Rating: 
Summary: O - What a story! Hot but suspiciously cunning
Review: I first read this book 30 years ago as part of Lit Group assignment. The psychiatrist who suggested it and led the discussion was fresh out of school. Then it was naughty litature. Reread many times over the years allows a different perspective. Now I consider it facinating. "O" is 'trained' to take punishment over pleasure and obediance to total possession. Her lover is master. Her life is his. Is it enough? Its a tour de force in the power of mind, body and spirit to worship the underbelly of human need.
Rating:
Summary: Very, Very, disturbing
Review: I have just finished the book not more than 5 minutes ago, and I am in a state of shock. The way O gave up everything for her lover, even her individuality, was frightening. The men never gave anything but token displays of love, and she was satisfied in that. She is the image of what women should not be. This book will definately make you think about how much is too much to give up for love.
Rating:
Summary: a good books
Review: I have read this book many times. It is very sexy. It is not at all a phantasy, since men and women do quite strange things to one another. it is well written and not really disturbing.
Rating:
Summary: Read out of curiosity
Review: I read some of the customer reviews and I would like to clarify a couple of things. It seems that some of the readers did not pay much attention to the fact that Pauline Reage did not write this book. This book was written 40 years ago by an anonymous person. The reviews were negative toward the author and the writing style of the book which, I felt, was inncorrect on the part of the readers. Secondly, I feel that some of the readers did not understand that this was not, in my opinion, a romantic "love story." This book was about what O would do for her lover out of love. Yes, I believe that the characters ideals of love were extreme and very perverse, but that is not how I interpreted the book. To me, the book showed the enjoyment O received out of being submissive not only to Rene and Sir Stephen but to all men and women that wanted her to belong to them in everyway that was possible. This book took me by surprise but I would definitly recommend this book to anyone that has ever been curious about S/M. The Story of O will either push you into the exotic world of sado-masachisticism or it will completely horrify you. I would love to know who originally wrote the book but it will probably remain a mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre, at best
Review: I read The Story of O after seeing it referenced a few times in someone else's story. The idea was good -- get a peek inside this particular lifestyle (and for some people, it really is a lifestyle or way of life) and O's head at the same time -- but the writing was only so-so. It read like a high school boy's fantasy. The material itself was not the least bit shocking to me and I was not offended by any of it. But I've read fanfiction that was written better. I was not impressed. I'm glad I didn't pay to read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh my gosh!!!
Review: I thought this book transended any kind of morals or values that my mother taught me. This kind of work can hardly be called literature, and definately not a classic. I do not believe in banning books, but if I did then this would be at the top of my list.
Rating: 
Summary: This book was both shocking and revealing!
Review: I was amazed when I read this book. I didn't know anything of this type was even available at the bookstores. I was shocked at the vivid details used to show the torture suffered by O. It was revealing in that I learned some things about myself while reading this that were somewhat scary but intriguing.
Rating:
Summary: I wish I had not read it
Review: I wish I had not read it. Very, very cleverly and smoothly written to seduce you into thinking this sickness is erotic. Pages and pages of philosophical claptrap that seduces the reader to "buy into" a few pages of very arousing scenes. After you have read it there is a bad kickback due to the impersonal cruelty of the men, the self-humiliation of the women, and the the corruption of the child. I recently shredded my copy. I wish I had not read it.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent graphic novel based upon "The Story of O"
Review: In this 3-volume series of graphic novels, Guido Crepax has faithfully illustrated Pauline Reage's novel "The Story of O". His drawings are rendered in black and white and his style seems oddly appropriate for the time in which the novel is set. The dialog is quite spare, while the subjects of some frames are fairly detailed. He has not sensationalized the story, nor does he use his illustrations for shock-value: he simply tells the story using his art instead of comic strip-style balloon chitchat. An excellent series.
Rating:
Summary: not to be taken at face value
Review: most people seem to get offended when they read this book. O does victimize herself, but it's a willing surrender, she is detaching herself from her body, desensitizing herself. i don't agree with what she's done, nor can i understand that sort of mentality. however, that makes the book all that more interesting, to see viewpoints and thoughts of others.
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