Getting Off

by Jonathan Reiss

Fiction. You can almost make just enough money to buy heroin every day by jacking off for people on the Internet. This is America. That makes you an entrepreneur. But how do you stop being human? Is it possible? What if you can't? What then? In this relentless, heart-shattering first novel, Jonathan Reiss gently takes your hand and leads you on a grand insider's tour of the nicest parts of hell, where giving up on everything is extremely hard work.

"GETTING OFF is raunchy, sad, weird, smart, and riotously fun to read. Gross sex, drug shakes, LA, scary cults--what more can you ask for? Reiss has written a refreshingly dark book, with pretty much zero redemption for his characters but plenty of attention and love."--Paula Bomer

"As soon as I read the first paragraph I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep till I'd finished. Because it was too real. Novels have endings, thank God."--Stoya

"Jonathan Reiss is a real rocket ship of a writer. Wild and sad, GETTING OFF pops with complicated worlds of internet sex, dreams, and loss. This is a book full of web cam hook-ups and people wanting to be fucked by the ocean. It's a book asking you to show your chest and prove you're not a cop, even though we all are."--Scott McClanahan

"Beautifully written, terribly sad, and frightfully funny. It's an experience almost so painful that you can't turn away from it, and it doesn't let up until it's finished. I loved it."--Sean Bonnette, cofounder of AJJ

220 pages, Paperback

Published March 28, 2017

About the author

Jonathan Reiss has worked as a journalist for the last decade, contributing to outlets like Spin, Interview, and the New York Observer. He currently works as a contributing writer for Rolling Stone covering the opioid crisis. His debut novel, Getting Off, was published in 2018 to critical acclaim, with Fjordscalling it "a heart-shattering literary high." Prior to that, he spent two years writing almost exclusively about hip-hop for leading magazines like The Source and Complex. Reiss has carved out a niche writing redemption stories from some of the darkest corners of online culture focusing on the drug trade, true crime, and the intersection of technology and sex. His recent memoir story for Narratively saw viral success, becoming one of the most read stories in the site's history. Reiss lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads Autographed Copy Win

How far will you go to support your heroin addiction and barely able to support your basic needs? You are struggling actor and addicted to drugs.

You find yourself selling yourself on the internet to get your next fix. In a world of a struggling addict who uses a webcam to gain money. He is no better than a prostitute selling himself.

We are thrown into a world of possible misadventures along the way and what can happen when you try to quit the habit without the proper help. It makes for an interesting read.

[Alberta McMorris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simon has it all; good looks, his own apartment in Manhattan, a successful business, loving parents, and his dreams of becoming an actor.
Well, except his business is performing sexuality explicit acts in front of his webcam, his apartment is rat-infested and currently without hot water, and his looks are becoming ravaged by years of drug use. Simon is a heroin addict, and his acting skills fail miserably when trying to convince his parents and close friends that he isn't strung out.

But Simon has one thing going for him; he's wily and can often talk his way out of a bad (often dangerous) situation, knows how to get around store security and, in spite of his drug-addled fog, can see clearly when it comes to right and wrong.

Getting Off is a smart, modern-day retelling of an old story; the young man with a lot of potential who is often his own worst enemy. I found myself surprised by how often this book made me laugh, and was reminded of reading the brilliant "Downtown Diaries" by Jim Carroll. Instead of blowjobs in the back of Max's Kansas City, there are "dates" with closeted suburban husbands, but the underlying sense of wanting to be free of his addiction yet somehow being reverent of the rituals that come with heroin use. Simon has the ability to see the humanity behind the various masks that people in his world tend to put up, and perhaps it is this more than anything that leaves you with the sense that just maybe, he will make it work.

[Kadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

sometimes life just lines up in a really rad way and you meet a guy in a bar and he not only gives you a copy of his first novel, he signs it for you too.
thanks jonathan! I LOVED THIS BOOK. so good. so real. so fucking grimy! once i got into it i couldn't put it down.
"age is just a stalker that follows you around, picking away the things you like about yourself, one at a time." this was my FAVORITE line of the book. the first time i read it i stopped. re-read it a few times, smiled and realized - this is my kind of writing!
such a dope book (pun totally intended).

ps. i love fats.

[Josh Aronovitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick and excellent read. The narrator/protagonist is as awkwardly endearing as his life and choices are disturbing. The book rings emotionally true and paints a vivid picture of how are choices and circumstances don't necessarily determine who we are. I highly reccommend this to anyone who wonders what lengths someone might go to in desperate circumstances, and who is not put off by adult content.

[Ben Arzate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full Review

Jonathan Reiss's Getting Off is an excellent debut. It's both disgusting and engaging, entertaining, and full of excellent writing. Stories about junkies are nothing new, but Reiss's own take on it is well worth reading.

[Jessica Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

i honestly didn't love this book even though I really wanted to. I think that it may be me that's the problem though. I found the depictions of intravenous drug use very unsettling and very hard to get through. obviously the subject matter is a very real thing but it was so hard for me to read.