Candy Girl

"Raise your hand if you saw Juno.  Keep your hand up if you knew Diablo Cody wrote the screenplay.  Good, very good.  Now- how many of you knew she spent a year stripping?  Right.  Didn't think so."

That is the introduction to my imaginary lecture about the diversity of our histories and souls.  I could go on and talk about never knowing someone until you've lived their life {but even that doesn't mean you really know someone, now you just know their experience- kind of} and blah blah blah... but I'll save the "we've all got baggage" lecture for my students next week, who will probably need to hear it again.

So, back to Diablo Cody.  I liked Juno, which was what led me to Cody.  I saw the movie, did a Wiki search after all the hullabaloo and read about her blogs and the memoir Candy Girl.  I put it on my mental TBR list and promptly forgot about it.

Flash forward a few years to the Penguin Putnam warehouse sale in Conklin a few weeks ago.  I go every year, but this was the first year I shopped for me as well.  I saw the book, my mind flashed back to that long-forgotten Wiki article and made a slam dunk connection.

I got the book home, asked Joe about it {to which he replied "I thought she was just a stripper who got lucky?"} and quickly devoured the memoir.  I love how sarcastic she is and how she just puts it out there- love it or leave it.

Diablo Cody {that is her uber cool pen name, real name: Brook Busey} begins her memoir with an explanation of how she ended up in Minnesota.. then plunges right into stripperdom.  On a whim, she decided to dance at an amateur night- she may not have won the $200 but she did find a new career path.  You're probably thinking at this point, "who wants to strip?!"- but the reality is that many women strip to pay bills, but a lot of women strip for the power {among other things}.  Cody unveils the stripping universe for what it really is... we get a very real peek at what goes on- in her head, at the clubs and in the dressing rooms.  It isn't an easy job, as she clearly demonstrates.  It does pay the bills and it does make for some very interesting conversation starters... and maybe some kinky kicks as well, depending on the flavor of the stripper and her love life at home.  Cody lays out a year of her life- stripping at upscale clubs, a "chain brand" club {think of slapping the Hustler or Playboy or such name to a strip club}, scuzzy clubs and a peep show booth.  Through it all we get to experience her life as a stripper and how it changes her views {or preconceived notations} of the women and men who work & frequent these clubs.  Its a cool book, about a cool chick who took a cool job and made something out of it.

I loved this memoir... I could go on and on about it actually.  It kind of made me stripper-story obsessed for a week or so.  It was such a sarcastic dose of raw reality that I was instantly enthralled.  Any good memoir will do that to the reader- and Candy Girl is no different.

As far as recommending it... hmmm, well it isn't for a 'prudish' reader or someone who doesn't like raw & dirty sarcasm.  It is also not for the young, I'd probably rate it NC-17.  I would suggest it to people who "hate" strippers... it gives a new perspective- strippers are people too.

I vote yes to this memoir- if anyone else has read this, comment and let me know.... so far I don't know a soul who has and kind of feel like a pimp when I bring it up.  Hahaha

ps: I hope I haven't offended anyone with this post- if so, my apologizes!

write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow