THE SEVENTH LEVEL

by William Nicholson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 3, 1979

Once upon a time, this book--a man's odyssey in search of sexual ""clear reception""--would have been privately printed (entitled A Gentleman's Education or The Adventures of Lord Pokingham), and we'd have been spared the jambalaya of ""self-realization"" it feels obligated to offer. William Elliot loses both his job and his wife (she's found someone better) in the same week; with his half of the property settlement, he vows to become a student of sex, and toward this end, is taken under the wing of Mme. Arlette, an aging sex-guru in Brussels. Little by little, ""level"" by ""level,"" William realizes that he has heretofore spent far too much time ""cranking myself into love to get sex. . . . It was like converting to Roman Catholicism in order to visit Chartres Cathedral."" Finally, on the seventh level, he is free. With help of women specially chosen by Mme. Arlette, he has learned the level of technique, of sexual permission, of context, of selfish sex and ""dark"" sex--and, ultimately, that ""Sex is the spirit of the body and the body of the spirit."" Pretentious? You ain't heard nothing yet: ""As Santa Claus casts his bulgy shadow over childhood Decembers, so orgasm blocks the light that falls on love."" And the sex itself is numbered and labeled with depressingly unerotic precision: ""Shallow, shallow, shallow, deep. . . . The preliminary thrusts tickled the penis' sensitive head, while the fourth thrust. . . ."" So--from Brussels, to Bangkok, to Bali, William has his jollies, and in turn hands out an increasingly inspirational tract; a humorless, clinical sex-quest that will have many readers wistfully yearning for the good old days of those spirited, secretly dirty Victorians.

Pub Date: Dec. 3, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1979

Categories: FICTION