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carolinewithane 's review for:
CAM Girl
by Elliot Wake
There's something I really admire about Elliot Wake.
He chooses topics that would, in the hands of a less capable writer, become a complete mess or a complete cliché, chews them and spits them out like entire original ideas that work beautifully.
I mean, who would have thought a story about a cam girl could be so deep and so important? I don't doubt that many people will look at the title and thing 'pure porn'. But that's the problem with perceptions, isn't it? We only see what we want to see.
I say this because, had I not read Unteachable and Black Iris before, I honestly don't think I would have read this book. Even though the blurt might make someone curious, there's this problem of it being explicitly about sex workers, which normally translate as PWP for many NA writers.
I'm so glad I gave this a chance.
Cam Girl is a very important book. It's hard to explain why without getting into spoiler-y territory (which seems to be sort of a theme for Wake's books), but it might make you ask questions you wouldn't even think of without it. Or maybe you will feel like me, guessing the whats but wanting to find out the whys.
It's not really a book about secrets, not the way Black is. But it is a book about the secrets we keep from ourselves and from those we love, because we think they won't accept them. (And, sometimes, they won't, because that's the way life goes.)
And, contrary to how I felt with Unteachable, I didn't feel like this one had too many sex scenes. It might be because, while we did have some scenes of Vada working, it never seemed excessive. Funny, the book that's supposed to be more about sex isn't the one that really makes me think about it. That's Elliot Wake for you, folks.
He chooses topics that would, in the hands of a less capable writer, become a complete mess or a complete cliché, chews them and spits them out like entire original ideas that work beautifully.
I mean, who would have thought a story about a cam girl could be so deep and so important? I don't doubt that many people will look at the title and thing 'pure porn'. But that's the problem with perceptions, isn't it? We only see what we want to see.
I say this because, had I not read Unteachable and Black Iris before, I honestly don't think I would have read this book. Even though the blurt might make someone curious, there's this problem of it being explicitly about sex workers, which normally translate as PWP for many NA writers.
I'm so glad I gave this a chance.
Cam Girl is a very important book. It's hard to explain why without getting into spoiler-y territory (which seems to be sort of a theme for Wake's books), but it might make you ask questions you wouldn't even think of without it. Or maybe you will feel like me, guessing the whats but wanting to find out the whys.
It's not really a book about secrets, not the way Black is. But it is a book about the secrets we keep from ourselves and from those we love, because we think they won't accept them. (And, sometimes, they won't, because that's the way life goes.)
And, contrary to how I felt with Unteachable, I didn't feel like this one had too many sex scenes. It might be because, while we did have some scenes of Vada working, it never seemed excessive. Funny, the book that's supposed to be more about sex isn't the one that really makes me think about it. That's Elliot Wake for you, folks.
Also, can I just say that I absolutely love the way Wake uses his main characters' artistic interests in the narration of her books? I meant to mention this in my reviews of the other books, but forgot. Maise and filmography in Unteachable, Laney and literature in Black Iris, and now Vada and visual arts in Cam Girl. It's a lovely literary device and I just really, really love it.
I took her face in my hand and kissed her. Like Klimt's painting, tilting her head back, pouting all of myself into it, the world dulling, all the colors gathering inside of us instead.