Erotic fantasy or teen crush? (One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed - Melissa B.)

Member Name: sirg0508

Product:	One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed - Melissa B.
Date:	12/07/06 (322 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good quality book

Disadvantages: Wasn't as shocking as some of the claims

‘One Hundred Strokes of the Brush before Bed’ is the translation from Sicilian born Melissa P. (not B) focusing on the struggles of teenage life. This is fiction but the character shares the same name. This young woman is desperate to become an adult and feeling that the only path to love is through sexual experiment. Her diary begins at the age of 14 as she has her first experience after being admired only by herself. It progresses through two years of her life as she is continually treated as an object in search of that fairytale ending. This is a piece of erotic fiction that will no doubt live up to the claim of scandal and shock for some… but not all.

The book is only 154 pages long and very possible to be read in one sitting. It had a lot of promise and realising Melissa herself was born in 1985, it was good to read a book written by a person the same age as myself. Unfortunately I feel this is why I was a little disappointed – I didn’t feel shocked or like this was scandalous although the book is very graphic and yes Melissa does get herself into very dangerous situations. Melissa seemed a very quiet character to begin as she even found it hard to leave the house but changes and leads a secret life always lying to her parents about where she was going – normal for a teenager but certainly not normal the places she was frequenting.

Written in diary format it breaks up the book into small chunks but unfortunately knowing myself that things may start with good intentions it never happens and there are large chunks of the two years missed out – sometimes months at a time are missing or at times she is cut short because she is interrupted. However these don’t detract much and usually Melissa catches up saying what was missed in the time she was gone. It is strange written this way because at times it seems the entries are written as they are happening rather than recalling what happened as would normally be done in a diary.

There are quite a few characters met in the book and some even go unknown or by other names. Melissa is also known as Lolita and called ‘Little one’ by several of the men/women (if not all); there is also ‘arrogant angel’ and his ‘devils’. Little is mentioned about these people or their pasts just the encounters she has with them but also little is mentioned of Melissa’s past. Melissa may have been driven by the desire to find love from the start and that feeling does carry although it becomes more of a power battle as men fall by her feet but they are never looking for what she is. Melissa herself becomes ashamed at some of the acts and even uses the metaphor that the men are ‘worms’ yet she continues this lifestyle.

Set in Sicily (Catania mainly) the places described are the opposite of how the place is generally perceived to tourists. Some locations are very dark and seedy which runs along as lines of how her life is. At happier times the setting changes to a much brighter environment. The book involves love in its loosest form – bondage, transvestites, prostitutes, lesbians, requests to be raped, abuse, sexual fantasies, meeting people from online chat rooms… It’s all covered in this book. The girl wants to be a woman but underlying is still the little girl who pretends to be a princess. This is where the title comes into play: “Then I brushed my hair a hundred times, as princesses do”. It does seem more like a nightmare as the book comes to its end and we know she is waiting on that fairytale where everyone lives happily ever after.

It is very much the type of thing I’d expect a mid teen to write. Filled with crush-like relationships and rollercoaster emotions it’s rebellious. It could also be worse and much is covered in those pages and while (or at least I hope) teens these days don’t go as far, some push boundaries to more dangerous depths. This book shows what can become of that – just an endless string of meaningless encounters that actually do have an emotional bearing on this girl. The ending was a little disappointing but I won’t mention too much. With so much going on in the previous pages it is actually the bad points that seem to be the main focus and little is mentioned at the end. If the focus were to have been on the ending it would have been set up better and end on a climax rather than just brushing it off as another diary entry.

Priced at RRP £10 on the back of the book this seems quite expensive (lucky I got it as a book swap) but can be found much cheaper at Amazon etc. I wouldn’t recommend buying it but acceptable if it can be gotten hold of. It’s a nicely presented paperback – smaller than usual but good quality thick pages (that’s where the money must go!). Personally I think the book is more aimed towards teens of the same age as the character (mid to late teens) and those who have an open mind and won’t be offended by what it written.

ISBN: 185242866X
Published by: Serpentstail
Pages: 154
Price: Around £6.00 new

Summary: Erotic bestseller written by a mid teen for mid teens?