Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Storia dell'occhio by Georges Bataille

24 reviews

turnerae's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Insane, surreal, uncomfortable, but evocative. Going to have to sit with this one for a bit. Certainly fascinating. 

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hollyanns's review against another edition

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dark
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This book is seen both as French pornography and as a work of philosophical transgressive fiction. Which is it? That’s for you to decide. It uses imagery of the eye — and, as substitutes for the eye, imagery of testicles and eggs and other globular items — metaphorically throughout the book, and this emphasis makes the narrative far more focused on the eye than on the characters. Their depravity isn’t the story or a vessel for the story, really, the eye is. The shock and titillation readers may have felt a century ago feel almost blasé nowadays, making some of the intention feel thin. 

TW for sexual assault, urine, gore, and unusual sex acts. I would not recommend this to a casual reader, but for those that choose to partake, you may care to read Barthes’s essay on it. 

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j_yarbrough's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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enika's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

lowkey highkey verstörend. ew. aber ig gut geschrieben??

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vacationrick's review against another edition

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fast-paced

2.5


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axel_p's review against another edition

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dark funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
This book was absolutely hilarious

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_blue_linckia's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I would recommend it to fans of Clive Barker or Hellraiser.


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tofi_15's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

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ashs_ephemera's review against another edition

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1.0

wtf WAS that???

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corvuscorax's review against another edition

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challenging reflective fast-paced

3.5

And it struck me that death was the sole outcome of my erection, and if Simone and I were killed, then the universe of our unbearable personal vision was certain to be replaced by the pure stars, fully unrelated to any external hazes and realizing in a cold state, without human delays or detours, something that strikes me as the goal of my sexual licentiousness: a geometric incandescence (among other things, the coinciding point of life and death, being and nothingness), perfectly fulgurating.

This was one of the books that push you to reconsider your interpretation of art, vulgarity and how the two can (or can't?) combine. It was a tough read to be sure, but there was a certain aspect of playfulness generated by the sheer absurdity of the scenarios that were being presented. The essay at the end felt like a breath of fresh air, but then the almost mathematical correspondence that Bataille wanted to establish between details of his biography and elements of the metaphorical chains in the book made me feel uneasy, because they so contradicted my aversion to authorial "implication", especially when it comes to such intense and almost grotesquely exaggerated scenarios. It felt as though putting a real, living, breathing author next to the text would've been an insult to both.

Sontag's essay was interesting, but I found Barthes's takes to be more substantive and truly add to my experience of the book. This is one to chew on for a while, I think.

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