Return to the Chateau [Mass Market Paperback]

Pauline Reage (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 158 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press, Inc. (1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394178122
• ISBN-13: 978-0394178127
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,091,949 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A big disappointment, October 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Return to the Chateau: Preceded By, a Girl in Love (Paperback)

Having read The Story of O and found it to be rich in description and intensely erotic I was totally disappointed by the sequel which was neither. Being a double spaced this book was also a lot less material for the money. It built to nothing and did little to grow the character of O. As others will be curious enough to buy and read the book anyway because of its heritage I can't blame them for it, but warn that they will be just as disappointed as I was.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Story of O, Part II., August 1, 2010

By 

Elagabalus (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Return to the Chateau: Preceded By, a Girl in Love (Paperback)

After reading all the reviews here, it's obvious there's something few reviewers understood about this book. It was not written as a 'sequel.' It is actually the closing chapters of the Story of O, which the original publishers cut off that book. This is why it's so short, and why the descriptive details are fewer--you are reading the ending of the Story of O, where the reader is already familiar with all the sensual details. Read the last chapters of any novel, and you will find the descriptions are less detailed for the same reason. Florid description gets redundent at the end of any story.

Now about the end of the tale. For those who were hoping for some sort of happy-ever-after, love trumps all kind of ending: forget it. This is a woman's journey down the dark path of self-destruction. It's nihilism at its best (or worst), depending on how you look at it. For O to suddenly reverse course would be out of tune not only with the story itself, but with O's character. If you started this ride with the Story of O, I highly recommend finishing it with these missing chapters. Put the two together and read it as a whole, the way it was intended.

27 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing., August 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Return to the Chateau: Preceded By, a Girl in Love (Paperback)

After searching for this book for so long, I finally found it - unfortunately. I guess there was nothing left to do after the Story Of O. Absolutely nothing happens in this book. The writing style doesn't even seem the same. You are much better off getting The Passive Voice by G.C. Scott. That book is written in the style of the Story Of O only not quite as dark.