This book is not nearly as disturbing as it could have been, though for it's time period it certainly was one of the most shocking things ever written. Then again, if you've never tasted any literature of depravity before don't read it over lunch.

One of the flaws is that Mirbeau spends far more time describing the details of bureaucracy and floral botany than he does torture and lust. When he does turn to those subjects however it is merely in passive told description or explanatory dialogue rather than actual scenes.

For books that really create what Baudelaire called the "oasis of horror" effect, I would recommend Donoso's The Obscene Bird of Night, or the part about the murders in Bolano's 2666.