Just the same as other books by Henry Miller this book was also hard to find in the era when it was first published. The book is full of sexual material that cannot be allowed to be published freely in the literature world. Henry never wrote for the kids as his work has been for the adult minds only. Books such as Tropic of Cancer and Paris 1928 also suffered the same fate in the beginning and then they flourished in the market through crooked ways. Even if we listen to it today it is hard to believe that a writer of that era possessed the courage to write such material.
Campbell Scott has narrated it clearly but it was not easy to fully portray in narration the sort of material which the book possesses. According to the author he never exaggerated things in his book rather he has portrayed society as he saw it during his visit to several places. It was another reason for the ban on the book because several men and women of which Henry talks about resemble the famous people in history.
The places where sexual events took place are all from the real world. Not to forget the language which the author has used including the accent is just marvelous. Language is coarse but it was the need of the novel, one cannot just portray sexual material in a decent tone and language. The book has a proper story but when a person starts listening to the events in the novel usually the story is ignored and we start to develop an interest in the scenes.
