'Wetlands', by German presenter Charlotte Roche, is a courageous and heavily speckled with humour delve into the extremes of the human body and sexuality. Often described as a novel that centres on the taboo, hardly any subject is censored as we follow the story of 18 year old Helen Memel as she recovers from a surprisingly disastrous shaving accident. While it is true that many critics slate 'Wetlands' for what they see as an immature exploration of the less glossy aspects of the human body, and shallow use of crudity, I feel there is a deeper message than pure shock value. The narrator of the story is Helen, who at a young age is afflicted with a serious ...  Read the complete review

Eighteen year old Helen Memel ends up in hospital after her attempt to shave between the cheeks of her buttocks goes wrong and she ends up in the proctology unit having her infected anus operated on. During the course of her hospitalisation Helen has time to reflect on her life, her family and more especially her body. She dreams that her hospitalisation will bring her divorced parents back together again and contrives to bring them face to face over her sick bed. Will Helen's plans work or will she go back to the same old life afterwards? "Wetlands" is written by German TV presenter Charlotte Roche and the book is an Amazon worldwide bestseller and ...  Read the complete review

Wetlands by Charlotte Roche I heard an awful lot about this book. Which strikes me instantly as unusual. Normally, hearing people talking about a book would just pass me by, the mere mention of a book is usually enough to turn my mind to something else in an instant. Not because I don't read, in fact quite the opposite, but because I tend to make up my own mind which books I read, and who they are written by. I don't usually get involved in influence from other sources to determine my next purchase. This was different however. What I was hearing was shocking me, turning me on even. From what I had heard, there was a difference of opinion on whether people ...  Read the complete review

My boyfriend gave me this book for valentines day last year . I'd asked for it after reading an article in the paper that described it as being so graphically erotic that readers had actually fainted ! Faint inducing erotica - well, count me in ! It tells the story of 18 year old Helen , who begins the book in hospital awaiting treatment for an infected abcess on her bum . I say it tells her story, but really I found this novel to be nothing more than a description of all Helens sexual encounters, with very little actual plot or storyline involved. This would normally be fine with me - many erotic novels lack plot, instead focusing on heavily ...  Read the complete review

I chose this book as someone with an interest in erotic fiction and a healthy imagination. Various reviews I had read in respectable publications had me thinking this would be really worthwhile and a big deal. I guess that any publicity is good publicity, as reading through my fellow reviewers' opinions on this page shows my opinion is one shared with many other disappointed and disgusted readers. The book is childish, reminding me of when we'd gather in the corners of the playground and try to shock eachother in fits of giggles over "naughty words" and "rude things." Its sole purpose is to shock, with incredibly graphic descriptions of ...  Read the complete review