Body to Job

by Christopher Zeischegg, Danny Wylde

Former porn star, Christopher Zeischegg (aka Danny Wylde), gathers six years of writing into one definitive collection. A memoir of an adult film career from beginning to end and a life lived after, marked by post-porn dysphoria. Interspersed with select fiction, Zeischegg writes about youthful naivete, sex worker love, pro-porn activism, disenchantment, and violence. Body to Job is the ex-porn star's third book, and his most comprehensive to date―an explicit work of vulnerability, longing, terror, and life.

Genres: Nonfiction

236 pages, Paperback

First published February 13, 2018

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really can't bring myself to say anything bad about a book that has such killer sentences as "The libertine wished to consume my semen for the purposes of necromancy."

[Nev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part memoir, part fiction - Body to Job follows Christopher Zeischegg (aka Danny Wylde) in his time being a porn star, why he had to stop performing, and how leaving that career impacted his life.

He covers how he got started in the adult entertainment industry, stigmas he faced being a crossover performer who had done both gay and straight porn, the medical emergency that forced him to stop performing, and his romantic relationships with other performers. It was interesting seeing his feelings about porn while he was a performer and how some of them shifted after having to stop.

For me, the biggest drawback of this book is how it’s part fictionalized. Sometimes the stories cross into fabulism, using fantastical elements to describe his feelings or state of mind. In some of those instances I felt like I could understand what he was going for. But other times it just went completely over my head. The stories in the book also aren’t really told in a totally chronological manner, they skip around a bit which could be hard to follow. I think I would’ve enjoyed this more if it was closer to a standard memoir rather than being on the experimental side. It also makes me feel like I can’t use this as a source when talking about porn, just because I’m not sure which parts are fiction and which are fact.

Even though I didn’t totally connect with the way this book was written, I think it’s illuminating to get an inside look into the mind of a former adult performer.

[Adam Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible memoir on what it is to consider one’s place where bodies disintegrate under the weight of commerce.

[Dan Totzke · Rating 5 out of 5]

As soon as it was announced that Christopher had a new book coming out, I couldn’t wait to read it. Then I found out it was an autobiography or sorts, and my interest was peaked even more. I took me a while to read the whole book (life happens), but this was one of the most interesting reads about another human being that I’ve had in a while.

Christopher’s (Danny Wylde) life, from the outside, seemed like a porn fairy tale. When you actually look at the situation through his eyes, it’s nothing like that at all. He is a very smart, kind, and caring man, and to me, it seemed like people took advantage of those features in him. At times, in the book, Christopher came off as narcissistic, but it was in a way that helped you understand him better. Not in a way that made you hate him or think less of him. I was extremely shocked about the stigmatism that is still on bisexual men in porn. One would think, in an industry that breaks the rules, bisexual men wouldn’t have to “choose” between doing just straight or gay porn. It was very interesting.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Danny Wylde and/or wants to get to know Christopher better. I have a deeper respect and fondness for him after reading this book.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps not surprisingly good. Would have preferred to have the pure fiction stories better delineated from the more straightforward memoir, but a real page turner regardless. Zeischegg is a smart, witty, introspective author with a brutal streak of honesty. Well worth the read.

[Ben Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Former pornstar and sometime realworld filmmaker Christopher Zeischegg aka Danny Wylde has led an eventful life, and what's more he's able to write about it with a rare objectivity. As income from the likes of Pornhub starts to wither and all his self-medication takes its numbing toll, our narrator becomes an unwitting test case for free-market capitalism run amok over feelings. Rather more than a celebrity memoir, Body to Job comes to read like an essential pop culture document and is highly recommended.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://gnomeship.blogspot.com/2022/1...

[Faith · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book but I couldn’t get through it. The sentence structure was laconic and monotonous and the book offered no insight of note. There are so many great memoirs to read that I put this one down and picked up “Priest Daddy.”

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

“This is fun,” I said but meant that it was only okay, and no worse than anything else.

The references to Raqib Shaw (as Satvik) and Esteban Santos were interesting but, overall, I did not enjoy the book.

[John Smythe · Rating 3 out of 5]

not bad but severely limited by the fictionalization. it would have been stronger as straight memoir

[Katy]

I feel like the understatement mostly works, but sometimes (esp in first half of the book) you wish the author would say more. More hybrid-genre than I expected. A good book for sure. Disturbing.

[James Parrish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast read, mesmerizing content with solid prose.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is extremely well written and just fascinating to read. Best biography I have read in years!

[renee w · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Chris Tempel · Rating 4 out of 5]

the writing is a little bit flat, but otherwise it's ok.