flower_girl's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
2.0
Misogyne mais bon on s'y attendait
eb00kie's review against another edition
DNF Somewhere around the 20% point I didn't find either the prose or the tone pleasant enough to warrant reading an advocacy of non-consensual intercourse.
Regardless, for one of the earliest of the self-help, the language is full of embellishment and gushing and the advice is often cunning and, with the significant exception, funny. Occasional mysoginism and stereotypes aside, the work is also short enough; I can see how it became so popular.
There are also many notes that often offer a historical and mythological context that otherwise absent would rob the text of much of its savour.
As a bonus, it used to encourage the often pleasant pastime of imagining how it would be received nowadays. There are some notions that not even the dumbest would sweep aside as "mere political correctness", issues that, while not exactly taboo, were sensitive enough not to be approached lightly. In this context, such a work would often come across as cocky, chauvinistic and coarse.
Regardless, for one of the earliest of the self-help, the language is full of embellishment and gushing and the advice is often cunning and, with the significant exception, funny. Occasional mysoginism and stereotypes aside, the work is also short enough; I can see how it became so popular.
There are also many notes that often offer a historical and mythological context that otherwise absent would rob the text of much of its savour.
As a bonus, it used to encourage the often pleasant pastime of imagining how it would be received nowadays. There are some notions that not even the dumbest would sweep aside as "mere political correctness", issues that, while not exactly taboo, were sensitive enough not to be approached lightly. In this context, such a work would often come across as cocky, chauvinistic and coarse.
samcj's review against another edition
Got overwhelmed with other work so had no time/mental capacity to read + had to return to the library
zmb's review against another edition
5.0
Who knew erotic satire could be so thoroughly amusing? Ovid's tone is full of laughter, his poetry sparkling, his advice bombastic and disingenuous.
justabookholic's review against another edition
3.0
An odd read, I came into this book not really knowing any specifics on what it was about except it was a book of Roman poetry and what I got was... what could be best described as a collection of intentionally (from my interpretation) bad romantic advice that was mostly geared toward men. Two-thirds of the book was used to give "instruction"to men on how to seduce women. I got the impression early on that the prose were meant to be satirical and it was stated on the back that it was "mock-didactic elegy" so the mentions of assault and getting both parties drunk (trigger warning: there is mention of rape) were more to be a criticism than actual sound advice. I did find that certain parts made me laugh out loud due to the ridiculousness of it but there was a fair amount of the prose where the false "instructions" given by Ovid was just too irritating to me. I wouldn't recommend it to those who don't enjoy satire or is unfamiliar with Roman mythology as it does mention a great deal of legends, Roman Gods, and other notable Roman figures in the book. The translation was also a bit too modernized for my taste but it did lead to a few laughs so take that to account and this edition does include the original Latin right beside the English translation.