What do you think?
Rate this book
Restraint: A Sex Tragedy
Michael's been a prostitute since he was fourteen. The money's good, for sure, but that isn't really why he does it. Sex is all he ever thinks about, anyway—sex, and love, just getting to be close to someone—anyone, but it's not that he's addicted to sex like some people say. Maybe it’s because his dad never hugged him—barely ever even talked to him after his mom died—and his sisters were never nice to him, either, but whatever the reason, he likes his life just how it is, so it's pretty annoying that everyone he knows is trying to get him to give up hooking and get a regular job now that he's eighteen like he kept promising them he would. Then, two new customers come into his life and he begins to realize nothing will ever be the same again ....
447 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 8, 2015
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 13, 2015
Restraint starts with sex, revolves around sex, and ends with profound wisdom about sex, yet it is not a book about sex. Addiction, the human psyche, our innermost nature and the astonishing beauty of life found in unexpected places—that’s what this book is about, from the point of view of a teen male prostitute.
The first chapter—the first few pages —contain two of Michael’s polar opposite clients—a longtime, cold and callous female client, and a first-time, nervous man who’s in denial about his sexuality. In the ensuing chapters, we meet many more of Michael’s clients, the cruel and the kind, the jaded and the innocent and those who want the best for Michael. Even the johns want Michael to go straight, and think he could do better than prostitution. But Michael loves the sex, is making money hand over fist (pun intended) and sees no reason to change. At least that’s what he tells himself, until two pivotal characters unwittingly start a revolution inside him.
Michael’s confusion about sex and love and touch, and how these have fused inside him, leads to an exploration of his family life and how it led to him becoming a prostitute. But it’s not what you would expect—not another story of abuse with strict black and white borders, not an indictment of prostitution or even of addiction. Michael goes beyond being a character, even a well-drawn one; he is far more than an illustration of any ideal or belief. He’s human, and that’s the most compelling story of all.
Restraint has what I’m always looking for in fiction, and so rarely find: true connection, and instead of a monochrome journey from point A to B, a journey across the whole vivid rainbow spectrum of the human condition.
The first chapter—the first few pages —contain two of Michael’s polar opposite clients—a longtime, cold and callous female client, and a first-time, nervous man who’s in denial about his sexuality. In the ensuing chapters, we meet many more of Michael’s clients, the cruel and the kind, the jaded and the innocent and those who want the best for Michael. Even the johns want Michael to go straight, and think he could do better than prostitution. But Michael loves the sex, is making money hand over fist (pun intended) and sees no reason to change. At least that’s what he tells himself, until two pivotal characters unwittingly start a revolution inside him.
Michael’s confusion about sex and love and touch, and how these have fused inside him, leads to an exploration of his family life and how it led to him becoming a prostitute. But it’s not what you would expect—not another story of abuse with strict black and white borders, not an indictment of prostitution or even of addiction. Michael goes beyond being a character, even a well-drawn one; he is far more than an illustration of any ideal or belief. He’s human, and that’s the most compelling story of all.
Restraint has what I’m always looking for in fiction, and so rarely find: true connection, and instead of a monochrome journey from point A to B, a journey across the whole vivid rainbow spectrum of the human condition.
March 24, 2017
Different
Well this is certainly a different book. Michael is a 17 year old ( almost eighteen) runaway making a good living as a Prostitute. His mother is dead his father non communicative his sister's treat him with disdain and disinterest .......he's lonely and his 'job' is a way to get some kind of emotional and physical contact.
There's a host of characters and a long the way they all in someway change his life. Loved it. Would love another book just to find out how things end up for Michael.
Well this is certainly a different book. Michael is a 17 year old ( almost eighteen) runaway making a good living as a Prostitute. His mother is dead his father non communicative his sister's treat him with disdain and disinterest .......he's lonely and his 'job' is a way to get some kind of emotional and physical contact.
There's a host of characters and a long the way they all in someway change his life. Loved it. Would love another book just to find out how things end up for Michael.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews