Just Another Number

by Maggie Georgiana Young, Ashley Taborsky (Editor), Cole Sweeton (Illustrator)

Just Another Number is a memoir structured by the first 23 men Maggie Young had sex with. Her story is about how American society curbs women to validate themselves by men. Through her lovers, Maggie relives the toxic and at times, life-threatening situations she endured under that mentality. The book paints a gritty portrait of a Tennessee teen who- in the midst of bulimia and meth abuse- joins the Navy. Just Another Number hops through the various shades of chauvinism in the conservative Bible Belt, the male dominated military, and the superficiality of southern California. Her story is littered with hypocritical Christians, brainwashed warriors, deadbeat band guys, and the spoiled, cocaine snorting trust fund offspring of California’s elite. It also entails child abuse, eating disorders, drug cultures, social media, and military corruption.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Feminism, True Story

366 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 10, 2015

Reviews

[Aditi · Rating 4 out of 5]

“You can recognize survivors of abuse by their courage. When silence is so very inviting, they step forward and share their truth so others know they aren't alone.”

---- Jeanne McElvaney, an American author


Maggie Young, an American author, pens her debut memoir, Just Another Number where she accounts her life during the navy days when she ran away from her home as a teenager to join it, not only that she captures the dark side of the navy and the fact that how teenage girls get so lost in the glitter and the fake promises of the world.


Synopsis:

Just Another Number is a memoir structured by the first 23 men I had sex with. It’s about how American society curbs women to validate themselves by men. Through my lovers, I relive all the shit I got myself into because of that. The book paints a gritty portrait of a Tennessee teen who- in the midst of bulimia and meth abuse- joins the Navy.
Just Another Number hops through the various shades of chauvinism in the conservative Bible Belt, the male dominated military, and the superficiality of southern California. My story is littered with hypocritical Christians, brainwashed warriors, deadbeat band guys, and the spoiled, cocaine snorting trust fund offspring of California’s elite. It also entails eating disorders, drug cultures, social media, and of course, military corruption. Although the memoir harbors the darkness and tragedies of my stories, it is packed full of raunchy, satirical humor. Just Another Number dips into the gritty, humiliating aspects of sex from bodily functions to cringe-worthy one-night stands.

Well, I didn't enjoy reading this book mostly because of the proximity of the graphic sex scenes and other vagaries in the young protagonist's demeanor. But to be fair, this is a very honest book where the author braved her heart to open it and to be able to pen down all the ugly details and the harsh truth behind her teenage days while she was surviving on her own.

I couldn't comprehend myself with the story since I've never experienced anything so harsh or rather say violated in any possible way, but while I was reading, the book scared me and made me horrify with the situations of how men treated a little girl.

The writing is really good and crisp and the plot is filled with vivid descriptions with articulate narrative style. The evocative prose makes the book even more compelling for the readers to stick to it till the very end.

I honestly respect the author's bravery in writing this personal story and making her readers contemplate with the pain and problems.

Verdict: A must-read book for all women!

Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Maggie Young, for providing me with a copy of her book, in return for an honest review.

[Naomi · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was awful for so many reasons I'm not even sure where to begin, or why I finished it.

First let me say the friend of mine who recommended it knows the author personally. I believe that a lot of these 5 star reviews are from the author's pals as well.

The friend is a sailor. He knows her from the Navy, he knows my husband from the Navy. My husband is one of those military careerists that the author belittles throughout the entire book. Why? She believes she's better than them, that they are in the military because they can do nothing else with their lives, and she's a special snowflake. She's a writer.

My husband is one of the most brilliant people I've ever met, and he won a scholarship to art school before choosing to go into the Navy instead. He's ridiculously talented and creative. He's also hardworking, something the author wasn't willing to be during her time in the military - because she was so above it, remember.

You really get the feeling reading this that the author's bitterness at people who excel in the Navy comes from her own insecurities over the fact that she COULD NOT MAKE IT. It's a very demanding job, taking a toll on people's emotions and relationships and families and social lives and sleep schedules, and not everyone is cut out for it. This would've been a better read if she could admit that.

Instead, she takes digs at anyone in the military at all, laughs about "judging" Navy families shopping at the commissary with her, and brags about how she spent her weekends snorting cocaine with civilians instead of hanging out with other military people. She admits she never even tried to do well at her job or advance, but did the minimum amount of work she could get away with just to get her GI Bill, go to college, and get a "real" job. She felt the job she was doing to earn that GI Bill was beneath her, but that she was still entitled to the same benefits as all the people busting their ass and picking up her slack.

This led to her getting married to a man she wasn't romantically involved with, just for housing money. That way she could get off the boat as a junior sailor, and get an apartment to do lines of coke in. She wouldn't have to do it the way everyone else does - by doing their job and moving up in rank. No. She said she didn't want to put forth the effort into that when she was just gonna leave in 4 years for college anyways. And of course when the Navy busts her (only because SHE is always bragging at work to all the people she's too good to even be friends with about her sexual exploits) she's indignant. She blames the Navy for not providing apartments to sailors who don't feel like working their way up. It's their fault. Even though she knew the rules when she signed her contract.

The entire book is her saying everything is everyone's fault but her own. Hell, even the acknowledgments at the end have a melodramatic "no thanks to you" to her parents. This is the very worst kind of memoir - one with no personal growth, no self reflection or accountability, and no point. I'm sure it was therapeutic for the author to let it all out, but it has absolutely no literary merit, no benefit to anyone reading it. It's not even well-written or entertaining. There are many errors, sloppy writing, self praise, cruel digs at everyone who isn't the author, and redundancy. This didn't need to be published in the first place, but if it was going to be, it could've really used some editing.

Instead we get a diary of how the author is so beautiful and outspoken and "good in bed" while everyone she sleeps with is an ugly bore and lousy lay. We get page after page of her doing stupid things to sabotage herself, things that were 100% her choice and her fault, while she continues to play victim.

She complains about men wanting her more attractive friends, but then goes into detailed accounts of how unattractive certain men she slept with were, and she even sleeps with their more attractive friends sometimes.

Her racial comments about the black guy she slept with and fetishization of his "big black dick" made me uncomfortable to say the least.

I'm not even sure WHAT this book is about. Her mean parents? The mean Navy? The 23 men she slept with? Is it a sex positive feminist memoir? If that's the case, it fails. She hates all the sex she has and people she has it with, but keeps doing it. She doesn't have an orgasm until guy 22, and doesn't get taken on a date until guy 23 - who she's not even attracted to until he asks her on a date and she realizes she might finally get to experience a bit of romance. Then she becomes completely obsessed with him for several years, overlooking the fact that they're incompatible.

When he finally breaks things off with her, she has a meltdown, takes some more shots at her parents and the Navy, and then the book ends. Just like that.

Yeah, okay. What did I just read?

To top it off, the author went on to double the number of guys she slept with in the four years after the book ends, with not a single healthy relationship, which she states on her blog. So her last page about realizing she was addicted to men doesn't seem to be one she was ready to write, because she's obviously still dealing with that issue.

And she still hates the Navy, even though she says she would've been dead in a ditch if she hadn't joined when she did. After all, the Navy forced her to let go of bulimia and a crystal meth addiction. It even provided her with the money to earn a degree from UC Berkley, which she never could've done otherwise. And that's despite the fact that she was breaking the rules, doing drugs, and being a lazy and disrespectful sailor. She didn't deserve what she gained from the experience, yet doesn't appreciate it either.

[Sean Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just Another Number is a gritty portrayal of a young woman’s journey into the world of sex, drugs, government bureaucracy, and the search for self value. This isn’t a Harlequin romance novel you can give to your aging aunt - it’s the car crash on the highway that you can’t help but look at even knowing you might crash yourself. It’s a tumultuous ride that left me at turns angry, shocked, and empathetic, yet always riveted.
Young’s ability to capture the underbelly of the South is spot-on. A culture that values surface-politeness and saccharine sweetness will always cast a darker shadow and Young becomes intimately familiar with those darker places. Just Another Number lays bare the stark poverty, the rampant drug use, and the ultimate callousness that is the Hyde of the "land-of-milk-and-honey-and-sweet-tea" Jekyll of the South. Her struggle to find her value as a person independent of sex and the sway men have over her lead her to the military, a safe-haven of questionable safety.
Young presents a life story that is unfortunately becoming more commonplace: sexual abuse, eating disorders, and casual hard drug use are major players in her story. For some, these are hard topics to read about and I could understand wanting to pass this book over if the graphic frankness of it all does not appeal. Yet Young manages to tell her story in such a prose-like fashion that it lends a level of grace to the journey. Beyond the lure of the subject matter itself, her style of telling the story draws you in as a reader. And her brutal honesty as she faces her issues and takes back the power they have over her make this ultimately a proud, inspiring tale.

[Eden Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Generation Y female meets uber-masculine military.

What right has this young woman to write a memoir you might ask when her life is not yet midway through? Well if the best writing is that which makes both the writer and reader uncomfortable then this intelligent, frank discourse on gender politics pushes all the right buttons. But in a good way. This isn’t some bitter rant. It’s a rant which illuminates the human condition worthy of Palahniuk. Where there’s vitriol it is insightful. This is a well-written philosophical treatise on the mating rituals and tribulations of the young adult who refuses to fit an outdated mould. With Maggie Young’s talent for prose she could easily have masked her experience in the guise of fiction but chose instead to put herself out there. This trek to emotional freedom for the author is forthright, brutally honest, funny and sad in equal measure and reveals not only what it is to be female in the uber-masculine world of the military, but also what it is to be a member of Generation Y with all of your mistakes, experiments and growing catalogued on the internet. A deeply personal and gritty tale which must have put some noses out of joint however the sense of truth inherent in an insider expose such as this results in a compelling read.

[Niki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. I wanted to like this book so badly. It takes guts to write so openly about ones life as she did, and she told a story many women can relate to, but I had to force myself to get through this book. It's written like an unedited first draft of a book. It's scattered and she often repeats herself. The author comes across as the type of person that swears they're not racist but then constantly says racist and transphobic remarks. And who still uses the R word in an insulting way? Two stars for how open the author is about her past and her feelings.

[Paula Stout · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not consider myself a feminist. I am a female who was sexually harassed at very young ages and who was very starved for that male approval I couldn't get from my dad. I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Maggie does a superb job illustrating her experiences in a way that offers both insight and perspective without apologizing or preaching. I, personally, related a great deal to her experiences overall. A few, I related to so closely I had to literally laugh out loud at how predictable men can be. Women, too, but the men really made me laugh. I look back at my own, VERY similar experiences and I laugh now that I'm in my 40s. Everything I did and experienced was in the 1980s, while Maggie's had to be at least a solid generation later, and, still, it could have been the same story (minus social media's role).

I suffer, some, with a PTSD type of reaction to unsolicited sexual advances, now that I'm much older and have had time to let it all sink in. However, I'm very happy to say that this book did not trigger any sort of a reaction. I found myself feeling almost "freed" because I knew I was not the only one.

My 24 year old son asked me if a man would enjoy reading this book. I am not sure. My initial thought is they would only like it for the graphic sex scenes, which were very well done in my opinion. They did not drag on and merely served to give us a "feel" for what happened. I told my son that I thought, some men, might be embarrassed for their own past thoughts and/or actions. I'm just not sure.

I also cannot recommend whether or not someone else should read it. I never enjoy reading graphic sexual situations in books, but this book requires them. I believe that, if someone had similar experiences, a similar history of these sorts of decisions, they may very well enjoy and/or benefit from Maggie's recounts.

As for improving anything. I found myself wanting a little more resolution or more of a take away.. something.. but I also realize that not all stories can offer those and that Maggie's story is not over yet. I am certain she has so much more to say. :)

Maggie, thank you so much for being brave enough to write this book. I've considered doing something similar, but because of my children, I simply am not that brave yet. I admire and am proud of you.

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Just Another Number" by Maggie Young is not for the reserved. I was a bit shy, relating to Maggie. Maggie is a Tennessee southern bell breaking free, and breaking all the rules. It's a woman's view of taking charge in a mans world! Rebellious! Being a woman,, yet acting like a man. Maggie's Navy tour eventually breaks all of her personal and professional expectations. Full of sexual encounters, and sensual escapades. The numbers represent her growth from teen to woman, as she labels and vividly describes each man along the way. She gender switches roles. Treating men as eye candy, and using them as toys. Not sugar-coating what she desires, causing controversial views of a woman's role. Southern bell and feminism have to learn how to meet in the middle. This story is very erotic, and flows well. I tend to be a bit more reserved. Maggie's underlying desire stems from a poor body image her step father gave her. She seems to constantly replenish one high for another. I sympathize with her need to get better and stronger. I give this 3 stars. Good solid flow, strong woman, good characters, and loved reading about different places.
The romance and explicit descriptive language is a bit much for my tastes. I received this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

[Adam Case · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just Another Number is a loud and lewd coming to age memoir, where one is never sure the author has exorcised her demons. This memoir is both engaging and trying at the same time the author’s Sisyphean struggle with weight and men provides a conflict, which she seeks to overcome throughout her tale. The language is bold and direct. Sometimes the reader is left wondering if the tone is meant to sensationalize here tale. The book interesting like a diary, whereby the reader is able to assess the writer’s thought process, when she made some questionable choices as a younger woman. The structure of the book could use some tightening, because many times the chapters which are named after the numeric position of her male acquaintances have little to do with those individuals, and more to do with the author’s life, so the correlation wasn’t there. Overall this book is filled with fast - moving prose and enough sensationalism like it was spoken from the tongue of a raconteur.

[Tabitha Ormiston-Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It takes an enormous amount of courage to disclose one's life to the extent that Young has done in this frank, and sometimes confrontational, memoir. Such courage must be respected even when the means of expressing it do not altogether please.

Young's writing is in general articulate and fluent, and the book was an easy read from that point of view, although use of language was at times careless and the work would have benefited from tighter editing.

I did find parts of the book distasteful. There was, I felt, far more explicit description of sexual activity than was necessary to tell the story, and one could not but gain the impression that this was done deliberately to shock or confront the reader. I found this distasteful, for both reasons. However, the accounts of Navy life in particular were fascinating, and overall I did like the book, although I didn't love it.

[Angeline · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was torture to read. Aside from the glaring mistakes of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, I found the writing to be that of a girl who has been told she writes well but doesn't actually write well. I did not find any of the stories particularly engaging; they all seemed devoid of emotion and sincerity. Though the tag line is, "Every grave I dug for myself was in the name of a man", the book didn't seem to support that. She tried to play each of her one night stands off as her being too good for each of them when, really, if she'd focused more on the desperation of finding and hooking up with each one, it would have made the book better. Instead, she used crassness and vulgarity to "shock" the reader, but none of it was very shocking.

Also, Ashley Taborsky, an editor you are not. I have never read such mistake-riddled nonsense.

[Michelle Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

Want a book you sit and read from start to finish? This is it! Every page and chapter is great! Can't wait to read more from this author.

[M.J. Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Just Another Number” By Maggie Young is the ABCD of why women spiral into a tornado of self-hate fueled by attempts to find affection and acceptance in dry places of the soul. Anorexia, Bulimia, Cocaine, Drinking & Drugs and men.
Maggie’s step father is full of bad advice and scrutinizes her eleven year old body for any evidence of weight gain every time he looks at her. “Don’t get fat”, he says as his own stomach bulges over his pants. He is a sloppy drunk but he is a man so it’s OK. She is a Barbie Doll in the making created to service men’s needs. Her mother is busy doing facials, keeping the towels fluffy and making the house smell artificially like a real home. Her mother stifles individuality to avoid conflict with
Carl. Maggie loses her inner mirror to Carl, who takes over her self-image just as he has with her mother. As Maggie falls into Carl’s vision of her she develops dangerous habits and finds dangerous men to go with them.
Maggie has no strong adult support to steer her in a direction that would enhance her life and the bulimic void is filled with more and more drugs. She watches other females buy into the “thin as a stick, harder the prick” viewpoint. Instead of eating healthy food and understanding that growing into womanhood means some big changes are coming, she is busy undermining her health. It is not until many years later when blood pours from orifices that she determines to stop binging and purging. Weight gain follows and compulsive exercise is not far behind. She vents her rage on her body in so many ways.
Maggie turns the tables on men with the name of her book, “Just another number” and gives each man in her life only a number and not even a name like a man who puts notches in his belt as trophies for the conquest of each woman. In truth, these men are nameless fixes in the path of her main addiction – men. Her conclusion about her obsession with men is “We can deeply love our poison.”
This book is filled with the ways that women are not equal. It is her main point. Just as the stick figure of a doll on the book cover flies off into water face down, the reader concludes that Barbie is a made up entity, a strait jacket women seek to stuff themselves and their emotions into. Why are there so many anorexic and bulimic women? Our culture objectifies women into a size two mentality.
Men vary just as women do, so it is important to teach young girls to love themselves and choose strong, nurturing men, not broken men who hurt and destroy because they, like us have been broken by life in some way.
Maggie’s story has a special ending and she veers onto a course that is right for her. I won’t spoil her
very special triumphs.

[Girl Plus Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sex, Drugs, Bulimia and Social Issues – And just gritty real life struggles of a good majority of America’s young women.
This book is not one for the “shy” girls and does get a little risqué - but even with the brutal honesty and openness of all her male encounters, it’s a great read. Just Another Number encompasses modern feminism and the struggles women still face now in 2016. From her younger life through her Navy career and beyond – Young finds a way to touch everyone in one way or another. Even if you can’t relate specifically to her story, you can relate somehow.
I will say my only complaint on the book is it could have used a little more editing as there were typos and mis-spells throughout. Looking past those minor errors, the writing style is very raw in a good way. At times I felt reading this memoir I really knew Young and was having conversation with her.
Within a few pages you could find yourself laughing and happy, then crying, then angry, then feeling lonely. From her relationship with Carl (her sloppy drunk hick of a stepdad) to the relationship with her timid southern bell of a mother to all the relationships she had with men and women both throughout her life, you really start to feel like you know her. If you like memoirs, risqué sexuality and encounters, modern feminism, and real life stories not for the faint of heart – this is the book to add to your summer beach read list for sure.

http://girlplusbook.com/review/just-a...

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just Another Number by Maggie Young is not for the reserved. I was a bit shy, relating to Maggie. Maggie is a Tennessee southern bell freaking free, and breaking all the rules. It's a woman's view of taking charge in a mans world! Rebellious! Being a woman, yet acting like a man. Maggie's Navy tour eventually breaks all of her personal and professional expectations. Full of sexual encounters, and sensual escapades. The numbers represent her growth from teen to woman, as she labels and vividly describes each man along the way. She gender switches roles. Treating men as eye candy, and using them as toys. Not sugar-coating what she desires, causing controversial views of a woman's role. Southern bell and feminism have to learn how to meet in the middle. This story is very erotic, and flows well. I tend to be a bit more reserved. Maggie's underlying desire stems from a poor body image her step father gave her. She seems to constantly replenish one high for another. I sympathize with her need to get better and stronger. I give this three stars. Good solid flow, strong woman, good characters, and loved reading about different places. The romance and explicit descriptive language is a bit much for my tastes.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me awhile to finish this book, but it was not because it was bad, life just got in the way. That always sucks when you are enjoying a book and can't get to it as I really enjoyed reading about Maggie Young's life and experiences. This is an honest and raw memoir of her life. What I liked about reading Maggie's story is that this could be anyone. There was no BS exaggerations like some of the humour based memoirs where the author, *cough, cough, Jenny Lawson, writes dumb stuff to try to make you laugh, or you feel like you are supposed to laugh when its not even funny. No name dropping and embellished stories like some of the celebrity memoirs either. Maggie is the real deal. I found myself laughing out loud at many parts of the books because she is funny and quirky. If you are weak at heart, judgemental, and hypocritical stay away from this book as she takes you on a ride of Bulimia, Promiscuity, Feminism, and Military Life. After reading her book, I can honestly say if I was to meet this talented Author, I could actually say to her, "I feel like I know you."and mean it. Looking forward to future material from her. Thanks for the ride Ms. Young.

[Jackelyn Curtin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maggie Young is a forerunner of modern feminism -- a feminism that deeply understands and embraces the power of female sexuality. A feminism that grows ever wiser and brighter with each oppression faced. Firstly, this is just a super exciting read (if you disagree, I don't know what to say to you). This amazing string of experiences, as written by its brilliant author, will bring you laughter and heartbreak -- sometimes in the same chapter. Ultimately, I believe that in laying out her testimony in absolute rawness, the author's accounts serve as a gift to illuminate the experiences of so many women and men. Her descriptions and truths will haunt you in eye-opening ways.

[Natasha Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never knew that there could be a book so funny and heartbreaking at the same time. This book is darkly written, much like the raw tone of Chuck Palahniuk. Although it is a memoir, I felt like I was reading a fiction book the entire time. It also shed a light on the military that goes unspoken of- rather than glorify or demonize it, Young mocks it, giving readers a graphic, first hand experience of patriotic brainwash, negligent military spending, and the dehumanization in military training which is so often a catalyst for the sexual exploitation of women.

[Katherine Beckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book resonated deeply with me because I suffered from bulimia as a teenager as well. I think that Maggie dives really deep into the destructive ways of thinking that still brainwashes women, including this irrational pressure to remain thin and attractive. She also points out the destructive toll it takes on your body, which for her was a slow metabolism and extreme weight gain that took years to lose, causing negative treatment from her peers and even more self esteem challenges. Her relentless persistence to conquer her obstacles is triumphant and inspiring.

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun read in spite of the fact it deals with some really difficult topics. From child abuse to rape to how women are too often mistreated by the men they date all with an insight into the world of the Navy.

The language in the book is salty, which I loved because it's not something you hear often from women. That language, though, offers some really intense descriptions of sex and also perfectly spot on observations of relationships between children and parents, men and women and how women can find their voices in this world.

[Karen]

Books That Every Badass Woman Should Read

Maggie Young divides the narrative of Just Another Number between the first 23 men she slept with. Handing over her narrative to these men is deliberate. Young is making a point here about the need to please men that society has forced on her. Her story is dark, and tragic at points, but Young’s voice remains strong, satirical, and even humorous throughout. Her raunchy and highly readable memoir stands as proof that women can make it through an awful lot and stay standing. Respect.

[Tahani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smart. Sexy. Raw. Just Another Number. This raw look into a young girl's wildly sexual journey into womanhood is tantalizing. Her sexual strength is realized through the torturous pain of the stupidity that is male. This must read is not an average look at why feminism was born. You learn to love and respect yourself before any man can.

[Garrett Diaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book felt like witnessing an accident that I couldn't take my eyes off of. It's a true representation of the trauma far too many young women experience. What shakes me is how much my wife said that she related to.

[David Fleishel · Rating 5 out of 5]

My girlfriend and I read it together and both loved it. We even played a drinking game with it, taking a swig every time she said some sort of profanity. It's raunchy, funny, and profound at the same time.

[Holland Weisner · Rating 5 out of 5]

hilarious, dark, heartbreaking, uplifting, inspiring... there is NEVER a dull moment in this book!