This vile book should be renamed The 120 Days of Hell. It was a never-ending, dreadful, gruesome, and downright sickening story that never once failed to evoke some sort of negative emotion, be it disgust or absolute horror. Not only was the story itself nauseating, but the style of writing and the pacing, with de Sade maddeningly describing the story day by day, made this book incredibly difficult to read. If one decides to take up the burden of reading this book, it is clear that it cannot be read all at once, not only due to the intense content of the story, but also the convoluted pace of the writing.
The introduction takes up the first 66 pages of the book and is arguably the most informative part of the story, although it is maddeningly drawn out. The introduction is really the only part of the novel that provides a story that is easier to follow, with an almost clear goal in mind. It gives us a glimpse into the lives of the four libertines, including their personalities and dark secrets. It sheds light on their corrupt lives and their dark pasts, while also setting up the rest of the horrid novel. The introduction is sometimes straightforward enough in describing the characters and the setting, which makes it a little easier to comprehend compared to the rest of the book. However, it is also subject to a lot of rambling in between that may distract the reader from the main storyline (if there is even one left by the end of the novel). In regard to the content itself, de Sade does not shy away from jumping right into dark and perverted imagery and commentary, but unfortunately, nothing can prepare the reader for what the rest of the novel holds.
Part One of the novel was the most difficult to read in terms of structure. It was incredibly long, and it seemed to ramble quite a bit, especially since it was written day by day. It was very easy to confuse the characters and lose track of what was happening. Unlike the following parts of the novel, Part One still attempts to give a slight focus to the story itself, although it often loses the story to the sexual content. Overall, Part One did not need to be over 200 pages long, especially when the majority of those pages didn’t add much meaning to the story other than perverted sexual content. When I was reading Part One, I was disgusted and incredibly uncomfortable the entire time, and I honestly thought that this novel could not get much worse. Boy, was I wrong.
After the excessively long and drawn-out first part of the novel, the book’s narrative shifts completely, with the writing being almost exclusively a list of repulsive acts that gradually worsen until the final section, Part Four. This can be attributed to the fact that Marquis de Sade was only able to complete a draft of the story in his lifetime. Parts Two through Four, although all three combined are shorter than Part One, were arguably the most detestable parts of the novel. By the end of Part Two, I lost all hope for this novel, which I never recovered, even by the end of the book. The fact that the majority of the last quarter of the book is a list of acts so repulsive and vile that I had to put down the book multiple times made the ending of the book almost impossible to reach. Parts Three and Four were so deranged and twisted, I could not even comprehend the point of the book at that point. Put simply, I hated every moment of it.
The 120 Days of Sodom is my least favorite book that I have ever read, and I hope to never read something like it again. I never once felt any positive emotion reading it, nor do I have any positive feedback for it now. Although there is a possibility that this novel is meant to represent something more than its revolting content, there could have been a much better way to convey that message. Overall, it is safe to say that the twisted and infamous Marquis de Sade has left this reader absolutely traumatized.