Customer Reviews

Justine

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As an avid fan of the Marquis de Sade's infectious intriguing writing and a fan of all thing artistic I was thrilled to add this to my collection. Yet it was a bit of a disappointment.

In de Sade's words Justine was portrayed as much more of an innocent looking girl, young, childlike and hopeful, yet Crepax's illustrations portray her as a wanton, gaunt looking woman. Much of the elegance and richness of de Sade's original writing is lost in Crepax quick pen and ink drawings.

I could be disappointed merely because my favorite character of the Justine tale, a blood thirsty count, was not included in the Crepax version, though he lends an air of sensuality and intellect (deranged though it may be) to the tale.

This is however a lot of fun to have around. I don't mind flipping through every now and then. Be warned though many people will find it offensive, and if you have any sort of moral fiber it may disturb you (even though you won't be able to look away).

I found out that this is the short version or a volume of de Sade's Justine. I was a little disappointed the the description didn't mention that. I found this out after buying the "sequel" Juliette hopefully it does matter reading the other parts of Justine at another time.
Anyways, this volume was very interesting though, it had a type of story I've never come across. It had a moral to it, but it was hard to look passed the disturbing imagery.
I'm going to find the rest of Justine's story, hopefully it's just as good.

Most people who will read this book will feel sorry for the main character " Justine" and then there's me who found her to be rather annoying.

The book pretty much centers around the life of this young woman and the pain and suffering she endures through out it. I personally found the main character to be too much of a goody two shoes to really feel sympathetic towards her suffering and found the other characters in the book to be more interesting when it came to background and personality. Each is different and some give lectures to our Justine on their point of view which makes up a considerable amount of dialogue.

Speaking of dialogue ( no pun intended ) this book was written before the french revolution and therefor holds a language unique to its time which some readers may find hard to grasp. It is also set in France so it has many french names and places through out the book. I do believe however that there is another version out there that has been grafted into simpler english for those who wish to enjoy the story but don't want to battle the old style of writing.

Definitely an interesting book to say the least and I found it a good choice to introduce me to the works of De Sade. However I would not recommend it to those who are heavily religious as it has various scenes of a nature most unkind towards such.

I myself enjoyed it.. but it is the type of book which will provoke many different reactions so simply, it is up to you what you make of it!