Whore Paperback – November 30, 2004

She is so talented! I love this author! Her life story is so interesting! This book is as beautiful as it is brutal.

To be honest I found myself pretty much engrossed and hanging on to every word dying to know what happens next, wanting to understand why a woman resorts to degrading and destroying herself like this, trying to judge with an open mind. I previously wrote for a newspaper in which I interviewed a police officer who told me that she had spoken to many prostitutes and that this was never a life that any of them wanted or chose. However, I didn't get that tone from this book at all, I felt the main character was conveying honestly that she chose this profession because she DOES enjoy it, gets a certain sort of perverse and unexplainable high or thrill out of "pleasure as labor"; apparently it wasn't even so much that she felt she had no better options and was simply doing what she had to do to survive, it was what she really wanted. I felt a mixture of emotions just as disgusted by her candor as much as I was admiring of it, unable to help wondering if this really might be what many hookers secretly think but are just never as open to admitting. I felt similarly about the somewhat graphic and audacious prose. If readers are annoyed by the run-on sentences and repetitiveness and monotony of sentence and paragraph structure I think the author actually intended for it to be that way, as a certain sort of symbolizing parallel for the repetitive monotony and seeming pointlessness and senselessness of the character's life in itself, as well as the seamless succession and her blasé attitude about all the men she encounters. I tried my best to be as nonjudgmental as possible but ended up being frustrated that I didn't really get the answers I wanted, didn't get any sort of profound epiphany or anything. I didn't get any explanation for what the character was doing other than the fact that she loves sex and has no morals, self-restraint, or self-respect; although I also wonder if the author also deliberately meant for it to be that way as well, that this type of act isn't really meant to be rationalized. I thought the book would have a happy ending somewhere, that maybe she would end up being in some way fixed, or that she would find something better, e.g., fall in love, allow someone to help or save her and she did have that opportunity eventually and I thought she was stupid for not taking it, because it seemed a once-in-lifetime thing that many women who don't even engage in this practice sometimes don't find at all, that women with backgrounds/childhoods far worse than hers can never even fathom doing regardless of how cold or hungry they ever get...but in the end I ended up respecting her choice. I guess the message she really was conveying was, "This is me, this is who I am, take me or leave me," what more is there to say? What is more societally acceptable, a woman who sleeps around for money, or a man who does it because he can? It all ultimately amounts to the same thing. Any other idea is a pathetic double standard.

her world is so grey, upon her age,she should have bright future and meaningful live, she seems to seek attention of others..so pity.. she is so young and educated, the end of her world should not be so dark...maybe the creator is so jealous of her...

Unlike any book I've read. Written like the life and times of Tristan shandy but with more juxtaposition. Are you brave? Then read it.

I got to page 34 of, out of 172, before finally giving up on this piece of trash. I'm not commenting on the subject. The life of a prostitute, and how a woman chooses to become one, can be interesting. Frankly, if you want to read an entertaining and coherent account of that, pick up `The Happy Hooker', by Xaviera Hollander.Nelly Arcan might be a talented whore. As a writer, she leaves a lot to be desired. This book is nothing but stream-of-conciousness presented as a series of run-on sentences. Don't get me wrong. A well placed and thought out run-on can be useful but, like anything, can be overdone. Arcan overdoes it by orders of magnitude.Not to mention the constant shifts is tense and point-of-view. Have you ever tried to listen to a teen-age girl explain anything? It can make you dizzy. That's how I felt by the time I threw in the towel.The book reads like one long excuse for her decision to become a whore. And that's a word she loves very much. Whore. She uses it constantly. Like an epithet hurled in the reader's face. She denies it, of course.Raised by Catholic nuns, hates her mother, loves her overly pious father, lives in the shadow of her deceased sister. Naturally, she becomes a prostitution. Who wouldn't, under those circumstances?If you must read this tripe, do so while still in the bookstore. Read the first eleven pages. You'll get everything you need by then. However, to be fair to the author, it was translated. Maybe it reads better in French.

While this book appears to be only a condemnation of prostitution from a woman's viewpoint, it broaches a number of other issues, primarily whether a person's life is a matter of their choice or almost ordained by their childhood experiences. Arcan comes down squarely on the side of the latter. While the word "whore" and comments regarding sexual interactions are frequently used, the words "mother" and "father" also make up a significant part of the book.The actions of the narrator's parents are characterized as even more caustic and psychologically brutal than those of her clients. In fact, a number of times she concedes the positive aspects (if one can call them that) of her profession, while the tirades against her parents continue unabated.Other topics mentioned in the novel are;the lives of prostitutes are, on average, no more dangerous than workers in other professions.the character debunks psychiatry and highlights the ridiculousness of assuming one can know the true feelings, motivations and fears of another person.These and other ideas are overshadowed by the long, stream of consciousness paragraphs with plenty of commas. This writing style can be difficult to endure, especially with the topic matter, but it merits reading if only to challenge many common beliefs regarding human interaction, whether it is sex for money or parental responsibility or the adolescent's journey to adulthood.

Interesting book!

Fiquei desapontada com o livro, uma vez que a autora canadense é bem conceituada, particularmente em relação a este título. Considerei a narrativa repetitiva e exagerada, como se o interesse fosse unicamente o de chocar o leitor apesar da pouca substância. Eventualmente perdi o interesse em continuar a leitura. Uma pena.

Highly descriptive, explicit throughout, beautifully written, deeply shocking, literary quality of the highest level Nelly Arcan's auto-biographical account of the life of Isabella Fortier has achieved fame and recognition in the French language and in French-Canadian society. Yet the book has not featured in the English language and has yet to receive the full recognition it deserves. Recently the French language film "Nelly" has added to the controversy with an explicit depiction of the events accounted for in the book. This is a serious, brilliantly written, book and deserves your full attention. Be under no illusion however the contents and the language is strong and openly discusses the life and work of a prostitute . Buy it, read it but be warned!

The entire book is one long, poorly written, man bashathon. Arcan lacks style, charisma and aptitude and thoroughly failed to deliver any hint of a compelling argument to back up her notion that men only want to sleep with their daughters and cheat on their wives. I would not recommend this book to my enemies.

This first person account of Life in the Sex Lane had me feeling so sorry for Nelly Arcan...and while I truly understand the horrible situation that led her into the life of more and more of less and less I found it difficult to get thru the reading..without countless breaks - to ready myself for the beginning of the end ...And then when I arrived at the story's end..it became painfully clear that the very first word of this story was actually the first push down the slope towards Arcan's self- inflicted demise.And then I waited a few days...attempting once more to buck up...and read the book again...thinking perhaps that I had been too critical too involved... or too even too old to read between the lines...because usually that's where the real story lies...This time I got to page 2.....suddenly realizing that with this book/story there is no " between the lines"So I burned the book.....Not wanting to ever share this one with anyone..ever..( a "first" for me)Amen...MFH