Customer Reviews

Under the Roofs of Paris

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is like straight-up porn, for your imagination of course. There is virtually no story. If there is, it certainly gets overshadowed by all the sex. It took me long to read this, and it's because I couldn't get over what was going on. There'd be single paragraphs which I'd read over and over... I guess I couldn't believe my eyes. To think up these things is one thing, but to see it written out, is another entirely. This was one of my train-reading books... while I was commuting to work, I'd read on the train. I read THIS book on the train. I'm a lady. I could never divulge the sort of things I had to do before heading to jobs after reading parts of this book. You can physically feel the things that are going on. It's sick, in a good way. If you're up for any of the things mentioned in here, I'd say this book might make a GREAT gift as well. I highly recommend it.

This is the Miller your mother warned you about. If you enjoy literary pornography then this is definitely the book you're looking for. It is not a novel in the conventional sense but a series of vignettes designed to titillate and ultimately surprise; mission accomplished.

This is the first Henry Miller book I have read. It is truly for the open minded. It nearly blew me away and kept me up all night reading it. Some may view Miller as a pornographic pedler, but, I view him as a pathfinder for free speech and freedom of expression. I am ashamed that America has banned works by him and other artists because they deem them inappropriate for the time. I still liked the book and plan on reading more of his work in the future. So, if you would like to take a sordid ride into the psyche of a "player" read this book, it will provoke you and make you think.

I actually tried this trick with several friends: Ask someone to open the book to any page and begin reading aloud. More than likely, they will only read a line or two before blushing. Although they cease reading aloud, they will usually smile and continue reading silently before replying.

This trick says a lot about how many people approach this book. People don't want to admit that they like it, but if nothing else, find it interesting. Midget-boinking, statuatory rape, and gang-banging- certainly no one would consider these EROTIC! Depending on how one defines PORNOGRAPHY... actually, no matter HOW you define it, this book fits! Just keep in mind, this book is a collection of stories. Miller is famous (or infamous) for fabricating. (Read Brassai- "The Paris Years")

My point? Don't make too much out of the 'dirty' aspect of this book. There is some really good writing worth finding- if you can stomach page after page of 'porn'.

One cannot lug his audio-visual equipment everywhere he goes, and while keeping back issues of Hustler and Swank close at hand is an option, the chance that these less than wholesome rags may somehow slip out of the briefcase and lie spread open for all eyes on the rush hour LIR to see is not one those with sense would court. Under the Roofs of Paris is, therefore, perfect. On the commute the tired, yet horny, gentleman can peruse its pages secure in the knowledge that his rampant and all-engrossing sexual obssesion will not be discovered. Sure, the brain behind a set or two of prying eyes might know that the author, Henry Miller, wrote some "dirty books", but if it knows that, it knows that he wrote them a long time ago, back when dirty meant the sight of a woman's bare ankles. Chances are however, it won't even get that far. You see, Amazon's sales notwithstanding, people rarely read. They'd like to, even think they should, but they don't, and the guilt they feel at the sight of another engrossed in a book soon morphs into resentment, a resentment so powerful (Who does he think he is, anyway? Reading! Some of us have to work!) that the subject, or even the title, of the volume at hand goes unnoticed. So read away, Masters of the Universe. With Val and the boys your respectability remains in tact. They're better than Viagra. Cheaper too. Just a page or two and John Thursday will be good and ready for wifey's (or the babysitter's) figlet...

this was the first book i have ever read of Henry Miller, and i was told that he was a racy and sexually explicit author... well those descriptions were definately true!!!! The different people, positions, places and parts that have sex in this book are quite amazing! I must say that even though some of the things Henry Miller describes are biologically impossible, it is interesting whether he ever tried them. If you want a book that is entertaining, much more interesting and easy to read that either of the 'Tropics', then this is the book for you.

I read the first half of this book in the US, the second in France, and it was not until then that i truly appreciated this materpiece. The prose is powerful yet in a casual, spoken english. The story seems so disjointed and unconnected, until at the end, everything becomes connected in a complete circle, the french way.

Very interesting. We see what the great (and much maligned) Henry Miller would do for a dollar a page. The one that shows through from his real work (like Tropic of Cancer) is his sense of humor. Every once in a while we see him playing it straight, but usually, in this book, he goes crazy and just has fun. I liked it, I wasn't repulsed or anything like that--most times I was incredibly amused (and the Miss Cavendish and Black Mass sequences were just plain scary, even though they, too, were funny). May not be remembered as his best work, might not deserve to be, but still, worth reading if you're a Henry Miller fan.

... then you need to go to your friendly back-alley novelty store to get yourself a quick fix! This is the first sexy Miller book I've read. (My first read was "Big Sur and the Oranges ...") Page by page, you'll find explicit scenes of unheard of acts of raw sex. ... The side effects of reading "Under the Roofs of Paris" are hard-ons, extreme moisture, and an ever-lasting hunger for that which we most crave. It's easy and fun to read. The language, though very blunt, makes this a quick page turner. Do your sexy side a favor and read Henry Miller.

While it is not the type of thing I usually read, I found "Under the Roofs of Paris" a very entertaining read. It is down right pornographic in content, but it's characters and their trysts held me captivated through the end. I wondered what he ( Miller) could possibly think of next!! Laugh out loud funny in parts, I would highly recommend this to the open minded reader.