So, a little later than everyone else, I have read Belle du Jour's book. (Did not really want to buy it, but was happy to find flatmate had it.) It is not v sexy. It is, in fact, a tiny bit depressing.
But what everyone really wants (or wanted) to know is, Is she or isn't she? The jury's still out. What I will say is this - it reads like an automatic writing programme, like a robot might write in some weird way - there is just something very wooden about it. (boom boom!) And I used to read the blog, I don't remember it being that stilted. Can't verify the hotel rooms and horsewhips, but little details, the mundane day-to-day stuff, just sound oddly.
I give you these sample sentences as evidence:
Evidence No 1: (on a former boyfriend) 'a lovely young lad who was clever and always smiled.' Lad? Who uses lad?
Evidence No 2: 'I was varnishing my toe-nails' Who says that? Surely 'polishing', 'painting', 'putting nail varnish on' are more usual.
Evidence No 3: (on Christmas) This year, I actually want the terrible gifts from the ancient aunties. Bring on the wooly socks and the embroidered handkerchiefs please!
Apart from the terrible multiple pile-up of cliches in this sentence, shortly before Belle has said she is Jewish and celebrates Hannukah, not Christmas. How come her ancient aunties do?
Evidence No 4: on boyfriend reacting to the news about her job 'I've been thinking about it and I think it's okay.' Oh. So that's okay then.
Evidence No 5 : on her (nice, middle-class) family 'They don't know officially what I do. They know I'm in the sex trade but that's it... I suspect they officially do know.' Oh well, that was easy.
One of my first questions on reading about a prostitute is 'Do you tell people about it?' What do your family think? What does your boyfriend think? See how gracefully she answers these thorny questions, despatching them in a mere sentence. Hmmm....
I can tell I'm not convincing you. But it is more a cumulative effect you get if you read it in one go. Maybe it's because it's been bolted together out of posts from a blog that it reads like a Frankenstein's monster of a story.
And the writing about sex is detailed, in the way that porn is detailed, without actually telling about how it feels - it really doesn't come across like a real person speaking from inside of an experience, in the way that, say, Mimi tells about stripping or Girl with a One Track Mind tells about, well, anything.
(Hm. Maybe that says more about her skills as a writer than it does about her authenticity as a prostitute, though. )
What's this post title all about?
* This post title brought to you courtesy of Boyd Crandall
About teaching and crying
1 day ago
8 comments:
I haven't read her book, so I can't comment on it.
But I read the blog and was often infuriated by her smugness and aloofness - her self-assurance seemed decidedly unfeminine. And often her turns of phrase seemed wrong. She would sometimes use American words or phrases.
I thought there was something fishy about her but I'm still not sure.
Hm. Interesting. I haven't read the book, but I've heard the hoopla. You've managed to convince me, though, that it's a poor piece of literature, and that's enough.
I'd be inclined to agree with anxious about her blog and apparent abundance of self-confidence.
You've inspired me to go back and re-read her book - I read it in stages a year or so back when given it for a birthday. I can't remember being particularly impressed with it either.
I haven't read her book (and I never read her blog either), but your arguments sound pretty convincing. Ooh, you can discern a lot from the way people use the English language. I might have to read it now!
Anxious - that's exactly it - something about it doesn't fit.
She is supernaturally self-confident on her blog. It's entirely feasible, after all, that being a high-class call-girl does empower you as a woman, and you never ever have a negative experience, or get bored, or get sick of it...
It is a poor piece of literature Alda - though as Patroclus suggests below, it's almost interesting if you read it as a literary puzzle. Maybe she's doing something very clever and post-modernist after all.
Hi Franglaise! It was one of the first blogs I read, maybe this is why it didn't strike me as strange at the time, as I hadn't much to compare with it. Now everyone's blogs I read are so personal and vivid, it seems anomalous.
Patroclus, I want someone else to read it to confirm that it is odd...
I can vaguely remember reading the blog because there was so much stuff written in the press about it at the time and there was all the discussion about who she actually was (with various journalists' and writers' being suggested). From what I remember I thought it was okay, but I've not felt compelled to read the blog again or buy the book.
As for the expression "I was varnishing my toe-nails" - well, she may actually have a wooden leg.
Sorry. I had to bring it down to that level, didn't I?
Betty - hahahaha! Good call!
I've read the blog on occasions, but not for ages. I've always been suspicious, but as you said, it could be just because she's not a very good writer.
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