Justine Paperback – February 23, 2020

You ever buy a classic book because it's all about sex and then it turns out it's about a girl getting assaulted over and over by priests and the only reason they don't call it assault is because the book was written before the phrase 'sexual assault' entered the lexicon? That's what happened to me with Justine.And also Clifford the Big Red Dog, but that's more about my personal hangups.

I have to say that I was disappointed. Probably because I had first read DeSade's 120 days of Sodom and Juliette first. Justine is the younger sister of Juliette and while Juliette is 1200 pages long, this one is like 190. Being so long, Juliette went into very minute detail of her travels and sexual exploits while in Justine, it was very vague and didn't provide much detail. It would have been better had it been more like Juliette, basically a mirror image of that book with the exception of one becomes a very successful libertine while the other suffers while trying desperately to cling to virtue. Being so short, the book just goes from one unfortunate situation to the other for poor Justine which unfortunately makes the story too unbelievable. How much bad luck can one person honestly have?? I read Justine in one sitting and found the book rather boring. Lacking the shock value and explicit sex that just didn't seem to do DeSade justice.

Some of my issues with Justine likely spring from the antique English used in this translation. But when the Marquis chose to send his titular character through the metaphorical Underworld, he couldn't help but pour it on. Every captor a self-centered hedonist whose individualism would give Ayn Rand pause and a different kink to make Dr. Kinsey write sequels on their depravity. Justine stays resolved to keep her faith despite all she saw and was forced to do. De Sade did not write this as a stroke book. It's almost proto-feminist in how the hellbeasts insist in the worst terms that women are tools of a man's libido and nothing more.It's a slog to read. Only one character has any growth. And de Sade really got into writing the nasty parts like they would ruin their targets for the betterment of humanity. But it left me thinking about larger issues. No small trick for a book that's over 200 years old.

I have no issues with the book itself or the subject matter. I actually rather enjoy delving into the world of the Marquis de Sade and trying to better understand him; he might have been a somewhat disturbing man to some people but he was nothing if not interesting.However the kindle format of this book was completely messed up. There are no paragraphs and absolutely terrible editing and punctuation which made this book nearly impossible to read.

This is the story of a virtuous, and pretty, young woman who repeatedly falls prey to lecherous libertines. Over the course of the story, she is victimized by aristocrats, monks, and outlaws. The lead goes by the name Therese, though her given name was Justine. She is one of two sisters orphaned after their father ran afoul of a man by having an affair with said man’s wife. The story is set in France immediately before the Revolution, as it was written while de Sade was imprisoned in the Bastille in 1787.As Therese is telling her tale of woe on the eve of her trial for murder and arson, one might question whether she is an unreliable narrator. In other words, was she as morally upright and steadfastly pious as she portrays, and were her sufferings truly through no fault of her own [beyond naïveté.] That level of complexity is beyond de Sade’s simple formulation. The lesson of his amorality tale is that Therese ends up in such a mess precisely because (by being so virtuous and pious) she fails to comply with what de Sade saw as the law of nature. His version of the law of nature is defined by the strong lording over the weak, and the ideal of “do unto others, before they can do unto you.”What is the evidence for de Sade’s twisted amoral moral to the story? First, he includes a sister, Juliette, who follows the path of least resistance (accepting a life of vice) and ends up much better off. Second, all of the “villains” (though de Sade didn’t see them that way, I’m certain) are prone to Bond Villainesque exposition on this philosophy as justification for the vile acts they are perpetrating. This ham-handed approach can make for an annoying read. [However, if one is interested in the minutiae of the philosophy of libertinage, one may find some of the arguments interesting. While de Sade’s philosophy is rank and vile, it may have just been a wild pendulum swing from what was going on in the mainstream world at the time.]While I certainly wouldn’t recommend the book as a treatise on ethics, morality, or philosophy, it’s an interesting story. I’ve only read one other book by this author (i.e. “120 Days of Sodom”) and can say that “Justine” is vastly better than that one.I’d recommend it for those intrigued by the occasional amorality tale. It can’t be said to lack tension. Needless to say, it’s graphic in places, and not for readers of delicate sensibilities.

This is one of those books that can be difficult to follow. It was written in a different time, different world, and sometimes I start to lose interest in it, but I power through because it is a classic and I feel it's my duty to see it to the end. Not terrible, just doesn't hold my interest as much as I'd hoped.

If you can look beyond the horrors of this book,  there are interesting facets, I believe.  The author's brazen justification  of the debauchery by stating repeatedly that nature deemed it so became, although never convincing, almost rational. The gem in the read, however, I think, was the irony between the sisters in the end.  Not for the feint-hearted or closed-minded.

Warning: If you like to be a prude, do NOT read it! If you are a libertine, you'll love it. If you are open to new ideas, you should read it. I read first the Italian translation, then the original French version and the English translation.The Marquis de Sade's first novel, Justine, shows the battle of virtue versus vice... and a lot of perversions and sadism.

De Sade wrote for political reasons - he wanted to make a statement about society. Therefore, he wrote scenes in explicit ways to show just how culture can exploit individuals.In this way, the book is interesting and educational. The explicit sex scenes (and other unpleasant events) are difficult to get through though. It is not a book for the casual reader, more for those in education or those interested in history and culture.

Item exactly as described. Quick delivery

Warning: this is not actually a translation of Justine. It's a translation of the first version of the Justine story, known as The Misfortunes of Virtue. And it's not a very good translation either.

A fine piece of literature, even though the subject matter is rather harrowing. Need to understand the time it was written

I've just finished listening to the American Psycho audiobook. That was a walk in the park compared to this! In the parts where young children aren't being raped, there are very interesting religious and social theories, even some amazingly early existentialist points. I just haven't got the strength to wander through the rest of the mind of the "Father of Sadism" . Not a fun read!