I have to admit that sex is something that fascinates me. The whole sex industry (and I don't think that this is just me) holds some sort of lurid fascination. It's the underbelly of the nice society, and yet at the end of the day, and especially after reading this book, it turns out that it's really a fairly straight forward sort of job place. You wake up, you go to work, you keep different hours than most and get paid better than most, and you probably enjoy your job more than most.
Belle De Jour is essentially the diary of a prostitute named Belle. She has a very wry sense of humour and regards her job very dispassionately, although she does point out the fatal flaws that can occasionally crop up in it. Following about a year of her life, we get to see her going to a variety of different clients who want a variety of different things, and at the same time we are privy to her friends; former boyfriend and trusted confidante "N", former boyfriends A1, A2, A3 and A4, current boyfriend "The Boy" and her agent "The Manager". These are all painted in fairly broad strokes, but come to life more when we discover the origins of their relationships with Belle.
Perhaps the thing that is most obscure about Belle's lifestyle is her rather strange fetishisms. For me personally, her stories about being a prostitute barely raise an eyebrow and the ability to accept her occupation is not a problem for me. However, when she details how she once dated a man who she liked to have smack her around, and "N"'s offer to pee on her when she is depressed is given serious consideration - these are things that I find difficult to relate to, and perhaps indicate a greater distance between reader and author. We can all relate to awful working conditions and dickhead clients, but it's a lot more difficult to empathise with hardcore SDSM.
That said, that aspect of the book is relatively small, and more than made up for by the rest of her diary entries, and her witty A-Z on the sex industry. A very entertaining read.
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