While this book's level of sexual explicitness would not be scandalous by today's standards, the frank discussion of sexuality, especially from a woman's perspective, resulted in a lot of pearl-clutching and book-burning/banning in its day. Perhaps just as scandalous were the book's critique of the noble class and its discussion of worker's rights and socialist/Bolshevist ideals. With its political and social analysis, it was a surprisingly enjoyable book to which I was able to draw parallels relevant to the modern world.