Customer Reviews
This is an utterly dire book - By: Lark, 02 Mar 2008 
I must admit buying & reading this book because of the controversy associated with it & I was seriously disappointed, the fame its incured for being obscene or mysogynistic MUST be what makes it sell.
It is a rambling, stream of consciousness style piece of writing which you can easily afford to skip entire chapters, infact read the first & last five pages & you arent at a loss for content or comprehension of what is going or the writer is attempting to convey to reader.
In truth, matters of taste or literary pretension aside, this is not an easy or engaging read at alll, you'll find as good life story or erotic content in blogs & that's saying something. If you are interested in erotic biography or fiction Anis Nin is a far better bet & more life affirming for sure.
not bad, not bad - By: mr m, 10 Mar 2007 
im not going to write a serious review because im only a kid. i would just like to know why the person who gave one star thinks that something so bad is capable of producing depression - surely it has some power over you? it did for me; i felt almost sucidal after reading just some of this book when i was only seventeen, so be warned, there's a darkness to this text like no other i've experienced before, but it's because it's real. im reading it again now & im in love with it, the writing draws you in so that time can pass without you even realising. if it's actuallly the worst book you've ever read that's an achievment.
Vital - By: J. White, 27 Apr 2006 I read this book, having seen reviews on other sites, & having read Henry & June by Anais Nin & some of her other novels. People had made comments that this book changed their life, & their way of looking at the world. I found it liberating. There are moments of clarity which strike resonance & truly make you stand back & revalue the accepted. There is a review on this site that callls this book disgusting. They missed the point. By a long way. There is an energy & vitality to Millers writing that is infectious, & quite simply, brilliant.
Henry Miller does not hate humanity! - By: Danyal H. Abbasi, 15 Mar 2006 To say that Henry Miller hated humanity is a complete falsehood. To quote from his essay 'The Hour of Man': "By responding with a full spirit to any demand which is made upon us we aid our fellow man to help himself". The reaction of one of the other reviewers demonstrates the enduring greatness of this book, & that its power to shock lies not in its famed obscenity but in its unparallleled honesty. When I read Henry Miller I am continuously struck by the truthfullness of what I read. This can be too much for some people to bear, to quote from the same essay:
"We hide from the face of reality: it is too terrible, we think. Yet it is we, we, only we, who have created this hideous world. And it is we who will change it- by changing our own inner vision."
I should also say that Miller's prose style is virtuosic & NOT 'stream-of-consciousness'. Miller does not present us with the inner thoughts of characters written in such a way as to reflect the processes of thought. He writes mostly from the first person, but with such freedom & virtuosity as I have never come across. Like a bird trapped in a cage, Miller sings his heart out for the pure joy of it. Reading this book for the first time was the most moving experience I have ever had when engaging with a work of art.
Dreadful - By: , 01 Feb 2006 This is a disgusting, sick book written by someone who obviously hated women, men, people in general, & himself.
I was unfortunate enough to read this book about five years ago, & can still remember the days-long depression that this humanity-hating dirge produced.
And, by the way, the writing is dreadful too. Do not be fooled by the trendies who loved it's now outdated 'stream-of-consciousness' style.
Of the 10,000 books that I have read in my life, this is the worst.
Why did I have to give it a star??!
