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In The Box Called Pleasure
The unique product of a poet with a gift for a kind of fiction that is full of formal bravado, strange incident, and a stranger but very human pathos
These gutsy and post feminist stories will elicit the shock of recognition from women and may reveal to men something about the further regions of the female psyche. By turns graphic and funny, these urban tales present characters who are teetering on the edge. Indifferent or absent lovers, too much alcohol, too many cigarettes, obsession, paranoia, a desire that is always fresh in spite of the facts—this is the macabre landscape of these very unusual and unrestrained works. In "Reading Sontag," Addonizio invades and recasts Susan Sontag's essay "The Pornographic Imagination" while describing a monumentally failed relationship. In "The Gift," a woman finds a dildo on the street and is magically transformed into a man.These are fictions to prepare us for the real millennium.
These gutsy and post feminist stories will elicit the shock of recognition from women and may reveal to men something about the further regions of the female psyche. By turns graphic and funny, these urban tales present characters who are teetering on the edge. Indifferent or absent lovers, too much alcohol, too many cigarettes, obsession, paranoia, a desire that is always fresh in spite of the facts—this is the macabre landscape of these very unusual and unrestrained works. In "Reading Sontag," Addonizio invades and recasts Susan Sontag's essay "The Pornographic Imagination" while describing a monumentally failed relationship. In "The Gift," a woman finds a dildo on the street and is magically transformed into a man.These are fictions to prepare us for the real millennium.
154 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 1999
1 person is currently reading
118 people want to read
About the author
Kim Addonizio
65 books610 followersAuthor of several poetry collections including Tell Me, a National Book Award Finalist. My Black Angel is a book of blues poems with woodcuts by Charles D. Jones, from SFA Press. The Palace of Illusions is a story collection from Counterpoint/Soft Skull. A New & Selected, Wild Nights, is out in the UK from Bloodaxe Books.
2016 publications: Mortal Trash, new poems, from W.W. Norton, awarded the Paterson Poetry Prize. A memoir, Bukowski in a Sundress: Confessions from a Writing Life, from Penguin.
Two instructional books on writing poetry: The Poet's Companion (with Dorianne Laux), and Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within.
First novel, Little Beauties, was published by Simon & Schuster and chosen as "Best Book of the Month" by Book of the Month Club. My Dreams Out in the Street, second novel, released by Simon & Schuster in 2007.
A new word/music CD, "My Black Angel, "is a collaboration with several musicians and contains all the poems in the book of that name. That and an earlier word/music CD with poet Susan Browne, "Swearing, Smoking, Drinking, & Kissing," available from cdbaby.com. There's an earlier book of stories, In the Box Called Pleasure (FC2); and the anthology Dorothy Parker's Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos,, co-edited with Cheryl Dumesnil.
I teach poetry workshops at conferences and online through my web site. I also play blues harmonica, and I'm learning jazz flute. Music is a good place to focus when I'm in a writing slump.
2016 publications: Mortal Trash, new poems, from W.W. Norton, awarded the Paterson Poetry Prize. A memoir, Bukowski in a Sundress: Confessions from a Writing Life, from Penguin.
Two instructional books on writing poetry: The Poet's Companion (with Dorianne Laux), and Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within.
First novel, Little Beauties, was published by Simon & Schuster and chosen as "Best Book of the Month" by Book of the Month Club. My Dreams Out in the Street, second novel, released by Simon & Schuster in 2007.
A new word/music CD, "My Black Angel, "is a collaboration with several musicians and contains all the poems in the book of that name. That and an earlier word/music CD with poet Susan Browne, "Swearing, Smoking, Drinking, & Kissing," available from cdbaby.com. There's an earlier book of stories, In the Box Called Pleasure (FC2); and the anthology Dorothy Parker's Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos,, co-edited with Cheryl Dumesnil.
I teach poetry workshops at conferences and online through my web site. I also play blues harmonica, and I'm learning jazz flute. Music is a good place to focus when I'm in a writing slump.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 7, 2011
Erotic, abrasive, and visceral, Kim Addonizio’s novella, In the Box Called Pleasure is a collection of short stories assessing the both the female psyche and libido. Her (mostly female) characters range from a series of alcoholics, sluts, sadists, and masochists dealing with issues, ranging from abuse to drug addiction, in a manner that is unnervingly surreal. For instance, in “The Gift”, Addonizio captures a woman finds a dildo on the street and is magically transformed into a man (ala Virginia Woolf’s Orlando). In “The Fall of Saigon”, the author focuses on a woman, in a sadomasochistic relationship, who decides to have her third abortion after an unexpected pregnancy. Such provocative stories and literary tropes of emotionally fragile and self-destructive women manage to inform Addonizio’s book.
As an author of a strong poetry background, Addonizio’s writing is evident of poetic consciousness, as a majority of her prose consists of choppy sentences with direct imagery and anecdotes. For example, in “Scores”:
“He puts Pierre Cardin powder in his underwear every morning and I like the smell.
Loren puts his hand on my hair while I suck him. He doesn’t make a sound” (56).
In addition, Addonizio experiments with multiple perspectives, specifically within “A Brief History of Condoms”, which dictates encyclopedic anecdotes on condoms in a manner that is matter-of-fact and darkly humorous. Yet it is within the, often, graphic and hypersexual prose that renders Addonizio’s writing as forward and brutal, such as in the titular story:
"Most men are lousy fucks anyway; that box is crammed full. Can't get it up, can't keep it up, won't eat pussy, comes in three seconds, holds me like I'm made of glass, can't find my clit, won't use a condom, fucks in total silence, expects me to do all the work, thinks of it as work, as proof of his power..."
With such explicit, sensory imagery, Addonizio’s writing may read like unabashed erotica that often veers towards the macabre. Yet this only seems to serve as the catalyst for explorations of the female psyche. “In the Box Called Pleasure” finds its strength in its depiction of women, whose emptiness with life, men, and sex serve as a catharsis and psychological escape. The book also contains stories and accounts of sexual violence, domestic abuse, and motherhood, which prove both jarring and titillating as we gain insight into the fears, hopes, desires, and rage of modern women and the human condition. The book is unconventional not so much for its vulgar content, but for the nuances of the female mind and body that Addonizio strips bare.
As an author of a strong poetry background, Addonizio’s writing is evident of poetic consciousness, as a majority of her prose consists of choppy sentences with direct imagery and anecdotes. For example, in “Scores”:
“He puts Pierre Cardin powder in his underwear every morning and I like the smell.
Loren puts his hand on my hair while I suck him. He doesn’t make a sound” (56).
In addition, Addonizio experiments with multiple perspectives, specifically within “A Brief History of Condoms”, which dictates encyclopedic anecdotes on condoms in a manner that is matter-of-fact and darkly humorous. Yet it is within the, often, graphic and hypersexual prose that renders Addonizio’s writing as forward and brutal, such as in the titular story:
"Most men are lousy fucks anyway; that box is crammed full. Can't get it up, can't keep it up, won't eat pussy, comes in three seconds, holds me like I'm made of glass, can't find my clit, won't use a condom, fucks in total silence, expects me to do all the work, thinks of it as work, as proof of his power..."
With such explicit, sensory imagery, Addonizio’s writing may read like unabashed erotica that often veers towards the macabre. Yet this only seems to serve as the catalyst for explorations of the female psyche. “In the Box Called Pleasure” finds its strength in its depiction of women, whose emptiness with life, men, and sex serve as a catharsis and psychological escape. The book also contains stories and accounts of sexual violence, domestic abuse, and motherhood, which prove both jarring and titillating as we gain insight into the fears, hopes, desires, and rage of modern women and the human condition. The book is unconventional not so much for its vulgar content, but for the nuances of the female mind and body that Addonizio strips bare.
January 12, 2008
"Most men are lousy fucks anyway; that box is crammed full. Can't get it up, can't keep it up, won't eat pussy, comes in three seconds, holds me like I'm made of glass, can't find my clit, won't use a condom, fucks in total silence, expects me to do all the work, thinks of it as work, as proof of his power..."
i loved every second and every word of this book.
i loved every second and every word of this book.
February 3, 2020
Recommendable
September 1, 2024
the last one especially made my stomach hurt 😔
October 12, 2010
Life in Terms of Sex
In the Box Called Pleasure
By: Kim Addonizio
Published by: FC2,1999
The collection of works in the book titled In the Box Called Pleasure relay several different messages and life stories from different perspectives relying on the use of sexual description to drive the points home. Each story is told in first person from the eyes on the speaker, who is always a woman. The woman in the short story may be a mom, a daughter, a girlfriend, but the story they tell is always shockingly sexual.
Not expecting the intense sexual images Kim Addonizio can bring to mind may be the reader’s biggest fault. When not expecting to come upon phrases such as “biting her neck as he fucked her from behind and held the choke chain from her collar”, they can cause quite a surprise. While the dirty imagery and use of profane language runs rampant in these stories, their use is not necessarily a bad thing. The book from cover to cover obviously spells out sex to readers, and the language and ideas on the pages is almost expected due to the descriptions and pictures on the outside of the book.
Grammar in this book was an interesting concept to grasp, but once figured out, it was harder to go back to what is considered normal writing. Almost all of the sentences in the book are run-on sentences, leading from one sentence to another without periods. Commas are plentiful and almost every sentence is a paragraph in length. Readers must definitely pay attention to the pages while reading in order to keep up with the quickly whirling sentences.
Speaking in this book between characters was hard to follow also. While the use of quotation marks was limited to a select number of short stories, there was usually only the implication that someone was speaking. Conversations between characters was distinguishable only by paragraph breaks and it is up to the reader to keep up with the order characters are speaking in.
The conversations between characters was simple… besides sex, there wasn’t much of a relationship between the speaker and any of the men. While reading though, this lack of relationship isn’t noticeable.
There were different characters in each story, except for a continuing series of short stories of Fran who goes from living by herself in an apartment to living with her boyfriend because she is afraid of everything. After being molested by her stepfather and raped a few months ago, she is constantly watching people and rarely trusts anyone. Oddly, she really wants to be with the man that ties her up and beats her on occasion while having sex, but she is too afraid to leave her boyfriend. Through the series of stories, ‘Fran’ grows as a character and finds her happiness in a way not expected.
The stories in the book are quite normal…A single mother who runs away from her boyfriends with her daughter when things start getting serious, a woman that misses the relationship she missed out with her husband that left her. The stories are things that the everyday woman can relate to with personality characteristics readers can relate to as well… Afraid of being alone, acting slutty when drinking, liking to be dominant in bed. The relatability of these shorts brings the stories to life and encourages a second or third read.
February 16, 2011
Written Completely Out of the Box
In The Box Called Pleasure is an explicit, and yet poetic, series of 22 –fictional short stories by author Kim Addonizio. Each story follows a female persona through her struggles of motherhood, relationships and past violence. Whether it was a sexually abusive father, violent boyfriend or the cruel acts of a stranger- these women have been brutally exposed to a world of sexual violence that most cannot often even imagine. Submerged into these tales of love, lust, violence and strength, each story entices and exposes the reader to the private minds, and bedrooms, of these emotionally fragile women.
Although victimized, each character still carries an essence of survivorship. Refusing to give up on a relationship they still desire to be a part of or leaving ones they can no longer put up with, each story explores the question of when is enough, enough? The women attempt to survive by keeping life as normal as they feel it should be. In “Inside Out”, a young woman is tortured by her past; molested by her step father as a child and raped a year past, the young woman refusing to give up, attempts to survive. Many of Addonizo’s stories depict women who have been violated or abused. Yet as each prevails, the women refuse to give up- filling their emptiness with men, sex and even welcomed violence as a sense to regain control: “I get excited when Sasha hurts me.”
In “The fall of Saigon” Angel deals with her decision to have a third abortion in an attempt to keep her life as she saw best. Even though she felt regret and remorse for her actions, “I am going to burn in hell for this,” she tried to remain strong. A baby would end the little structure her life still had.
It is very obvious that the author has a poetry back ground. The stories uses series of elongated sentence structures then short sharp anecdotes, almost reading like a constant stream of consciousness. As some stories flow in and out of reality, as if being depicted in a giant metaphor, the stories carry a tone of poetry within them, without following the mechanics of such poetry.
The author’s characterizations, although uncomfortably vulgar at times, are brutally honest in their thoughts and desires. Sexual encounters are a staple for this book, although necessary and different for each character, if you are not prepared to step out of your comfort zone, this is not the book for you. Encouraging writers everywhere to dig deeper into the truth and explore natural and real desires that would normally be “too sensitive” to explore. These engaging stories emerge the reader into erotic tales of lust, destructiveness and desire.
I recommend this book to all writers, especially writers who are having issues breaking through walls: walls of what society deems appropriate, walls of your own dark past, use this book and allow the stories to open your mind to the very unconventionally-honest stories that In the Box Called Pleasure has to offer.
In The Box Called Pleasure is an explicit, and yet poetic, series of 22 –fictional short stories by author Kim Addonizio. Each story follows a female persona through her struggles of motherhood, relationships and past violence. Whether it was a sexually abusive father, violent boyfriend or the cruel acts of a stranger- these women have been brutally exposed to a world of sexual violence that most cannot often even imagine. Submerged into these tales of love, lust, violence and strength, each story entices and exposes the reader to the private minds, and bedrooms, of these emotionally fragile women.
Although victimized, each character still carries an essence of survivorship. Refusing to give up on a relationship they still desire to be a part of or leaving ones they can no longer put up with, each story explores the question of when is enough, enough? The women attempt to survive by keeping life as normal as they feel it should be. In “Inside Out”, a young woman is tortured by her past; molested by her step father as a child and raped a year past, the young woman refusing to give up, attempts to survive. Many of Addonizo’s stories depict women who have been violated or abused. Yet as each prevails, the women refuse to give up- filling their emptiness with men, sex and even welcomed violence as a sense to regain control: “I get excited when Sasha hurts me.”
In “The fall of Saigon” Angel deals with her decision to have a third abortion in an attempt to keep her life as she saw best. Even though she felt regret and remorse for her actions, “I am going to burn in hell for this,” she tried to remain strong. A baby would end the little structure her life still had.
It is very obvious that the author has a poetry back ground. The stories uses series of elongated sentence structures then short sharp anecdotes, almost reading like a constant stream of consciousness. As some stories flow in and out of reality, as if being depicted in a giant metaphor, the stories carry a tone of poetry within them, without following the mechanics of such poetry.
The author’s characterizations, although uncomfortably vulgar at times, are brutally honest in their thoughts and desires. Sexual encounters are a staple for this book, although necessary and different for each character, if you are not prepared to step out of your comfort zone, this is not the book for you. Encouraging writers everywhere to dig deeper into the truth and explore natural and real desires that would normally be “too sensitive” to explore. These engaging stories emerge the reader into erotic tales of lust, destructiveness and desire.
I recommend this book to all writers, especially writers who are having issues breaking through walls: walls of what society deems appropriate, walls of your own dark past, use this book and allow the stories to open your mind to the very unconventionally-honest stories that In the Box Called Pleasure has to offer.
May 30, 2009
Steamy and titillating, as to be expected from Addonizio. There were moments and stories I enjoyed very much, that reminded me why I loved her poetry--she touches on a part of the female experience rarely talked about and often shunned. However, there were stories that also lacked the depth I searched for with her, stories that almost terrified me in their coldness to the world, and stories that seemed grotesque and strange only for shock value rather than for meaning.
March 7, 2015
Another Addonizio book I've been sitting on for far too long, this time a collection of short stories.
The tales in this collection revolve around the themes of sex, relationships, and love (and often the loss thereof). If you're looking for erotica, but are trying to avoid "50 Shades of Domestic Abuse," consider this collection instead. If anything, it's a much better read, and coming from a poet the prose is simply beautiful.
The tales in this collection revolve around the themes of sex, relationships, and love (and often the loss thereof). If you're looking for erotica, but are trying to avoid "50 Shades of Domestic Abuse," consider this collection instead. If anything, it's a much better read, and coming from a poet the prose is simply beautiful.
February 25, 2010
This book is Addonizio at her best! There is sex and love, reclaim fairy tales and narrative structure, loss and grief, violence and paranoia. These stories will keep you up at night in a good and bad way simultaneously.
May 9, 2012
Kim Addonizio, thank you for writing this. It helped me find my voice for my fiction pieces.
November 23, 2016
Well written lyrical Gritty stories about the underbelly of the city.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews