First of all the name of the book is inaccurate… it should be 120 days of torture… Although I only read the introduction and then a summary of the books contents, it was too disturbing to continue reading. I was not expecting such a twisted novel, Sade was truly a messed up and disgusting man. The way his novel only gets worse the longer it progresses and that’s what he wanted.. baffles me. Sexual assault and r*pe was already bad enough, add human torture to the mix? Now you’ve got a scum soup cooking. And it wasn’t even “light” torture (if torture can even be light..) it was like full on limb chopping and human roasting type of torture. The 4 characters (I refuse to call them heroes) were the embodiment of how nobles or the elite of society had the freedom to doing anything and not be punished for it.
My anger for the novel exceeds its contents, how could some parts of society react positively to his novel? Anyone supporting his work, like thinking of it as research or a moral novel is so wrong. Horrid and disgusting barely begins to describe it, it’s straight up dehumanizing. Young boys and girls are the main 4 characters play things. After the first 90 days, the characters become more and more are sadistic, for example one of them would cut up children and another would burn them alive. This novel is a self indulgence of Sade’s own twisted fantasies where from his childhood and all the way till adulthood he’s always had an entitled notion of other people should “serve me”. I’ve always believed that people could change, but even after transferring through multiple prisons, almost being killed, and being divorced from his wife, Sade still acts the way he’s always acted. It’s disgusting.
Extra: I want to burn this book, I no longer want to have possession of it