Customer Reviews

100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I often note there are a few things that make me never want to have a daughter: 1) That T-Mobile commercial where the cheerleader squawks on the phone incessantly to her friend 2) the movie Thirteen and 3) this book.

100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed - as the hype conveyed - would be nothing without the string of sexual encounters, all graphically relived, through the pages of "Melissa P."s diary. The blase nature of the parents, who take little to no interest in their daughter's life, are almost certainly the catalyst for "Melissa P"'s sexploits and flowery (yet often captivating) writing style. While it's truly a coming of age novel, the character's development is on warp-speed as she's left to her own devices to experiment, often in dangerous situations, with her sexuality. Throughout, the character never breaks form, and the reader begins to anticipate her path; fear for her and maybe even envy her exploits - even if just a little. Maybe it's because this girl is 15 and her descriptions are so vivid... or maybe it's because she's had more sex than most 30 year-olds I know - not sure. But, this was one of the more provocative books I've read in awhile.

I always hesitate to criticize the prose to sharply when the book I'm reading is a translation. Still, I have to say that, though there are interesting moments in this "story," for the most part I was unimpressed. The writing to me was self-indulgent and childish, typical of a teenage girl's diary but not the ones that usually receive world-wide publication. Is this really the way a teenager thinks and speaks in the twenty-first century? If so, then they don't think and speak too differently from the writers of erotic novels in Victorian times.

From the reviews and interviews I've read, some of the popularity of this novel is explained by the fact that it is based on the author's own experiences. Considering that, it does offer the story a little more poignancy. But what is this book supposed to do for the reader, then? Are we supposed to be aroused by the eroticism or saddened by the poor protagonist's violations? In the end, various passages made me feel a little of both. But the key word there is "little." I was not extraordinarily moved in either direction and I didn't feel like I was left with any universal insights into the experiences of a modern teenager.

It actually bothers me that I was disappointed by this book. I was probably expecting a little too much from the hype in the articles I'd read. And I really dislike doing anything that might discourage a young person from picking up a pen and exploring their feelings in writing. It is true that journals and diaries can often provide inspiration for wonderful works of fiction and nonfiction. Rarely, however, is the journal itself a brilliant work. This one, I think, is not.

This smashing book is a semiautobiographical work, a surprise bestseller in Italy, the work of a 17-year-old girl, Melissa Panarello. It follows Melissa's journey from a narcissistic 14-year-old looking for love, through a number of amorphous sexual relationships that leave her feeling used and humiliated, and on to real love.

Now, I must admit to being of more than one mind on this book. Its graphic sexuality gives the book a reputation as a work of erotica, but the denigrating, self-loathing sexuality depicted is never really arousing. For me, a telling line is found on page 76, "I search for excitement born from humiliation. I search for annihilation."

Instead, this really is the tale of a girl, who does not find the love she needs at home, and goes out searching for it in all the wrong places. Her sexuality does not lead to fulfillment for herself, or for the reader. She must move back from her sexuality, to find love first - to feel loved and to love another.

Overall, I find this book to be a touching story of a girl; a girl in search of something deep, on a terrible journey not taking her where she wants and needs to go. Yes, it is a work of graphic sexuality, perhaps accidentally(?) glorifying the sexuality that the main character finds so debasing.

Do I recommend this book? Yes, I do. But, be warned: it's a book of contradictions. I both loved it and hated it, loved and hated the characters, loved and hated the author. And perhaps a great book is one that takes you where you never expected to go.

I read/skimmed this book of "erotica" pretty quickly. The cover claimed it was a bestseller, worldwide sensation, etc. Actually, it's the story of a teenager who lets herself get used by a bunch of guys. It's not even erotic since all the sex is weird, bad and/or degrading. I couldn't figure out why she was interested after the first few bad encounters or what she hoped to gain. But, really, I didn't even care since the writing was so trite.

I want some proof that a seventeen year old wrote this pretentious piece of junk. This reads like a bad poet trying to write a Penthouse letter. Simply awful. Please don't waste your money.

there is nothing sexy about this book AT ALL. the author almost seems to be retarded -- she keeps having sex with men she doesn't like and who don't give her any pleasure. She goes home in tears after every encounter. If you're going to be a slut, be a happy slut! If it makes you miserable, stop doing it! Between the flowery, over-the-top writing and the author's stupidity, I wanted to throw this book against the wall.

This was basically just a string of sexual acts tied together with the emotional ramblings of a teenager. I saw no point in this book, I took nothing from it and indeed, I feel a bit violated but the utter stupid-ness of it.

It's almost like she knew her diary would be published and did her best to fill it with pretentious prose. I couldn't shake the feeling that this was all made-up. It's not worth that price.

Melissa P., 100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed (Black Cat, 2003)

Ah, the worldwide fascination with kiddie porn. You disagree? What would you call it when a book detailing the sexual exploits of a sixteen-year-old girl sells millions of copies? Okay, it may not really BE kiddie porn, because only the most neanderthal among us still believe that a sixteen-year-old of either gender isn't an adult. But it's hard to deny that part of the attraction of this book has to do with the fact that, if you tried to create a film version of it in America without changing the ages of the participants, you'd probably get arrested. But you put it in book form, and it becomes a bestseller. I love this country.

The main thing to know about 100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed is that it's not erotica. You may think it's erotica, and the people blurbing it on the back may think it's erotica, but the simple truth of the matter is that there's more of the erotic to be found in the movie The Terminator than there is here. But then again, it's not really pornography, not in the sense of, say, the works of Marcus van Heller, whoever that particularly boring rake was, or the anonymous Victorian who published the infamous magazine The Pearl. Certainly not in the way Peter Sotos is pornography. Yes, there are some sex scenes, and it's slightly possible that the idea of multiple partners, or same-sex partners, might still shock one or two people who have been living in a cave their entire lives. Besides, it doesn't have the classic (and cliché) pornographic structure; the heroine wouldn't sleep with five guys as the first major sex scene in the book in a pornographic novel, that would be the last. Unless the author was a fetishist of some sort, in which s/he'd save that for last. It's a "fictionalized memoir," whatever that may mean. Kind of like Bukowski's Factotum or Ham on Rye, I guess, but without the wit, the panache, the style.

The one thing 100 Strokes... has going for it is that it's readable. The hundred seventy pages of this book will pass before your eyes very quickly. And, well, reading about a (as the cover blazons) "sexually ravenous girl" is not really difficult.

But if you're looking for pornography, you'll look a whole lot more erudite reading Georges Bataille, and you'll probably get more of a kick out of it. ** ½

I am at the very end of this book and I cannot put it down. I read some of the other critics and I can't believe they are reading the same book. One critic says this girl is not like other young italian women I know -- just how many italian women do you know (or anybody) all act and think exactly a like. Another critic says the gang bang scene would never happen like that -- geeze there are 5 billion people in this world, each a little or a lot different from each other, I gurantee things are happening right now that you wouldn't think possible or plausible.
The sex in this story is erotic and fascinating, it is the psychology of the girl that I find most interesting. She is a young libertine, much like the de Sade was, who craves sexual experiences not only to find love, but more so, to find passion and new experiences from her other wise mundane life.
Between her proclivities she consistently talks about how boring, regular or lonely she feels.
The fact that a 17 year old wrote this and made it utterly persuasive is impressive. If you think you could do a better job, please do, but don't bash her for being young.
Finally, the dialogue matches how most people talk in real life. And her depiction of the modern male over the internet was right on. Read the book, and be open minded.

This is the fictionalized memoir of Melissa P. It tells of her sexual exploits, which seems to be a trend in the publishing world. The hottest fad is tell-all books by women about their underage activities. Other examples are Beijing Doll, which I have also read, and Bad Girl : Confessions of a Teenage Delinquent. Makes me want to take advantage of it. I've led an interesting enough life.

The diary of Melissa follows her as she ages from fourteen to seventeen. She experiences sex with many different men, some decades older than her, a woman, and orgies. Through out it all, she searches for love, mistaking sex to mean love. Eventually, her image of love is distoried and she believes herself to be incapable of love.

This book is a translation from the oringal Italian version and it suffers for that. Some of the events are confusing and often I didn't know which character the author was referring to. Differencating between what was real and what was a dream was difficult as well. Descriptions that must have sounded beautiful originally, when translated, turn out awkward. Also, it reads like a teenager's diary, ie, very melodramatic and over styled. Which, it's suppose to be, but it doesn't make for good reading. Since everything else was heavily edited, why couldn't this be?