The "philosophy" part can be tedious but thee sex is hot with lot of tension. One of the first hot books I read 30 years ago and still a favorite. ( )

Este libro es malísimo y me da pena porque en verdad partió bien. Dentro de todo lo aceptable para este libro y que más se podía pedir? Unas cogidas por aquí y por allá y algo de palabras que le daban un cuadro agradable.
El personaje de Bee pudo serlo todo y tengo rabia porque quedó EN NADA!! EN NADAAAS
Después aparece Mario que debe ser por lejos el PEOR PERSONAJE que he leído en mi vida y mira que leído cosas malas, pero filosofar casi 40% del libro para terminar perdiendo ante un chófer de tricilo es DEMENCIAL. HORRIBLE.

Igual leeré el que sigue, pero con mucha rabia en mi corazón. ( )

Hacer el amor a todas horas, de día o de noche y en cualquier circunstancia, con quien sea -él o ella, o ellos y ellas- mientras le guste a ella quien se lo pida, ésta es la ley a la que obedece Emmanuelle en el momento en que, a los veinte años, llega a Bangkok para reunirse con su marido ingeniero. Así, en el marco exótico de una sociedad neocolonial europea, restringida y refinada, la joven descubre las reglas profundas del amor y la gloria del placer sexual gracias al propio cuerpo, y va al encuentro de una filosofía natural y optimista. Entonces, de la mano de un maestro en las artes amatorias, el italiano Mario, Emmanuelle irá limando sus reticencias para alcanzar al fin un universo de amor total, la Erosfera a la que conduce la práctica de una sexualidad profundamente consciente y liberada de todo tabú. Este libro, durante largos años considerado en Francia -y en resto del mundo- como escandaloso y con una vida prácticamente clandestina, ha pasado a ser hoy en día una obra clásica de la literatura erótica contemporánea.

What if women had the ability to think dangerously about sex and eroticism? Well, it wouldn't be this. In some parts there are some interesting bits -- *God is the opposite of the erotic* -- but imagine my surprise when this was written by a woman! Honestly, is it that hard to write about the body? ( )

I once saw someone online describe pornography as a fantasy of infinite access. It's vulgar precisely because characters are never denied anything that matters: the word "no" doesn't really exist in porn. This describes the literary universe that "Emmanuelle" takes place in pretty well. So far, pornographically speaking, so good, and the first part of the book really is worth reading. Emamanuelle's encounters with both men and women are well-written, free-spirited romps, as arousing as they are explicit. The author's depiction of Bangkok as a city of infinite pleasures is also shameless fun. Most of the members of the expatriate community in which the main characters spend their time are beautiful, adventurous, wealthy, uninhibited and constantly horny. It's all colonialist fantasy, yes, but the husband-and-wife team that were apparently responsible for the writing of this novel wouldn't be the first people excited by both foreign lands and foreign bodies. Most importantly, Emmanuelle's author -- Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane, his wife Marayat, or perhaps both of them -- writes the experience of female pleasure with far more skill than most authors, erotic or otherwise. Even if Louis-Jaques did, in fact, do most of the actual writing, it's clear that he asked his wife what a female orgasm felt like and listened carefully to her reply, and in this sort of book, that's not nothing. There's a well-done hint of domination and submission here, too, in the form of Marie-Anne, a precocious, beautiful young French woman to whose whims Emmanuelle submits. And then she has a fling with a French society lady and a beautiful American redhead known as Bee and then, about halfway through the book, the fun suddenly stops.

Enter Mario, a wealthy, refined Italian gentleman who has his own ideas about the erotic life. You would think that he would fit right in with the other characters, but, unfortunately, he proceeds to take over the novel by expounding upon his erotic philosophies at length like a randy, Francophone John Galt. Despite the fact that Mario peppers his conversation with Italian words, his arguments come off as hopelessly French, at once hyper-rational and shamelessly enamored of the good things in life. He is, in other words, a dull, long-winded libertine, so much so, in fact, that Emmanuelle as good as calls him one. Mario's objective is apparently to convince Emmanuelle that yielding to others and accommodating their desires represents a path to both an aesthetic and joyful existence, but one wonders why he bothered: she certainly wasn't very committed to keeping her clothes on before she met him. But there's a lot more talking and a lot less carousing in the last half of the book, and that's a shame. There's also a regrettable scene with a random Thai guy who's not quite of age and some confused philosophizing about Mario's sexual identity, both of which probably don't scan any better now than they did when the book was first published.

Despite the fact that it features some hot sex and a fun setting, the real problem here is the title character herself. She both innocent and completely debauched, astonishingly beautiful and yet completely willing to try out just about any sex act anyone suggests to her. She's not as bubble-headed as Terry Southern's Candy Christian -- we read that she has a degree in math -- but, like that character, she's something of an empty shell, a woman without either a past or a will of her own. I was hardly expecting a philosophical novel here, but "Emanuelle" does seem like erotic literature that wants to be taken seriously, so it's too bad that there's a void where it's title character should be. It's worth noting that while Mario counsels that aesthetic nirvana can be reached through the giving over of oneself, in Emmanuelle's case, there isn't really a lot to let go of. When I finished the novel, I wished that I'd heard more from her and considerably less than her dreadfully verbose would-be mentor. Recommended for the good parts, which are really quite good. You can safely skip the rest. ( )