True to its title, the History of a Pleasure Seeker is the fascinating romp of a young Adonis whose thick penis becomes rigidly inflated by the mere suggestion of a sexual encounter with either sex. Piet Berol becomes employed as a tutor in the home of a wealthy hotel owner. Throughout Richard Mason’s story, Barol’s pronounced mesomorphic physique makes him the envy of most women, and even more, with men who would desire his muscular frame, sharp looks, and unquenchable virility.
As a tutor, Barol was given the commission to breakdown the walls of compulsion that kept the household’s youngest boy child imprisoned in his own mind. “He sat up and put his right foot onto the carpet, then his left, then he withdrew them both and repeated the procedure six times.” Barol attempts to work with this young lad by not pressing himself into the boy's immediate frame of reference. Rather, he stands aside waiting for chances to enter this disturbed child’s obsessive compulsive life.
Of course in History of a Pleasure Seeker, Barol easily wins the admiration of Jacobina, the woman of the household. After some delay, he straightforwardly finds his way into her bed and/or between her thighs—“her strawberry patch—her little kitten,” wherever and whenever an occasion arises. This woman is starved for sexual attention “not the result of any interior piety” but because her zealous husband promised God he would refrain from sex for a lifetime, if only Jacobina could conceive a son.
Berol desires to inflate his social status from that of mere tutor to a highly prosperous man of influence in the upper echelons of high culture in Amsterdam. In addition to sexual aptitude, Barol seeks to be an influential part of a transoceanic society that is respected for his wisdom about trade and the financial markets of his time. He desires wealth.
If you enjoy a light read that will keep you wondering just how many more sexual delights Berol will encounter, then History of a Pleasure Seeker is the novel for you. In one part of the book, author Mason describes Barol's penis as colored bright red due to repeated friction either by his own hand or by interaction with others.
This tale is well written, has a somewhat believable storyline, and is filled with interesting descriptions of sexual encounters yet is not pornographic. It seems obvious that a follow-up story will be coming.