26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Ribald Reminiscence, May 3, 2004
This review is from: The Lisa Diaries: Four Years in the Sex Life of Lisa Carver and Company (Paperback)
We who use the internet are used to the concept of weblogs, on-line diaries made public day by day, often with a political or other agenda. Reaching back into history as far as 1999, predating most "blogs," was the work of Lisa Carver, who wrote "The Lisa Diaries" for Nerve.com, an enthusiastic and serious adult site that even has a mission statement. The statement begins, "We have created Nerve because we think sex is beautiful and absurd, remarkably fun and reliably trauma-inducing." Lisa's work fit into that mission perfectly, and her column became the most read part of Nerve. From 1999 to 2001 she wrote about her sexual activities, which included meeting Dave, falling in love with him, marrying him, and negotiating her way around an open marriage to keep it from falling apart. Now the diary entries along with earlier material have been published as _The Lisa Diaries: 4 Years in the Sex Life of Lisa Carver and Company_ (Black Books). It is frank, funny, and sometimes even moving. Lisa is actually a nice woman, out for a good time, and she enjoys the complications that this can cause. She writes of the marriage, "Ours is a tale of marital problems and solutions, just with a few more penises and vaginas than usual." Tellingly, the solutions are practical and rather sweet.
This is because Dave and Lisa really do have a high regard for each other, which shows through all her adventures. Lisa never tried anonymity, so Dave from the beginning knew he would be a subject in a public diary. Lisa has a rule of not having sex with her readers: "I feel like they would be too busy imagining how they'd be written up while we did it." Like most rules, it is one Lisa likes breaking. She had a contest among her readers, a multiple choice test of math and history questions, and the prize was to have sex with her and Dave. There are no entries in etiquette books to cover this sort of circumstance, Lisa handled it all with aplomb and good humor. In another adventure, Lisa sends Dave into a brothel for some R & R, and when Dave explains to the woman, "My wife sent me in here. She thought it would be fun," he got the reply, "Oh, well... huh, I guess if that works for you..." Lisa remarks, "A prostitute disapproved of our lifestyle!"
These adventures are shared between Dave and Lisa with considerable boldness. They trust one another, and get permission from one another to do naughty things, and if they can't get permission, they nicely refrain. Lisa likes doing outrageous things, but there is a sweetness here communicated in the middle of a lot of outrageous adventures. She knows that sleeping with someone else is different from loving that person: "... it would be wrong to let someone else borrow Dave's space in my heart, even for a minute." Or: "[Dave's] always right there, when I can't even go on a date without thinking about him." Lisa did not set out to write a didactic work, but there are good lessons here: "Anonymous sex or competitive sex never brings you the awareness of life that comes with love." Readers should be willing to accept that as true, since it comes from one who has enough experience to know. But readers will also be glad Lisa has written about all those other kinds of sex as well. This is an exuberant work from a woman with an original voice and an enthusiasm for oddity and novelty, but also, quite charmingly, for kindness and love.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond Perversion, October 27, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: The Lisa Diaries: Four Years in the Sex Life of Lisa Carver and Company (Paperback)
It would be easy to label Lisa Carver as a younger smarter better looking female Charles Bukowski and that would not be such a bad thing for either party. However, while Bukowski was summed up as simply a filthy old man, Carver is a filthy young woman and SO MUCH MORE. Her diary entries are a bit perverted, sure, but they are also smart and well written and ultimately, quite touching. The Lisa Diaries is a wonderful read which can be harkened back to at one's leisure when one wants to laugh anew at the stuff that made one laugh in the first place. It's re-readable. Carver deserves to be read seriously while laughing uncontrollably.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A riot of words, August 24, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: The Lisa Diaries: Four Years in the Sex Life of Lisa Carver and Company (Paperback)
Lisa Carver is back! This time she regales tales of her liasons and eventual marriage. As usual, she's hilarious. This book will make you laugh out loud. It's bawdy-- be forewarned--and brilliant. Buy this if you love: humor, sexiness, underground flavor, punkdom, music, life, and madness.
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