Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent

by David Henry Sterry

A former Hollywood male prostitute describes his dysfunctional 1970s suburbia childhood, entrance into the darker side of Hollywood during his college days, and encounters with the sexual excesses of the post-1960s. Reprint.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Sex Work, Biography, Sexuality, LGBT, Queer

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

David Henry Sterry

David Henry Sterry is an author, performer, educator, activist, and a man who hasn’t worn matching socks in 20 years. David is the author of 11 books, the first of which was published in 2001. Prior to becoming an author, David was a professional actor and screenwriter.

The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published (aka: Putting Your Passion into Print) (Workman, 2005). Based on the Stanford Workshop created by himself and his wife, former agent and author, Arielle Eckstut.
“Before you write your own book, read this one first. Arielle Eckstut and David Sterry understand the process of publishing. Their advice will help you envision and frame your work so that publishers will be more likely to perceive its value.” –Jonathan Karp, Publisher, 12 Books
“This book demystifies the process of getting published and is a must-have for every aspiring writer with a dream to see his or her passion in print. With input from agents, editors, and writers, this book is thorough, forthright, and importantly, also quite entertaining.”--Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

Satchel Sez; The Wit, Wisdom & World of Leroy Satchel Paige (Crown, 2001). Picked by the ALA as one of the best books of the year for teens.

Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent (ReganBooks, 2002). A San Francisco Chronicle bestseller. Sold into nine countries. Under option by Showtime for a TV series.
“Sterry writes with comic brio… [he] honed a vibrant outrageous writing style and turned out this studiously wild souvenir of a checkered past.”--Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“Stunning… Sterry's prose fizzes like fireworks. Every page crackles… Very easy and exciting to read--as laconic as Dashiell Hammett, as viscerally hallucinogenic as Hunter S Thompson. Sex, violence, drugs, love, hate, and great writing all within a single wrapper. What more could you possibly ask for?” –The Irish Times

Travis & Freddy’s Adventures in Vegas (Dutton, 2006). Written under the pseudonym Henry Johnson.
“This is a winner.”— Library Journal

LittleMissMatched’s Pajama Party in a Box (Workman, 2007)
LittleMissMatched’s Fabulous Marvelous Me (Workman, 2007)
LittleMissMatched’s The Writer in Me (Workman, 2008)
LittleMissMatched’s The Artist in Me (Workman, 2008)
LittleMissMatched is a company dedicated to inspiring creativity and self-expression in girls of all ages. These books, created with David’s wife, Arielle Eckstut, have been sold everywhere from FAO Schwarz to Toys R Us to Disneyland.

Master of Ceremonies: A True Story of Love, Murder, Rollerskates and Chippendales (Canongate/Grove-Atlantic).
“Master of Ceremonies is dizzying, tender, and… resplendent with seedy glamour, hilarious backstage madness, and unflinching honesty.”--Library Journal

Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent-Boys: Professionals writing on Life, Love, Money & Sex (Soft Skull, 2009). Now in its third printing after only 6 weeks in print.
“Eye-opening, astonishing, brutally honest and frequently funny… unpretentious and riveting — but also graphic, politically incorrect and mostly unquotable in this newspaper.”—The New York Times Sunday Book Review (front page review)

The Glorious World Cup: A Balls-Out Guide (Dutton, to be published in April, 2010).

David is unique as an author in that he brings together his love for the written word with his love for performance. In his life as an actor, he performed with everyone from Milton Berle to Will Smith to Michael Caine to Zippy the Chimp. He performed in over 750 commercials, including 4 Clio winners, starred in HBO's Emmy Award-winning Encyclopedia, and emceed at Chippendale's in New York City. As a screenwriter, he wrote for Disney, Fox and Nickelodeon. After his memoir, Chicken, was published, David put his performance and playwriting skills to work and wrote and performed a one-man show based on the book. After a highly praised debut i

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing of this book sparkles. It's the only book I've read by a worker in the sex industry that got me inside their heads, made me see the industry, what they did and how they managed to do it and remain both dignified and humble when sex for money is such a taboo. It isn't at all titillating but neither doesn't it shy away from graphic descriptions. What truly lifts the book and marks it out as quite different from others in this genre, is the author's empathy for his clients, his desire to make them happy and fulfilled and not just sexually satiated. He does his job to the best of his ability, it is not just a way to extract money from people. The descriptions of some of the clients are among the most bizarre characters you will ever read about. The author is talented writer, an empathetic communicator and obviously skilled where it counts.

I am surprised no one has made a film of the book. The story of a middle-class boy, abandoned by his family, attending a Catholic college roaring around town on a Harley going from job to job as a (heterosexual) prostitute is interesting enough. But with the ending, of how the author is rescued (almost) by the love of a good woman, is just destined to make a good film one day.

Brilliant book. Really a five-star read.

Rewritten March 13th, 2013.

[Evan · Rating 2 out of 5]

David Henry Sterry has mad writerly skills and this is certainly penned with a flourish, replete with expertly turned phrases. The book is an often flavorful and occasionally vivid memoir recounting the experiences of a teen boy prostitute in LA. Oddly, it reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird in the sense that the writer is an adult looking back but not letting his adult voice or hindsight judgment color the voice of a naive young man in his journey of discovery about the world. Sterry interweaves non-chronological short reminiscences about his childhood -- a very boring and normal white-bread American suburban one, as it happens -- with the developing account of his indoctrination into the so-called underbelly. Sterry has the good sense to keep the snippets of childhood memories short enough to not severely impede the flow of the main narrative. The point of the remembrances is to show that anyone, any average person, can find themselves becoming a sex worker, not just people with fucked-up childhoods.

Even so, I have to admit, I think Sterry tells us more about his childhood than we need to know to make the point of contrast -- yet another account of a baby boomer childhood with all the familiar rituals and icons is really not something that adds to the extant corpus, and is too obvious a tactic to shoot fish in a barrel -- and, like the customers described in the book, I kind of want things to get down to business, since, let's face it, we all read things like this with prurient intent, even when we claim to be social scientists or some such. Sure we read Playboy for the articles, but only secondarily. I check out the bush on the centerfold before I see what Norman Mailer has to say about law and order. In other words, I want to read about a sex worker, not about a kid who eats hot dogs, cheers Mickey Mantle and plays cowboy in a Roy Rogers suit. The point is made early and reduntantly thereafter.

If Sterry was a famous person who interested me as such, and this were a bio about same, then all this childhood memories could be justifiably included and I would care. But he's not a famous person, he's an ex-sex worker writing a book about sex work; otherwise there would be no reason to read this. That is why I read it; that's the audience the book is aimed at, and that's what I got only half the time from it. Sometimes it seems he's more explicit about describing how the family bulldog gave birth than about the way he screws his clients. There's something lopsided about that.

And I began to wonder at times reading this: Do any rich people in LA who buy hookers have anything resembling "normal" sex? Is everything fetishism and voyeurism and tantric hippie ritualism? Were none of Sterry's clients horny enough to simply forgo the preliminaries and whisk him to the bed and fuck and suck? Or was that deemed too boring to include in the book? Many times I felt Sterry was so caught up in his elaborate, flowery, metaphorical prose that his actual descriptions of what was going on became vague. There were times during several of the sex sessions where I couldn't tell if he was fucking the client or they were sucking him or what. I just would like to be told a little more straight up what the hell is happening.

The one time there is apparently a regular, non-freaky client encounter -- with a midwestern businesswoman -- Sterry goes to the trouble to set the scene but again obfuscates the kind of sex acts wanted by the client. Why? I want to know what they're into -- after all, it's a big part of the story -- but he won't say. And what about Immaculate Heart College, the school he was attending when this story takes place? He barely says anything about it. When I was in college, it took up a good part of my days. Here, we get flashbacks to childhood instead.

The contrast between the "normal" white-bread world of the "good girlfriend," Kristy, and the twisted freakiness of the clients seems like a forced dichotomy, an attempt at a kind of good/bad duality that is simplistic and seems overlaid for classical dramatic effect. It's an approach that is awfully judgmental and filled with mixed messages. Some people have weird needs behind closed doors, but does that make them bad? One clashing message seems to be that bland American suburban life is hypocritical, soulless, dispiriting and inherently corrupting -- if you're raised in it -- yet is something to desire if your nice girlfriend, who is not like the whores and johns you consort with, lives in it. As Sterry says throughout the book: "Whatever."

I realize that in saying this that Sterry is writing from the limited perspective of a young man who is not sure how to process and judge all the craziness going on in his life. And yet, there were times I wished some of the clients had been treated with more compassion, especially since the editorial selection was made to highlight the ones who were the most weird and least "normal". The deeply confused mother who has lost all of her family and tries to exorcise demons by dressing Sterry as her dead son and making love to him is one of the most haunting people I've ever encountered in a book. Yet, what left me with a bad taste was not her odd obsession but Sterry's reaction to it. It was times like these that I wanted Sterry's adult voice to intercede, that is, unless he hasn't matured and deepened his perspective since the age of 17.

I would attribute to editorial laxity the fact that one of Dorothy Parker's most famous witticisms of the Algonquin Round Table ("You can lead a hor-ti-culture but you can't make her think") is misquoted and misattributed to Oscar Wilde in one of the chapter prefaces.

In some ways, this book is the real version of Bret Easton Ellis' Less Than Zero except that Sterry comes out of his experience with a healthy sense of purpose in life. I loved the characters of Sunny and Jade and Tinkerbell, colorful denizens of the sex trade. The book really shines when these characters are given the stage. Sterry has a writerly flair for sure and I think I'd recommend this overall, but too much of this book comes off as overly precious and Sterry's voice is a bit too faux-naif for my tolerance.

[Nikki Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clever, raw, funny, and human.

"I couldn’t feel so I tried to touch."

I highlighted that line in my Kindle. Yeah, I know. Sterry brings the thought provoking, comedic, sad, and the gut-wrenching prose throughout his memoir, but that’s the one line that sticks with me. I kept coming back to it. Something about that simple sentence is so complicated, muddled and true. The context is set within his sexual exploration at the age of fifteen, but this line to me sets the stage for the entirety of the book.

You should read Chicken. Not just because I said so, but if that’s all it takes…

You should read it because of its honesty and humanity. Sterry doesn’t mince words or sugar coat his past. He lays it out there on the table and he doesn’t skip over the bad parts. His narrative is truthful. The thoughts and emotions of a seventeen year old boy are beautifully executed. I feel like I know this kid. I’ve met him somewhere. That line I mention above. Who didn’t do that at seventeen? That was me at twenty-two. I feel like I am looking straight through his eye-holes in the moment, instead of a retelling with the run of the mill “don’t try this at home kids” or the “I did bad things and now I’m really sorry about it because society says I should be.” This is how it happened and sometimes it isn’t pretty. Sometimes it’s terrifying or repulsive. Sometimes it’s nice and sweet. Sometimes you’re going to a baseball game with your family and others you’re chowing box for a woman in her 80’s. The great part about this book is that both experiences are present and neither is told with a shade of regret or apprehension. It is a glimpse of a world that many of us have never seen or experienced and your guide is every bit as engrossing as the subject matter.

[Federica ~ Excusetheink · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5⭐

[Philip Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chicken is an incredible read. The writing itself is great, and the stories Sterry tells, well… they gripped me. Haunted me. I COULD NOT STOP READING. It is as much of a page turner as any of the fiction I normally read. It is constantly entertaining and at times hilarious, but to be transparent this is not a light read. It is downright difficult at other times. Painful even. But it’s fascinating too, and because Sterry keeps it real, I was able to keep going. He doesn’t glorify the sex trade, but instead writes about how false it is, how vacant and in need of help people are, and how the things he did were destroying them and him. I applaud his honesty and courage in writing such a tale. What struck me most was how so many people, whether abused or neglected, just don’t know how to love or be loved. We all need someone to teach us. Left to our own devices, we don’t do very well.

Chicken is not a book I would normally read, in a genre I almost never read, but I was intrigued by it because it is about the commercial sex industry which plays a large role in a booking I am currently writing. I had no idea what to expect going in, and was blown away by what I read. I fully recommend it, with a warning: it is indeed not for the faint of heart, due to the explicit nature of the storytelling.

My only disappointment is that there wasn’t more. He begins the book with talk of ending up in, and escaping from, a crack den. That, as they say, is another story, but it sounds like such a good one. What led him there and how did he escape and get his life back on track? This book concludes with a satisfying finish to his life as a chicken, but God help me - I want a sequel.

[George Ilsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sterry has a way with the manipulation of words and the narrative is well-paced. Childhood scenes intersect with his rent-boy escapades. He also does not shrink from detailing how damaging the sex-for-sale scene is to his teenage psyche. Before I picked up this book, I did not realize that women would purchase sex from a 17 year old boy.

This edition was a bit sloppy. A lot of paragraph indents were missing, and paragraphs sometimes seemed to be in the wrong order.

[Adam Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know chickens could be straight, I thought it was a gay thing. So when I started reading this I thought the author was gay. Chapter one did not disabuse me of this idea.
Turns out he's straight and has a couple good stories to tell. The book borrows heavily on City of Night with many run together words and sexmoney. The parts about his childhood are less relevant to the overall story and too frequent.

[Danna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to read this book after reading Sterry's more recent compilation Hos, Hookers, etc.
I really enjoy his writing style. He uses a lot of metaphors and similes, most of which I found creative and funny.
The book, although it is a continuous stream, could easily be read as short stories. Each chapter builds on the next rather than continuing from the last, if that makes any sense at all.
Some of the stories of him turning tricks are hysterical, some heart-wrenching. It gives an intimate look into the world of a boy prostitute and its ups and downs. It gives you an understanding of how a sex worker can get through some really horrifying situations by thinking about the money.
One of his stories was particularly disturbing for me, can't get it out of my head. I recommended this book to my mother, and I'm considering telling her not to read that particular chapter. It made me want to cry, and knowing it's real makes it all the more disturbing.
The last chapter, Sterry manages to escape the life and it is such a relief. I felt like each trick got more twisted and harder to swallow, so it was wonderful that he got out relatively early.
I was a little confused by how he often montages childhood memories into the stories of turning tricks, but not so much that it bothered me. Just an interesting choice on how he did it, and it kind of interrupted the flow for me towards the end of the book.
Very fast read, read it in about a day.
Finally, it's wonderful knowing that Sterry finally got to let this stuff out. He talks about in Hos, Hookers... that until he wrote this book, he had never told a single person about his experiences as a boy prostitute. I imagine that writing this memoir was incredibly freeing, and for that, I think he should be admired and respected. Putting it all out there is never easy, and he did a damn good job of it.

[Jessica Gruner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I read this book, I kinda assumed all kids who drifted into sex work came from horrible, abusive backgrounds that had destroyed their self-respect forever. Sterry’s tale goes to show that the truth is more complex. In manic prose and wordplay that seems to function as much as a defense mechanism as a form of self-expression, he details a childhood that doesn’t appear all that awful. Except that, once he was 17, his parents didn’t really have time or energy for him. They were more interested in satisfying the needs of their own crotches than making sure their teenager had a place to live. Is it surprising that within a few months he was making a living as a sex worker, doing his best to fill the void in his soul with entire day-old cakes and tubs of ice cream, and still feeling “hungry enough to have sex with a horse”?
His story veers between heartbreaking and hilarious, often in the same sentence, but is consistently engaging and impossible to stop reading.

[Bo Winnberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful easy read, took me four days to read it.
It was such and easy read,its disturbing and at same time an eye opener for many.
It is great in a way of portraying tragic events somewhat comically.
What makes it special is that its stricvking a cord emotionally, instead of just decribing events Sterry manages to dig deep emotionally and put poetry to his feelings ina clear beautiful way so one just gets it.
Thats what I would say about this book.
ONE gets IT.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Well-paced and well-written, but superficial. It raises complex themes but doesn't dwell on or investigate them. Mostly it juxtaposes quaint snapshots of suburban American life against the depravities of the sex industry without doing much more. However, given that it wasn't a work of fiction lends a bit more heft to the prose, as it's harder to moralize one's own life than that of a character."

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to like this man. This book is structured with a back and forth from childhood to contemporaneous in a way I found sometimes too much. I think if the episodes were longer and there was less back and forth, ala Michelle Tea, I would have fived it. And what a story the contemporaneous episodes are.

[Judith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the story of a 17 year old boy who finds himself in Hollywood, completely broke and without family or friends. Almost immediately he turns to prostitution to support himself while attending Immaculate Heart College. He's not a street walker, but a male call-girl.

The art of the memoir is to make the story credible, interesting and articulate. In the end, I don't care whether the story is true or false. In most cases, it's all about entertainment value. Thus I was probably in the minority when James Frey's famous memoir "A Million Little Pieces" was exposed as not 100% truthful. I didn't care if he "tricked" his readers because I loved his style of writing and the story he told. Similarly, some autobiographies are crashingly boring despite the credibility.

The problem with "Chicken" is that the premise is completely unbelievable. The author was not a runaway, but a kid whose parents sent him to a good college. The reason he's homeless is because he didn't realize there were no dorms on campus, until he arrives. So naturally his only alternative is prostitution. Gee, how did I get through college without turning tricks?

[Bonnie Jean Feldkamp · Rating 4 out of 5]

It doesn’t seem right to devour a book in a single day when it took fifteen years to write, but devour it I did. This book will speak to anyone who has battled shame, blamed themselves for their own abandonment, or didn’t feel worthy of a better life. When you’re at the “bottom of the rock” and surrounded with bottom feeders there’s nonjudgemental camaraderie that can consume you. But through it, you see David’s struggle for normalcy, his compassion for his clients, and his not-yet developed trust of his instincts which lands him in some of the most horrific of circumstances. I would have liked a little more detail of his physical healing after surviving an attack, but other than that, he plants us straight into his brain and does not disappoint.

I chose the audiobook version of the book and I’m glad I did. David’s performance of each character made them tangible and real. The different dialects and personalities came through in a single word or insecure stutter.

[Garryvivianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather touching, sad, & hilarious story of a young boy who becomes a "chicken", slang term for a teenager who has sex for money. He doesn't mean to become a "chicken", but he has parents who have divorced, his mother has become a Lesbian, his father just really doesn't care & he is pretty much on his own.

The first night in Hollywood, he gets abused & the next day, he is so hungry, he ends up in a dumpster behind a fried chicken place, finding a box with plenty of thrown out chicken. He is "saved" by Sunny, who gives him a job, teaches him everything about chicken, how to fry them, how to be one.

The money is easy, he is pretty innocent, to him it is just making some good money. His stories go back & forth, with his crazy life in Hollywood & his life growing up in different states. The writing is hilarious at times, you literally DO laugh out loud. But you also feel sorry for the kid, he has no choice but to outgrow his innocence.

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young man wearing "blue nothugging elephantbells" comes of age in Hollywood. He is also a prostitute. in this most lighthearted look at childhood prostitution, the main character tells tales of chickenhood interspersed with stories of his childhood and occasional thoughts of true love. He is physically (and we're lead to imagine metaphorically) hungry. Day-old birthday cake is a metaphor for whatever is missing, but whatever that is isn't as important as party after party and trick after trick. Toward the end of the book I skim the well-told tales of freaky Chicken sex and suburban childhood memories waiting for some dim realization to happen. I suspect the young chicken will find the value of real love, but I'm not sure I care. But I do enjoy the stories, which suck me back in for a more surprising and satisfying version of the long-expected ending.

[Love · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was very good read...but the ending left to much unanswered for me. I thought through the entire book this man had been sexually abused by his father, with the way he talked about such things. He had so much anger inside twards people. Now I loved his writing style but the ending seemed very rushed to me. Unfortunatly I will always be wondering why he had all this anger and hur inside him. He never really tells you anything except that his father never really cared to much to be bothered with him ect..I will have to search and see if he wrote any other books that answer my questions.

[John Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don't want to more than you probably know about oral sex, then you shouldn't read this book. But it would be a pity not to. Sterry is a gifted writer. The book is funny, sometimes excruciatingly so, and that style and humor lies like a cloak over a real person that is smart, sensitive and trying figure out life. It's a story told about a boy in the process of becoming a man in a way that can be touching even through the blue humor.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first memoir by Sterry. This is his own story of how he was a boy for rent for one year of his teen-age life. It moves quickly and is well done. His sympathy for his "clients" is what makes this less of a horror tale and more of a personal tale of how he and many other teen survive what life throws at them.

[Bill Fletcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

If even half of this is true, it's a pretty astonishing life this guy has led. The writing is a little California hip at times (think James Ellroy, but not as grandiose or annoying) but it is a very quick read. And the story (as horrifying as it is compelling, when you really think about it) is told with just enough detachment and charm that it doesn't make you despair for humanity.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Often feels a little under-crafted, but in a way that's likely intentional: a very strong voice, we would say. It's a fascinatingly frank discussion of a boy prostitute's experience in seventies LA --prepare to be titillated, but to leave with a sour taste in your mouth (as Sterry certainly intends).

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very bizarre exploits of a seventeen year-old living in Los Angeles. The book was written in a very interesting manner - but I just can't believe some of the "adventures" he had! A lot of it was extremely disturbing, but so disturbing that I couldn't put the book down! Fast read.

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book showed what it would be like to be alone and poor and desperate for money in a place where money was everything. I found the character very easy to understand, so overall I thought it was great. Though it is a little bit slow at the beginning.

[Darrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A heterosexual underage male prostitute services the inhibited "cougars" of 1960's/1970's Los Angeles while attending Catholic school in some degree

[Mediaman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Smug underage male prostitute who thinks he can write makes a book that reads like a bad middle school creative writing project. Doubt that almost anything it in occurred the way he writes it, if at all, and he somehow avoids taking any responsibility for all the illegal, immoral, and unethical things he does by age 17 by focusing on the pain of allegedly being raped by an older man. Sorry, I'm not buying it, and think David Sterry needs serious professional mental health help or even jail time for committing numerous crimes instead of a major company publishing his books allowing him to spew self-hatred.

It's all really poorly written. There's so little to this book that there are almost 30 pages worth of white space. The author chooses the distracting technique of alternating back-and-forth between his childhood (in no chronological order) and his 17th year when he becomes a gigolo (in chronological order). A few paragraphs of one, a few paragraphs of another. It makes no sense and he appears to be mixing things up in order to divert our attention from the fact that there's not much of a story here the way he tells it.

This is a 16-year-old kid who is dumb enough to not graduate high school (which he glosses over), and fails to reach out to relatives when his parents run off with others. Then he moves to California to attend the only college that will accept him without a diploma without checking to see if he can live in a dorm, getting off a plane with nowhere to live and no money (how stupid is this guy?). He then wanders the streets homeless at age 17 and agrees to go home with a stranger for some steaks, entering a trashy apartment and agreeing to go to bed with the guy who took advantage of him for sex. Sterry made all bad choices yes the book is filled with hatred toward the man he followed. Since we can't really believe anything David Sterry writes here, I have doubts about whether the situation occurred the way it's stated but that's the jumping off point for the book, meant to bring sympathy to the writer and detract from all the horrible things he does the rest of the book.

Soon he's hired at a chicken joint by a pimp who sends him out to have sex with women. There are a half dozen stories of his meeting often much-older ladies in Hollywood despite his being 17, but few of them are very interesting because most everything in the book is half-told and incomplete. Or just boring. It's tough to make prostitution hookups dull but the writer manages to do it.

Other evidence that he's not being honest is that he states a number of detailed memories from age three and four, which is almost impossible to write about 30 years later, and while prostituting himself he often states specific clothing outfits he wore and details about rooms 20 years before writing this. Unless the guy kept detailed a diary some of the embellishments are impossible to be factual.

The guy slides through his drug abuse, his underage drinking, and his non-stop sexual partying often with underage girls that are runaways in the prostitution business. He makes a few snide remarks about his mother suddenly becoming lesbian and his parents breaking up. Sterry's childhood stories, seemingly meant to make us feel sorry for him, make him sound like an absolute idiot. There is zero sympathy for this guy despite his attempts to use a few male sexual encounters to fuel his shame.

Worst is how he insists on thinking he's clever by writing metaphors for almost every moment of his life. It's pretty ridiculous because he doesn't simply tell what happened. His descriptions are filled with obtuse adjectives like a 7th grader trying to impress his teacher with space fillers or words to make him sound sharper than he is. The worst one I found was his describing a haircut he got from his dad in the 1960s by comparing his ears to USB ports. Since those weren't invented until 1994 the metaphor seemed just a tad bit odd in context.

There are many things in the book that are left incomplete and stories that have no endings, adding to the suspicion that this is all made up or exaggerate bluster. It's a pretty big disaster and filled with anti-gay, anti-older women, anti-feminism, and anti-morality comments. Somehow this guy is proud of all the immoral things he did with zero regrets and no lessons learned in the end. Maybe he was just too chicken to tell the truth and admit what a bad self-portrait it paints.

[Kimberly Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first ordered this book, I read the reviews on here but it did not deter me from giving it a try. After reading it, I am not sure what the "hype" about it was all about.

This book did get into how the writer went from a teenager to a male prostitute during the 1970s. He recounts some of his experiences with his "clients", both normal (kind of) and some just weird (to each their own). Those parts are interesting. It is interesting to learn about a kid who had a questionable childhood gets himself into the sex worker lifestyle.

The problem with this book is the fact that, every other paragraph, you are jumping back to stories from his childhood. Maybe this was to show that he was normal once, maybe it shows his journey to sex work, or maybe it is just filling pages. I did not find much value in the stories from his childhood past the second or third chapter. I actually started skipping them. You pick up this book to learn how he got into this lifestyle, his experiences, and what lead to him finally getting out of it. Some of the childhood stories added to his overall story but others seemed pointless.

I gave this book two stars. It was okay. It was pretty much a quick read but, like I said, I skipped some paragraphs because they had nothing to do with the story I was reading then. His actual sex worker experiences are interesting because you see the guys side of things. I have read A LOT Of books by porn stars, people involved in sex trafficking, etc. It was interesting to get the guys side of things.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though uncomfortably truthful in some details, life is life, and a better understanding of how people make the choices they make is never a wasted effort. I have no doubt that between Aids, and drugs the author is only one of the very lucky ones, that escaped a very early grave. As to the clients, I felt a kinship to a time I once sold door to door cleaning supplies, until I realized that my best clients were people with special needs that just wanted someone, anyone to talk too, and they would gladly buy anything in the catalog for the privilege. This book brought back those memories, I wonder why? This was a good read, but not for young children.

[Elsa Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5!! I think I would have enjoyed this book more had I not just read the most magical fantasy series EVER before this!!! BUT but but I really really appreciated this story and the way David formatted his book! It really felt very lighthearted although there were many heinous things he had to experience. Although I loved the way he formatted the book, the moments where we were transported to his childhood made me feel that much more sorrow for him - I know we all have the right to make these type of decisions, but to see how someone comes into this line of work (whether on purpose or not) is truly eye-opening and heartbreaking. I wish I could hug every single “chicken” in 3-D🥺

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up because I've had a few friends in this line of work; most living in the same area, and under similar circumstances, as Sterry. This is a difficult, graphic, ultimately unsatisfying, read so I don't recommend it unless you have a particular connection with the material. We get a lot of interesting detail - beautifully told - about how Sterry ended up as a prostitute, what the work was like, and presumably why he left the trade, but nothing about where he went afterward. How did he get out when so many don't? Frustrating.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sterry's tale is interesting. A seventeen-year-old in difficult circumstances finds himself entering the world of prostitution. Sterry is honest and frequently funny. His clients range from the normal-ish (few) to the bizarre (many). A few instances show him to be damaged (taking the "tip" from Braddy's mother; misbehaviour with Kristy; assaulting his last client). And that sordid life takes a toll on him. Fortunately, he straightens out.