Meandering and Not All That Dirty (Straight Up and Dirty - Stephanie Klein)

Member Name: slinkyindieninja

Product:	Straight Up and Dirty - Stephanie Klein
Date:	10/09/08 (23 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Not difficult to read

Disadvantages: Title is a lie! No real point to the memoir

When I was given this book, I had never heard of the author and hadn't read any press releases. Nobody said a thing about it within my hearing. So all I had to go on was the name. "Straight Up and Dirty". I cringed. I'd never found sex memoirs appealing, and I could just imagine what lurked between the covers. I anticipated jaw-dropping detail, so elaborate I'd get bored and watch the news instead that evening.

However, I read it all the way through, and at the end I felt somewhat short-changed. This book is not dirty. Whoever came up with the title has a really low smut threshold. It's not all that straight-up either. It's not revealing. It doesn't say anything new about relationships.

Although it wasn't a bad read, and I did make it through to the end without getting bored, there was just nothing standout about it, nothing to really make it worth my time. It's not difficult to read, and can be enjoyable in places, but overall it's clichéd and doesn't make any sort of interesting statement. The author jumps about when telling her story, and tries to be funny (calling her ex-husband "the wasband"), but ultimately falls flat. I found the ending to be vague and inconclusive. Klein dates some men, dates some more men, is miserable on and off, finally enrolls in a photography class, and then stops being miserable and starts being contented, with no real explanation as to why or how. I would have found it much more interesting if she'd charted how her self-satisfaction started to improve, and included some reflection on it.

Summary: Not bad, but not good either