The Story of O by Pauline Reage is ranked 807th on The Greatest Books of All Time site and it was considered ‘a provocative and influential work that continues to resonate in literary and cultural discussions, challenging readers to confront their perceptions of desire and submission’, in fact, some will be horrified, while a few will be delighted to find their BDSM fantasies expressed in a ‘mainstream’- and I wonder about that, seeing as it was banned in France – work…there are a few thousand reviews of books from The GOAT and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

 

The Story of O by Pauline Reage is ranked 807th on The Greatest Books of All Time site and it was considered ‘a provocative and influential work that continues to resonate in literary and cultural discussions, challenging readers to confront their perceptions of desire and submission’, in fact, some will be horrified, while a few will be delighted to find their BDSM fantasies expressed in a ‘mainstream’- and I wonder about that, seeing as it was banned in France – work…there are a few thousand reviews of books from The GOAT and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

 

6 out of 10

 

The Story of O has reminded me of Anais Nin https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/12/a-model-and-other-stories-by-anais-nin.html and her erotic tales, which are really out there, pushing the boundaries: where were these books when I needed them, which is at the age of fourteen, sixteen, limited to The Decameron as I was?

 

O is a professional photographer, and we do not get her name, just the initial, a detail that was interpreted as symbolizing the ‘objectification’ of the main character, I am confused by this book, which is arousing on some levels, but frightening for the most part, there is no rape, as the woman, or women agree to the ‘pleasures’

Nevertheless, in this age, it would have two different perspectives (well, millions, but let us stay with Two) progressives will reject the pain, suffering, branding, humiliation – the protagonist has rings, and heavy ones, inserted in her labia, the lower lips as she calls them – while the MAGA crowd would maybe celebrate macho acts, ‘masculinity’

 

The heroine – could she be an anti-heroine I wonder – has this lover, Rene, who takes her to a place where bondage, cruelty, masochism, orgies take place all the time, the women have sex with multiple men, there are valets who also have coitus with the ‘willing prisoners’, submission seems to be the name of the game

Before I forget, what about this Natalie, who is just fourteen, or fifteen, they do not have sex with her, O is instructed – ordered might be the better word – to stay away, not touch or anything, except the child is still allowed to see all the sex, anal, oral, and so much more, and then what words is the author putting in her mouth, OMG!

 

If the writer is a woman, it may seem that she is allowed to do much more with her characters…Penelope Lively, William Boyd have written https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/according-to-mark-by-penelope-lively.html about the author as God

O shares with the readers the pleasure she has to follow the orders of her lover, Rene, and I think of Shakespeare (not the one in Hamnet though) ‘Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments’ if they like it that way, orgies and all else fine, but do not call it love, I think that is not the word for it

 

‘Love is not love, Which alters when it alteration finds’ this is the continuation of the same sonnet, and indeed, Sir Stephen takes her from Rene, ergo the ‘love’ she had felt for her previous lover was not all that intense, maybe not even real, and I will just refer to Thomas Mann https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/12/joseph-and-his-brothers-by-thomas-mann.html a real Magister Ludi…

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence

Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

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