Review: Candy Girl by Diablo Cody

Title: Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper
Author: Diablo Cody
Format: Paperback
Source: Received from Jamie at Confessions of a Book Junkie







Synopsis from Goodreads:

Decreed by David Letterman (tongue in cheek) on CBS TV’s The Late Show to be the pick of "Dave’s Book Club 2006," Candy Girl is the story of a young writer who dared to bare it all as a stripper. At the age of twenty-four, Diablo Cody decided there had to be more to life than typing copy at an ad agency. She soon managed to find inspiration from a most unlikely source— amateur night at the seedy Skyway Lounge. While she doesn’t take home the prize that night, Diablo discovers to her surprise the act of stripping is an absolute thrill.

This is Diablo’s captivating fish-out-of-water story of her yearlong walk on the wild side, from quiet gentlemen’s clubs to multilevel sex palaces and glassed-in peep shows. In witty prose she gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at this industry through a writer’s keen eye, chronicling her descent into the skin trade and the effect it had on her self-image and her relationship with her now husband.

My Thoughts:
I normally won't dabble in non-fiction, especially a memoir, but I have to admit this book caught my eye. The cover. The premise. I've heard of the name Diablo Cody but didn't know exactly where to place her. So I googled her and found out that she wrote the Academy Award winning screenplay for the movie Juno. Her writing is raw and descriptive and it pulls you in. Just in the few pages of this book I knew I wanted to know more about her year as a stripper. 

Candy Girl is a memoir of a 24-year old woman the year she worked as a stripper. She was working at an advertising agency as a copy typist, where she was bored and feeling unsatisfied. Whereas you and I might escape our boredom by reading a book, she stumbled across a seedy strip club and tried out for amateur night. She didn't win but she didn't stop there either. She worked at several clubs in the skin trade, not because she needed the money and couldn't get a "real" job, but because she need to satisfy her inner rebel. She did it for fun. You'd think it would be awkward to scale a pole, window dance and prance around in your birthday suit in front of (and on top of) sober men. That's right. Sober men. Apparently, Minneapolis has an ordinance that states clubs cannot serve alcohol in establishments where the ladies are fully nude. 

Candy Girl is an entertaining and funny read by a self-proclaimed sheltered geek, however, it is also very candid and explicit. Diablo is a fascinating woman. She possesses an ever-evolving look and reinvents herself at every chance she gets. When watching interviews of her on YouTube, I didn't recognize her until her name was mentioned. And in case you're wondering (because I was), her birth name is Brook Busey.

The Book Vixen's Rating:

 

Read Jamie's review of Candy Girl. 

Author's Twitter  |  Myspace