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tildahlia's review
3.0
Very readable and offers great insights into sex work, with all its tribulations. Particularly love the camaraderie that is described between workers, often coming from different countries, circumstances and life experiences. People often think sex work (doing or purchasing) is niche, but these books remind you just how common it is - it's good to see some very modest improvements in policy in relation to sex workers (in Victoria at least) but frustrating that sex workers continue to pay the price of crappy government policy. The section on working the night before lockdown was particularly interesting and perfectly captured the weird twilight state that tends to precede them.
fureverlove's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
cbradstreet's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
peachybee53's review
5.0
Well-balanced, honest and easy to read. I love the way Tilly flows between being sarcastic, harshly frank, deeply vulnerable and observant/poetic. I love the desire for human connection and the way she always finds her way back to the australian backdrop. I love the shocking elements, the way she shares her thoughts without judgement or filter.
I agree with others regarding the way she describes people by race/sexuality labels rather than seeing them as a full person - however I also feel that giving them names might have taken something away from the writing, the fact that it's largely a book about fleeting experiences with strangers and the comparisons between different types of relationships.
I agree with others regarding the way she describes people by race/sexuality labels rather than seeing them as a full person - however I also feel that giving them names might have taken something away from the writing, the fact that it's largely a book about fleeting experiences with strangers and the comparisons between different types of relationships.
gabrielle_erin's review
4.0
We need more candid literature written by and about sex workers. This was such a huge insight into an industry that is often enshrouded in stereotypes and shame. Lawless' prose is written in a confronting stream of consciousness style that pushes the audience to confront everything they think they know about sex work in modern Australia. What a read.
jenna_beyer's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
evabails's review
5.0
Incredible. One of the best reads of the year. Nothing else to say except this is a must read.
camerongib's review
4.0
Messy, beautiful, poignant, unapologetic and raw.
First- the genre...? This is being marketed as a fiction novel... why? That, to me, feels like a copout, a loophole. It's very difficult to read this as a fiction when it so strongly reeks of memoir. Let's be honest, it is a series of personal essays (perhaps embellished, perhaps unreliably narrated) labelled "fiction" to absolve the author of responsibility. Is this an issue? I'm not sure. But it feels weird. The stream-of-consciousness style of writing reads, undeniably, like pages of a journal (or a caption on an Instagram post...). I also don't really understand why the chapters are labelled consecutive days of a week.
Despite my gripes about the way this "novel" is packaged, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Tilly is a writer, that much is clear. She has a distinct voice which is poetic and unapologetic. Her words are strong, so beautiful they often caught me off guard.
This is why I wish that the casual, unpolished writing style had been refined, as it does Tilly's ability a disservice. It took away from the beautiful, sharp phrases nestled amongst the rambling paragraphs and lax abbreviations. (Every time I read the word 'coz' I felt my brain-cell count drop).
But with all the criticism I feel compelled to dish out about this book, I must enforce how much I enjoyed reading it. I would love to read more from Tilly, her writing can only improve.
First- the genre...? This is being marketed as a fiction novel... why? That, to me, feels like a copout, a loophole. It's very difficult to read this as a fiction when it so strongly reeks of memoir. Let's be honest, it is a series of personal essays (perhaps embellished, perhaps unreliably narrated) labelled "fiction" to absolve the author of responsibility. Is this an issue? I'm not sure. But it feels weird. The stream-of-consciousness style of writing reads, undeniably, like pages of a journal (or a caption on an Instagram post...). I also don't really understand why the chapters are labelled consecutive days of a week.
Despite my gripes about the way this "novel" is packaged, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Tilly is a writer, that much is clear. She has a distinct voice which is poetic and unapologetic. Her words are strong, so beautiful they often caught me off guard.
This is why I wish that the casual, unpolished writing style had been refined, as it does Tilly's ability a disservice. It took away from the beautiful, sharp phrases nestled amongst the rambling paragraphs and lax abbreviations. (Every time I read the word 'coz' I felt my brain-cell count drop).
But with all the criticism I feel compelled to dish out about this book, I must enforce how much I enjoyed reading it. I would love to read more from Tilly, her writing can only improve.
netflix_and_lil's review
4.0
This book is the first I've picked up that so much as references the pandemic, and while it was weird for a second because so many new books ignore it for the sake of telling a story seperate from all that, I appreciated the conversations it was able to have.
Nothing But My Body is a semi-autobiographical ('loosely based on Tilly's own experiences' according it an interview I found, correct me if I'm mistaken) story in eight days, following a queer woman whose only name we learn is her working alias. The protagonist, a sex worker, writes about her work, her friends, her pride and the gloriously fucked state of the country a la 2020 in snippets across over a year of her life.
The book almost reads like an anthology, following a linear story of one woman but broken into segments that hit the hardest and each talk about a distinct part of her life. I liked how it was paced and the content was beautifully written, occasionally lyrical, often funny, consistently heartfelt. It is a book about a sex worker, and celebrates it, but also examines the lack of acknowledgement and societal shame associated with the profession that led to so many people like the protagonist struggling through the pandemic because out government didn't want to acknowledge their existence. The intimate scenes are visceral, but surprisingly tender in many places. Lawless's voice, through the protagonist, was distinct and wise.
Nothing But My Body was an unexpected reading experience, and made me re-examine my bias that every book with 'sex-worker' on the blurb is going to be a harrowing recount of only trauma in the industry. I guess that's what you get when you get someone with in the field writing from experience rather than an onlooker writing what they've watched on BBC. Funny that.
Nothing But My Body is a semi-autobiographical ('loosely based on Tilly's own experiences' according it an interview I found, correct me if I'm mistaken) story in eight days, following a queer woman whose only name we learn is her working alias. The protagonist, a sex worker, writes about her work, her friends, her pride and the gloriously fucked state of the country a la 2020 in snippets across over a year of her life.
The book almost reads like an anthology, following a linear story of one woman but broken into segments that hit the hardest and each talk about a distinct part of her life. I liked how it was paced and the content was beautifully written, occasionally lyrical, often funny, consistently heartfelt. It is a book about a sex worker, and celebrates it, but also examines the lack of acknowledgement and societal shame associated with the profession that led to so many people like the protagonist struggling through the pandemic because out government didn't want to acknowledge their existence. The intimate scenes are visceral, but surprisingly tender in many places. Lawless's voice, through the protagonist, was distinct and wise.
Nothing But My Body was an unexpected reading experience, and made me re-examine my bias that every book with 'sex-worker' on the blurb is going to be a harrowing recount of only trauma in the industry. I guess that's what you get when you get someone with in the field writing from experience rather than an onlooker writing what they've watched on BBC. Funny that.
sarahgrxce24's review
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0