Belle du Jour – Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl
Reading this book I feel like there is a certain type of person who’s perfect for sex work (as there is for most jobs).
Someone who doesn’t like human touch, doing menial tasks for people while balancing emotional involvement and managing complex therapeutical procedures probably shouldn’t be a nurse. And someone who doesn’t love themselves, doesn’t like people and isn’t curious about their intimate proclivities, but rather gets attached quickly, probably isn’t cut out for being a callgirl. Of course one should like sex – in many varieties – too.
Appart from the sex, being curious about the intimate lives of people and how they work, while not getting attached also seems perfect for the field the author studied: forensic science.
I got the book because I loved the Secret Diary of a Callgirl with Billie Piper. I was curious how much the production invented and how much was based on the blogposts of the author. To be honest I felt Billie Pipers character was more accepting of the different kinks than Belle du Jour in the books. Actually I liked the TV-series’ character better than the one in the book. It’s possible that something got lost in translation, because blogposts were made into a book and the mediums don’t work in the same way.
The book reads like an entertaining first draft that could or should be arranged in one or more story arcs for a satisfying read. There are some nice thoughts in it, some glimpses into an interesting but yet shallow or egocentric character. Some reviews show how little the book was able to convey that different forms of sex are just that – sex; “…she’s willing to be degraded for money.” For me the character never felt degraded and while some acts may look degrading from a subjectives perspective, they might not be at all. They might be empowering from the perspective of the people involved. But the authors offhand accounts just don’t communicate the joy or even uncaring nature she has in such situations. There’s no reflection about most things or the things she does (especially to her ex-boyfriends) and therefore everything feels shallow, as if there’s some depth missing.
That’s okay for a blog (although I probably wouldn’t read it), but it lacks in a book.
As for the critique that she’s glamourising sex-work, I don’t think this sentence does nothing of that kind:
There are downsides to unpaid casual sex, of course. Aren’t there always? By engaging in truly random, one-night attachments, you open yourself up to stalking, relationships and all other manner of sexually transmitted ills.
And sometimes there are even “good” sentences as inspiration from the readers. Take it from a sex-expert, she must know:
Sexy is the result of being pulled together and comfortable in your skin. Holding your stomach in when your clothes are off is not fuckable. Slapping your ample behind and inviting him to ride the wobble is.
3/5 Bücherratten
