Oyster Redux

Unrelentingly lubricious, "The Oyster" is also, of all works of erotica in any genre, perhaps the most successfully sustained portrait of a feel-good eros without cruelty or regret; unlike almost every other sex-themed work ever attempted, this book's characters never suffer ambivalence about a sexual act, nor do they ever take stock of their own or another's debauchment. Part enlightened how-to manual for the Victorian Age, part feminist/ Socialist manifesto, this work is unrelentingly charming, gracious,-- and phenomenally arousing. Like the lover of one's dreams, it carries off the nastiest things while taking away any unpleasant psychological "nastiness," leaving only sensual transport and tender, loving vibes. If any work of pornography deserves comparison to Mozart, Jane Austen, or Vermeer, this is it. Its worldview has to be experienced in order to be believed-- it is perhaps the one work of erotica which would delight every palatte and deserve inclusion on every bookshelf-- it is the indisputable masterpiece of its kind.