Behind Closed Doors (Paperback)

by Alina Reyes (Author), David Watson (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
French erotica goes interactive in this playful, vividly imagined collage of spicy sexual fantasies that allows the reader to choose the sex of the narrator and direct the flow of the action. The excitement begins when the hero or heroine?depending upon which end of the book the reader opens first?happens upon a carnival, wanders into a mysterious caravan through "The Doors of Eros" and learns that a destined mate is also wandering through this labyrinth of lechery. As the two search for one another (through a series of numbered doors corresponding to chapters), each engages in a smorgasbord of lewd adventures. After each experience, the reader is given a choice of doors to open next. None of this is at all politically correct, and the assortment of sex partners includes everything from fat ladies and circus clowns to firemen, jungle animals and hermaphroditic angels. But Reyes (The Butcher, 1995) spins her tale with an improbable delicacy, even when detailing taboo sex acts?and fills her pages with intense dreamlike imagery and quirky symbolism that make her febrile, titillating vision hard to resist. (May) FYI: The Butcher has sold 500,000 copies in France and has been translated into 15 languages.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
Smutty meanderings from French porn diva Reyes (The Butcher, 1995), who here badly overestimates the literary freight her train can pull. This time, the ostensible gimmick at hand is that we are given two novels for the price of one, each relating sometimes identical (and always similar) events, one from the male and one from the female point of view. The action begins at a circus sideshow called the Kingdom of Eros, where a man and a woman meet and begin their tryst--which is itself the center and entirety of the plot. At the end of each chapter, the protagonist is left facing several doors, each corresponding to a subsequent chapter in the narrative, and the reader is thus allowed to alter the direction of the story by choosing which door to enter. Despite such an elaborate--and quickly annoying--narrative device, it is evident from the start that there is no story here to be told, apart from the various hydraulics involved in human coupling. Although we are given some vague rhetoric about ``the Shadow of Myself'' and ``the Ghost of Lost Love,'' no person or event seems to bear the least relation to anyone or anything outside herself, himself, or itself, and what we ultimately seem to find are simply random (if vivid) depictions of people having sex, with nothing to unite them thematically. Erotic vignettes, some quite extraordinary, but not a book in any more rewardingly imaginable sense: raw material thrown haphazardly on the page. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (June 13, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802135056
• ISBN-13: 978-0802135056
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,094,676 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This maze made me dizzy, May 3, 2004

By	MissCritique (Queens, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Behind Closed Doors (Paperback)

A few chapters were amusing, to say the least but in general this wasn't the raunchiest book in the world.
The writing was decent, which made it an easy read and the general idea of "opening my own doors" was somewhat fun and reminiscent of the "choose the page" books for children and teenagers.
I would recommend this book as a general read when you're looking for something not too serious, not too deep and not too complicated. I would not recommend it to those looking for either a love story or full blown erotica as this book falls weakly in the middle.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Frothy Little Confection Of A Book., May 20, 2001

By	Scott Crozier (Fremont, California USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

All right then, I think we're all agreed that this isn't the book to read if you're prowling for the psychological depths and serious tone Mme. Reyes laid out for us in "The Butcher". Having said this, however, I think the book stands well on its own merits. In a strictly technical sense, it can't be easy to design a novel that gives the reader two plot options at the end of every chapter and then rewrite the whole thing from the viewpoint of the opposite gender. (Which gender did she start out with first? One wonders.) And rest assured, not all the "doors" you open will lead to particularly pleasurable experiences. There's one chapter in particular involving a monstrously obese woman and chickens. (I'll leave it at that!)

But such bizzare, jarring interludes help to give the book a diverse, interesting texture and, conversely, I found some of the vignettes wonderfully playful and entertaining in a dreamy, surreal fashion. One has to admire the author for the fecundity of her imagination. There's this delightful, voyeuristic promenade beneath a transparent sidewalk, for instance. (As it turns out, not all those women up there chose to wear "knickers" beneath their dress.) Indeed, at its best, the book has the same refreshingly unusual tone of some of Fellini's more lighthearted cinematic romps. ("City Of Women" comes to mind)

The book is wonderful mind-candy, a tangy-sweet, undemanding french pastry of a read, perfect for unwinding at the begining of the weekend and, by all means, take the time to read at least parts of it out loud with some one you love. Who knows? Some interesting "doors" of your own might open.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for sharing with someone., February 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Behind Closed Doors (Hardcover)

My husband & I had 3 hours before our connecting flight left for our honeymoon. While checking the racks at the airport bookstore, I came across this very unique book. Hours have never passed so slowly, as we each took turns "opening doors" and discovering what turned the other on. Yes, so many parts of the book are cliche and just plain silly, but for us, it made it easier to read, laugh at and enjoy sharing with each other.