I read this quite a while ago, and thought I had already rated it.
Anyway, what I still cannot fathom is why a woman would write fiction that so thoroughly dehumanizes women. Even the Marquis doesn't come close,and one could excuse it more from a man. One can only feel sorry for poor Desclos.
On the other hand, I'm possibly missing the point, which might be put across more subtly than it was in 9 1/2 weeks, the point being that if you play around too much with, and slide deeper and deeper into the game of S & M, chances are that you will eventually find yourself either a killer, mad, dead, or all of the above; in which case I should probably be giving the piece 5 stars.
Which I won't do on accountof it having left me feeling brutalised, violated, and with feelings of despair. Which is probably what was intended, and admittedly it was because it was rather well-written that it managed to achieve this.