The 120 Days of Sodom
This was
one of the most disgusting and horrible books I have ever read. It started bad,
got worse and with 22 pages left I had to break it off. It was making me
physically ill reading it and it is simply not worth subjecting yourself to
this, not for completing a list. So, yes, for the first time on both the book
and movie list I have not completed an entry.
There is no
way to communicate the disgust I felt with this book, my attempts can only be feeble,
and I am not certain I really want to make the attempt. This is a book I would
rather forget I ever read.
Four
criminal perverts are setting up their ultimate festival of their particular kind
of debauchery, each representing a part of the power structure in France at the
time: The nobility, the church, finance and the courts. The festival is going
to last 120 days and takes place on a remote and isolated castle. To entertain
them they kidnap eight young girls and eight young boys, age 12 to 15, thereby
under-age, at least by our standards. Eight well-equipped men, four elderly
women to keep order among the children and four “storytellers”, renowned bawds,
who will tell of 150 cases of depravity each. In addition, each of the lords
bring a “wife” which is actually their daughters they have married off to each
other.
A setup for
a juicy pornographic novel if not for the pedophilic and incestuous elements. That
illusion, however, soon bursts as this goes off the rail in a big way.
The stories
start in the light end with some pedophilia and toilet sex. Gradually it gets
worse with rape and violence and in the end torture and murder. The catalogue
of horror is made so much worse by being driven by lust. The torment and death
of countless women and children is for the sexual gratification of perverts
with limitless power. Because de Sade never finished this book the last three
chapters are mercifully only in note format, otherwise I would not have gotten
as far as I did, but frankly, you only need the headlines to visualize the
explicit horrors.
Meanwhile,
the four lords have their way with their attendants, following the same
patterns as the stories. They eat each other’s shit, force the girls and boys
to eat theirs, beat them silly and abuse them in any way possible. As the
children loose limbs, teeth, suffer burns, scaldings, bleedings, castrations
and eventually murder, just so the lords can get off, this becomes impossible
to read.
Some
political motives have been given de Sade, that this is sort of how the rich
and powerful abuse the citizens of the country, but it is all too obvious that
he wrote this to get off himself and that he wants us, despite our horror to
feel sexual excitement too and that makes the entire thing even more
disgusting. De Sade was imprisoned when he wrote this, and frankly, it sounds
like he belonged there.
I do not
want to have anything more to do with this snuff and I wish I could erase it
from my memory. Unfortunately, I have a movie coming up all too soon with a
similar title and a similar reputation and I am NOT looking forward. Yicks!
If you,
dear reader, read this book and feel excitement, particular on the second half,
I advise seeking medical help and perhaps lock yourself up and throw away the
key. There is a very long way from consensual sado-masochism to the monstrous
perversity of this book.
NOT
RECOMMENDED FOR ANYBODY!
