Review of Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of pleasure

Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Disclaimer
Due to its status as "banned" a long time ago, I was very interested to read this piece of literature and know what lays behind the lines: I spent reading the novel around a week. and Oh my God, for every morning you have to do shower in order to keep yourself clean and righteous.
I do not recommend this novel for the poor virgin boys like me. due to its obscene and open and sometimes artistic description of the male reproductive organ.

Synopsis
The story is about an orphan poor girl who lost her parent due to a sudden disease, Francesca was obliged to move to the city where she was to stay with a woman promoting recreational activities for the men. The whole story was about her virginity and how many people tried to explore it. She was first phobic about the question, and with many tries to she was open up after a scene with a the maid and the italian lover.
The first man who won her dragon was the first lover, she liked afterwards what is meant by manhood, afterwards she goes with that Master and the little boy who used to bring mails to her, passing through the clients of the other landlady.
Finally she met an old man and lived with him, she get a fortune as a heritage and finally she met her first lover who refuse to resume relation with her due to social norms. Meaning he can not get along with a woman of pleasure.

General Overview
The language used in the literature is very precise and obscene. It is a gratification of everything related to the human sexuality. The most which received a gratification of the author is the male organ. It is referred sometimes as the big machine, and sometimes as the lovely object. Much details are described precisely. Like the pain she felt after losing her virginity, or the feeling of ejaculation with the boy, or even her feeling when thrusts takes place. Even Sadomasochistic activities are provided in the description.

My personal attitude
Due to my position as an activist, I find this piece of literature is more humiliating to the notion of woman in General. It is really shameful for a British community pretending woman rights to treat an orphan girl in such a way. Even if the defence tool of the protagonist was her sexuality, the society described in the novel was very much abusive even for an orphan girl.
It takes me a week to finish the professional description of the human sexuality and the old style of English, It was amazing. But very hard for someone like me who never seen what a woman is in reality. I felt sorry for Fanny and all the experience she faced to live within an aristocratic society was very hard. Happy for her that she finally had a fortune and a maid to live with.

Recommendations
I would not recommend this book to children under the age of puberty, nor even to be read in family setting. Read it alone and prepare for shower the next morning. One piece of advice, read as quickly as you can, don't stay too long following the details. and Good read to all.

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