, one can't help but wonder how the next can possibly be worse. Recommended for those with an interest in psychosexual behavior or those who just want to find out what the big fuss about Sade is about.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for everyone!
Review: I rate this a five beacause translations never do the original justice. This a very interesting collection
and is a must for any fans of the de Sade. I do how ever
recomend that it not be handed lightly to friends and family,
they may never talk to you again. (Due to extremly explicit content!)
Rating:
Summary: A must for devoted fans of the Divine Marquis.
Review: The only translation of Sade's cornerstone work, _Le Cingt
Journees de Sodome_, this book also contains other selections from both earlier and later writing periods,
including his play _Le Comte Oxtiern_ and two stories from
the _Les Crimes de Amour_ collection. There is also a thought-provoking essay by Simone de Beauvoir, and a very
academic review of Sade by Pierre Klossowski. This book is
a must for anyone with an interest in de Sade.
Rating:
Summary: A lot more real then you think
Review: I read 'Justine' in the late 1960s and thought it was pretty far out. "120 Days" is sure filled with a lot of sickening events, especially the 'bathroom' scenes. Don't forget all of this was done during the 1700s when Torture, Rape and Murder was a lot more common. I imagine the Count saw a lot of this during his "stay" in prison, so he simply wrote what came to his head, adding a lot of so-called "fantasy" which is practised by more then a few people today. When you read this book a few times, you discover that there was a lot of reason for this type of "diversion" as written by Simone de Beauvoir in the Foreword. Krafft-Ebing had nothing on De Sade, a lot can be learned from this type of behavior. Some parts of "120 days" are quite humorous in a sick way. If one could recreate some of the "events" with good art work, there would be long lines at the book stores and art galleries.
Rating:
Summary: Perversion, Pleasure and utter depravity
Review: I read this book at the tender age of fifteen the first time, and I have read it numerous times. The content is remarkable, and far fetching. Now, the way I have seen it is that de Sade attempted to show the worst he possibly could, and in some ways he achieved that. That said, he is a horrendous writer in this book, his style is abominable. But then again, he was living in a time when the vast majority of people were barely literate, if at all. With an utter lack of compassion, he shows us what the human mind is capable of in the depths of our depravity, and in doing so, sears our minds with the depth of his brilliance. For anything that can be concieved can be done, and some will find arousal in this. This book shows us the demons that lurk within us all, and it has pushed me to strive ever higher and not become as fallen as the libertines depicted within.
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