The Sexual Life of Catherine M

Publisher and industry reviews

Jacket review

'One of the most explicit books about sex ever written by a woman' Edmund White

UK Kirkus review

Catherine Millet's sexual memoirs will come as a shock to most. The now-monogamous French intellectual has recorded the numerous sexual encounters she has had with disarming detail and in an alluring style of cool detachment. This is sex from a mature woman's point of view, and a mature French woman's point of view at that. Millet has not set out to titillate or to shock; she is refreshingly forthright, and discusses her sexuality and experiences with a candour that in many ways is greater than that of de Sade or Anais Nin. They make for extraordinarily compulsive reading, treading the fine line between revulsion and intrigue. There are no cliches, or cloaked hinting; this is a seriously frank piece of literature, and although obviously subjective, the removed tone and style, and universality of subject, allow the reader to read without developing any relationship with the author. These memoirs do not try to be anything other than memoirs, and in not seeking the reader's sympathy, they get it. Smut, sleaze and debasement have no part in this work. Millet's standpoint rests leagues above the well-worn battlefields of politics and feminism. Her honest recounting and open statements are not sabotaged by sentiment or irony, she simply documents her enormously varied encounters, many of them with anonymous men in orgies, and declares and describes her enjoyment without bravado or notable humour. The writer's only concern is the pursuit of pleasure without resorting to a dilutive and apologetic use of metaphor to communicate her content. Millet has succeeded in reclaiming ownership and depiction of the realm of female sexuality, leaving the shallow limitations and inaccuracies of male-spun porn squirming in embarrassment. Some will find her honesty disgusting and gratuitous, others will identify with it and find it arousing and inspiring. Any woman out there still feeling inhibited or embarrassed over her sexual fantasies should, without delay, read this book. (Kirkus UK)

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