Emmanuelle

Rating:
Summary: Pretentious Drivel
Review: A couple of scenes involving Emmanuelle and her catty, women friends are real and amusing. The rest of the novel is preposterous. The eighty pages of ranting by an artist named Mario might inadvertently constitute the most savage indictment of the "examined life" in the annals of literature.

Rating:
Summary: An Erotic, Pretentious Novel
Review: Something I find interesting about this book is that it is often held to be a feminist work, a freeing of a woman's sexuality. In reading the book I felt the hand of a man throughout. It was always a man who guided Emmanuelle into her debauchery and always a man who gave her permission. There was even a parenthetical scene between Emmanuelle's husband and his colleague where he voiced his encouragement of Emmanuelle's infidelity. I got the feeling there was no Emmanualle, just a woman who was no more than the sum of her parts and her libido on a little leash to be tugged around by any passing father figure.

There is nothing life changing about this book and no message worth giving an ear to you. If you're looking for something erotic, it fits the bill. Just be careful of the second half which Mario dominates with his mind-numbing chatter.

(...)

Rating:
Summary: No Title
Review: The author may have lived in the tropics and had wild times. She had no connection with the world around her beyond comments about the heat, which may have double meanings. The rant of Man's world over the natural world smacks of the college cafe. The sex in the aircraft is something else to seperate her from the world around her. Basically a few good sex scenes and early 70's pop philosophy.The Movie version provides better entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: Rejoice
Review: The sex scenes in this book are pretty good, if you are into that sort of thing. And most of the first half of the book is amusing, especially Emmanuelle's relationships with other women (sexual or not). But the second half of the book is dominated by Italian playboy Mario educating Emmanuelle about his philosophy of eroticism. This is pretty pretentious stuff, and rather dull. Mario almost makes sex seem boring. What a windbag! Also, the book ends rather abruptly. It feels like there was another chapter that got left out. But the book is worth a read, if only because it has become so iconic.