Total Page : 288
Publisher : Thomas Dunne Books
Publication Date : 2010 03 02
>> Constant Page Turner
Whip Smart is a linguistically delicious memoir in which Melissa Febos depicts tantalizing accounts of her inner most thoughts and feelings A captivating tale from beginning to end Whip Smart s salacious stories of an underground life that coexists with a normal persona invites its readers to the possibilities of a life free of conventional norms and portrays them as a young girl s journey as she lives out her fantasies and eventually converts them to socially acceptable behavior An enticing and exciting read that will prevent any reader from putting the book down
>> A Gothic Cinderella Story
This is really two books in one This first is just what you would expect it to be a voyeuristic peek into the unsavory for some world of a professional dominatrix working in a midtown Manhattan dungeon Febos gives us a verbal tour of the place The Red Black and Blue Rooms contain full bathrooms and toiletries Other amenities include a bondage table giant wooden cross leather swing coffin hanging cage Catherine wheel candles stocks porno thrones mirrors strap on dildos and an electrical stimulation device whose electrodes can be attached to nipples scrotums or penises Mounted on the walls are chains coils of rope leather floggers whips riding crops paddles cuffs blindfolds and even a couple of gas masks Then there are the three Medical Rooms that have proctoscopes and stethoscopes rolling wheels with spikes and pincers clamps syringes thermometers tongue depressors gadgets to peek and pry in orifices and human anatomical posters of both the male and female reproductive systems The Cross Dressing Room offers a vanity table and wardrobe bursting with man size stilettos panties French maid costumes and other items of feminization As this list suggests there seems to be an infinite number of ways in which a domme with imagination can torture degrade and shame her male clients Febos gives her readers a romp through most of them leaving nothing to the imagination Unfortunately unless you are into this kind of titillation the litany can become tedious
However the storyline of the author s four years in the dungeon is wrapped around a bigger and much more fascinating plot her own psychological growth The book s title is a reference to the fact that Febos is in fact a highly intelligent and shrewd observer of both her inner and outer worlds Her story begins when she is 21 a college senior with a high GPA and prestigious internship Although she still knew how to be good Febos admits that the allure of dark undersides pulled my life toward a future of increasingly fractured extremes She pursued older lovers both male and female and basked in their attentions Addicted to heroin and cocaine and eventually to sadomasochism she found the last of these the hardest to overcome Febos habitually lied faked it and playacted for a long time she was putting on facades that even fooled her But every heroic story needs a turning point one at which the crescendo of impending disaster twists on itself and transforms into a glimmer of hope that then expands The author s moment came when she joined AA and got a sponsor I won t be a spoiler and give away the details of her happy ending because Febos narrates her own tale so beautifully Hint However a foretaste of her success can be found on the book s cover in her lovely photo and list of accomplishments This is a brave unsparing and deftly told story of personal redemption Highly recommended
>> extremely interesting read
I have the Kindle edition of this book which is not a bad idea if you re bashful about reading something with whips on the cover But hopefully you re not too squeamish because this book holds nothing back While I have always been curious about the life of a professional dominatrix this book was the first time I ever learned about the realities It is a much tougher job than it sounds like I loved reading about Melissa s transformation in Justine and her reflections academic and objective or personal on this lifestyle I was also impressed over time with her kindness to these people her clients She had a sensitivity to them even though their proclivities would be considered very strange by your average person s standards
The most difficult parts to read were about her addiction to drugs I became very worried about the outcome until I realized that not only did I have half the book left to read but the author was clearly still alive I can t imagine what it feels like to be an addict but I felt dragged along on this darker part of the journey It is pretty amazing when anyone can overcome that It must be noted that drugs and domination don t go hand in hand In fact I d imagine it could sometimes be difficult to do one s job safely if too many drugs were involved And no I didn t want to read about addiction as some other reviewers wrote But it was part of her life and experience it could hardly be left out and still tell her story
Melissa is a very interesting person I related to many of her emotions and feelings like the compulsion to be desired or wanting to be open to try anything once great for a writer for example or the way she enjoyed impressing people at parties Okay maybe everyone likes to impress people at parties At any rate I identified with her quite a bit even though the course of her life was extremely different from my own I know some people felt that some of her statements came across as bragging but I really didn t notice those parts I didn t think much about her GPA other than understanding how hard it is to balance many different lives and still do well in school Unlike Melissa I actually have to work my butt off at school though I had classmates that could write the paper the night before without doing any research But like Melissa I am balancing a number of different lives on top of going to school although mine aren t nearly as exciting project manager mother and dancer and I can appreciate it I know what it s like to be studying doing reading for school while multi tasking at another job Overall she may not have been the most likable person but she came across as a real person infinitely relate able in her flaws and charms It was a huge relief to me when she really gets it sorted out in the end It s great when a memoir a true story can have a happy ending
As for the book it really reads well It s difficult to put down and doesn t get boring I found the situations depicted in here absolutely fascinating But again one can t be squeamish I know I am a bit squeamish myself well let s just say I won t forget some of the things I read here and I think I d pick a different career for myself As she points out in the book you have to have a certain level of comfort with the human body much like a doctor or nurse I don t want to be a doctor or a nurse either Nevertheless this book is much more interesting than a book about doctors or nurses It also treats the subject with humor and can be downright funny but also sometimes sad or even sensual I just don t feel I can do it justice in this review I thoroughly enjoyed it
