Reviews tagging 'Violence'

L'histoire de L'oeil by Georges Bataille

21 reviews

christianpunk's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense 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

2.0

I will admit, I decided to suffer through this novella as a catholic so I want to give my honest thoughts on it.

The first half is intriguing and I genuinely enjoyed it. The relationship between the Narrator and Simone shows a deep look into how hedonistic relationships can make us not love eachother for the person but only for the body and fetishes, most of the time in vain. In Isolation. Their actions of pursuing these nasty ventures also get other people evolved,  most of it non-consensual as they put them in an orgy, and start raping people like Marcelle. They get in trouble because of these acts with the Narrator leaving home before he's parents get to see him again. Attempting to commit suicide. But then decides to start living with Simone. They start however getting attached by Marcelle as they only want her to fill the gap in their relationship. Marcelle - after being tainted and ruined - commits suicide after mistaking the Narrator for a Cardinal Priest (Which I assume is probably because she started liking being hedonistic with her innocence turning from tainted to Bi-polor trauma). The Narrator and Simone Leave France after pursue their endeavours of lust in Spain.

The second half honestly made me sick and uneasy. If you have read the book you would know what I'm talking about. I was shocked not only by them doing the nasty and raping a priest but also because this felt incredibly out of place for me. Throughout the whole novella I felt like it was going to go somewhere interesting. But the last two chapters felt like an ugly deadend of foul nothingness. I do know the author was a catholic who converted to an atheist, but is that truly the point of the novella? To show you hate Catholicism by putting rampant smut and sex? Obviously I'm a little biased because I am catholic but was the second half already planned, and the first half was only the build for those last two chapters? I could go but Georges Bataille was clearly going through some demons during his life. Despite his renouncment of Catholicism I know God would have judged him well, rather he be going to hell or heaven. Thanks for reading and may God bless you.

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benjaminwylie1'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

4.0

this bataille guy is kind of fucked up

makes you kind of question what the point of a novel is, wonderful prose but horrible thematically

average french person etc etc

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tcgarback's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 
Critical Score: B
Personal Score: C+
Reading Experience: 📘📘📘(3/5)

Grabbed my attention at the start and the end, lost me in the middle. Altogether too involved in its own symbolism and musings on agony and pleasure. But this is still a bomb of immorality that is as courageous as it is sleazy—as it’s meant to be, so really, they’re the same thing here.

This is fascinating to me as a piece of transgressive literature, but it’s not something that at all moved me or, given the stuff I’ve read in recent years, shocked me.

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kattrent's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-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

1.25

Wtf did I just read.

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yutrobog's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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tailwhip's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? No

0.5

nao sei dizer se as falas do autor no final piorou o livro esclareceu ele ou os dois ao mesmo tempo..! 

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revolution666's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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samuelh2020's review against another edition

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

4.0


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urlocalsleepparalysisdemon's review against another edition

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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

0.25

I wish that I didn't read this. I wish that it made me feel any other way than vaguely uncomfortable. I'm not disgusted or disturbed because at some point my eyes just glazed over and I pushed through the reading just so I can delete the book off of my phone, knowing I was done with it forever. 

I hate every single person who's given this four or five stars because I think they're annoying and probably don't get invited to parties. Fuck you.

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elaichipod'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

3.5

I read this book because I read that Bjork's "Venus as a Boy" music video was inspired by it on Genius. I was shocked for a majority of the book and I might just regret reading it. But when I think about "Venus as a Boy," I can see how the main character is Venus. Like a god, he does as he pleases sexually and has this omnipotent power, at least to himself. He and Simone commit all these sex-based crimes with the audacity of a god. I think as a literary work, it is incredibly depraved and there's a lot of "primitive" ideas. I had to stop reading a couple times and just think about what my eyes and brain just perceived.

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