The coy descriptions of the kink scenes could be excused because of the century they were written in. The rest is prolix fillers and endless discussioins about whether what is going on could be classed as good or bad. Descriptions of women in dialog spoken by the heroine read like a schoolboy talking about a Playboy centerfold. It is all the author pontificating or fantasizing and putting it in the mouths of his cardboard cutout characters. Although there is a lot of text in quotes, none of it is dialog. The tired structural ploy of the story being told in an evening by Justine telling her life to two fellow travelers also stretches any suspension of disbelief far beyond breaking point after the first few pages. Literature? Excuse me? Compared to Justine, the script of your average pizza delivery boy porn video is quality writing, and the plot is even less credible. I decided to read it because de Sade's works have a reputation for being literature, above and beyond all the kink, and I thought I should have a look at at least one of his books. It is the most cringeworthily awful narration I have ever heard on Audible, by a large margin. The normal voices of the readers are passable, but as soon as they try to do dialogue the female characters sound like Teletubbies and the male characters sound bad guy parodies from Looney Tunes cartoon. This is a comically awful book, made far worse by the even worse narration.
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