The New Book Review

This blog, #TheNewBookReview, is "new" because it eschews #bookbigotry. It lets readers, reviewers, authors, and publishers expand the exposure of their favorite reviews, FREE. Info for submissions is in the "Send Me Your Fav Book Review" circle icon in the right column below. Find resources to help your career using the mini search engine below. #TheNewBookReview is a multi-award-winning blog including a MastersInEnglish.org recommendation.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Author Turns Sex, Interviews, Sudy into Pickup Artist Book


Confessions of a Pickup Artist Chaser
Subtitle: Long Interviews with Hideous Men 
By Clarisse Thorn
Available on Amazon and Smashwords
Nonfiction: Feminist Theory/Se
ISBN: 9781476129211 


Reviewed by Katy Huff originally for Amazon

 
I picked up this book for the David Foster Wallace reference in the title and the sexy reputation of the author. I only put it down so that I could eat something without endangering my Kindle. It's a fast-paced, chatty, cerebral, and ultimately sex-positive and feminist dissection of the pick up artist subculture, which turns out to be a seedy amalgamation of internet fora, night clubs, nerds, hedonists, misogynists, misandrists, sociopaths, and ordinary men (and women).

Clarisse is unflinchingly honest (radically honest, even) about the occasionally hot, often tormented, and chronically analytic headspace she experienced as a sex-positive feminist investigating the bizarre subculture of pick up artistry. She risks endangerment of her sanity, her feminist paradigm, and her person to stalk, interview, and, yes, flirt her way through the underworld of geeks and sleazebags of pick up artistry.

I was morbidly fascinated as she fluidly reviewed the myriad vocabularies, philosophies, and 'techniques' that have evolved within this strange community. I was then relieved when, after outlining and explaining this disturbing world, she tore it to shreds in a dissection that is too honest to completely please anyone involved: pick up artists, feminists, and innocent bystanders will all leave with a lesson or two.

I can only hope she's already conducting her next undercover investigation of the next fascinating subculture she'll write about.

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

No comments: