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Chemical Pink
Aurora Jeanine Johnson is an unwed mother from Savannah, Georgia, desperate to sculpt a new life―and a new body―in California, where the quest for the perfect butt or bicep reaches religious intensity. Spending every spare moment training at the gym, Aurora is barely getting by―until she meets the man who will offer her everything she most desires. Charles Worthington is a wealthy eccentric, rich enough to indulge his every decadent whim and fantasy. Aurora is his sexual ideal, the raw material from which he will shape his masterpiece. He will transform Aurora into the woman of his dreams―and fantasies―no matter the cost. To achieve their common goal, Aurora hands over complete control of her life to Charles. He dictates her diet, her lifestyle, her training―and when and how much she'll take of the body-altering drugs he “prescribes” for her. He decides whom she sees and where she goes. And what kinky games of his own devising they will play. For Aurora, everything that Charles asks is a small price to pay to become the woman she's always dreamed of being. Or is it? Chemical Pink is a gothic duet that explores the boundary between obsession and pathology.
270 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
15 people are currently reading
416 people want to read
About the author
Katie Arnoldi
7 books24 followersKatie Arnoldi's literary debut Chemical Pink, set in the competitive world of female bodybuilding, became a surprise bestseller, winning Arnoldi praise from critics and readers alike, The Wentworths too graced the bestseller list. She lives in Southern California with her husband, the painter Charles Arnoldi, and their two children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
July 23, 2016
The moral of this book? Don't take steroids or you will grow a penis!
This book absolutely disgusted, yet I couldn't put it down. Two starts go for keeping me engrossed, can't give more because it left a bad taste in my mouth. Is it a fiction with autobiographical elements, or an autobiography with fictional elements? It reads like a true story, but disgusting enough to make you doubt that something like that could happen in real life.
I hated all of the characters. Dumb, self absorbed and poor excuse for a mother. Sick fuck for a manager/boyfriend. You pair these two and disaster is bound to happen. This dude puts her on extreme exercise regime then pumps her with steroids until she looks like a bloated pig (his words) and gets all hot and bothered watching her stumble around. The sex was absolutely disgusting.
What was the point of this story? I wish I could forget this book. *Gags*
Interestingly enough, the author was a body builder back in a day. I guess there must be some truth to this story then.
This book absolutely disgusted, yet I couldn't put it down. Two starts go for keeping me engrossed, can't give more because it left a bad taste in my mouth. Is it a fiction with autobiographical elements, or an autobiography with fictional elements? It reads like a true story, but disgusting enough to make you doubt that something like that could happen in real life.
I hated all of the characters. Dumb, self absorbed and poor excuse for a mother. Sick fuck for a manager/boyfriend. You pair these two and disaster is bound to happen. This dude puts her on extreme exercise regime then pumps her with steroids until she looks like a bloated pig (his words) and gets all hot and bothered watching her stumble around. The sex was absolutely disgusting.
What was the point of this story? I wish I could forget this book. *Gags*
Interestingly enough, the author was a body builder back in a day. I guess there must be some truth to this story then.
October 9, 2011
I've read several reviews of this book, which have compared it to Chuck Palahniuk's work and now, having read the book, I can see why. It definitely taps into the ""human monsters" theme and the despicable disturbing scary sides of human psyche. I have to say that in my opinion it's not as clever or as twisted as Palahniuk's books, but then again maybe it wasn't meant to be. On the surface this is a quick demented fast paced VERY graphic story about the world of female body building, mainly the very twisted relationship between an aspiring female body builder and her very rich very demented sponsor. It's told very well and very descriptive, because the author herself used to be a body builder and is very familiar to the Venice training scene. It's a fascinating and disturbing, yet very compelling read, kind of like a particularly terrible accident site you just can't look away from. On a deeper level though, this is a book about obsession, about having goals and the price one is willing to pay to achieve them.
I think if this was a different book (maybe Palahniuk's book), the last chapter would be longer and more ruthless. But it's a good read as is, though one that would be difficult to recommend.
I think if this was a different book (maybe Palahniuk's book), the last chapter would be longer and more ruthless. But it's a good read as is, though one that would be difficult to recommend.
May 27, 2011
Vanity Fair described the book as “a modern gothic comedy of obsession.” It’s that and then some.
In a nutshell: Aurora is training to be a champion women’s body builder. Charles, her sponsor, will do whatever it takes for her to reach her goal. Aurora’s daughter, Amy, would just like a regular mom…someone who doesn’t ride her exercise bike in the nude.
I’m not familiar with the whole women’s body building thing but I sure do admire their dedication. I once flexed my arm to show my husband what I thought was a muscle and ended up in bed for three days eating muscle relaxants to ease the pain.
I’m not sure why I like the characters in the book so much. Their world has a high ‘ewwwww’ factor. Charles likes to role-play sexual fantasies. He has veggie dolls, likes to have his diaper changed and he does something with a turkey baster that’s….ewwwwwww.
The author gets five big voyeuristic stars!
In a nutshell: Aurora is training to be a champion women’s body builder. Charles, her sponsor, will do whatever it takes for her to reach her goal. Aurora’s daughter, Amy, would just like a regular mom…someone who doesn’t ride her exercise bike in the nude.
I’m not familiar with the whole women’s body building thing but I sure do admire their dedication. I once flexed my arm to show my husband what I thought was a muscle and ended up in bed for three days eating muscle relaxants to ease the pain.
I’m not sure why I like the characters in the book so much. Their world has a high ‘ewwwww’ factor. Charles likes to role-play sexual fantasies. He has veggie dolls, likes to have his diaper changed and he does something with a turkey baster that’s….ewwwwwww.
The author gets five big voyeuristic stars!
August 6, 2016
Where else could “Chemical Pink” (Overlook), a novel about professional bodybuilding, go but deep into fetishistic obsession and kinky sex? Author Katie Arnoldi states as much in her Afterwards. She was a competitive bodybuilder, though not in the same class as those who she depicts in her book. How could she be without the drugs?
The book opens with Charles, the skinny, controlling, masochistic and sadistic collector of body fantasies reminiscing about the one who got away. Well, she didn’t leave as much as evolved or mutated into a transitional sex, a bloated sack of confused hormonal development, with a clitoris overgrown to a decent-sized cock.
Such is the wages of steroid abuse, one of the many chemical cocktails that give the novel its name, injected to enhance training and sculpt the female form into something deep-voiced and bulky, just as Charles likes it. But the side-effects eventually overtook the desired effects, and this failed experiment was put to pasture like the cow she had become.
Along comes Aurora to the Venice Beach gym Charles frequents like a brothel. She has potential and he lures the single mother with cash and prizes.
“Chemical Pink” started as a short story exploring the dynamics of Charles relationship with Aurora and her daughter Amy, but once Arnoldi introduced the bodybuilding into the plot it expanded. It can be looked at as a cautionary tale, but really it’s larger than even the musclebound bodies it portrays. The lens can open wide enough to take in the whole culture, but the disturbing details are what drives a reader forward.
There’s the character of Hendrik, a older German trainer, drug dealer and pimp, who wears tube socks and a toupee, and claims have made Arnold Schwarzenegger a champion. He supplies Charles with bodybuilding dominatrixes.
If the development of secondary male sexual characteristics on a female body isn’t upsetting enough, then Charles’ femdom scenarios are going to test the limits of your tolerance. Or maybe you’re just turned on by them.
Charles is seen swaddled like a baby in a dirty diaper, clawing at Aurora’s naked breast, hungry to suckle. He bathes and preps Aurora for what she thinks is sex, and is for Charles, but first he needs her displayed naked in a seatless chair so he can squat beneath her splayed bottom and snort the odorous essence of her bowels.
It’s a mutually rewarding relationship. Charles gets to rule from the bottom and Aurora gets a house for herself and her daughter, food and jewelry, a car, everything she could have desired or wanted. Mostly Aurora gets the body she always dreamed of through a torturous regiment of weightlifting, diet and injections, even as it ruptures her family. The line between sadomasochistic arousal and physical improvement disappears as obsessions tend to erase boundaries.
The story moves swiftly to the competition that will put Aurora on the professional map, and it sweeps a reader along for the ride with conflict and resolution terminating in a brutal conclusion fitting for the cult novel this is, and one that could easily be adapted into a great exploitation film. Yet, it’s more than merely the mechanics of storytelling which give this novel its heft.
What resonates is the Frankenstein’s monster of blind consuming passion that can literally warp the mind and the body, and the ignorance that isn’t bliss but fuel to further push the engine of obsession to its logical conclusion, destruction.
That said, “Chemical Pink” is a hoot. It’s hilarious and upsetting, thought provoking and entertaining, perverted and surprisingly touching—the great American bodybuilding novel.
The book opens with Charles, the skinny, controlling, masochistic and sadistic collector of body fantasies reminiscing about the one who got away. Well, she didn’t leave as much as evolved or mutated into a transitional sex, a bloated sack of confused hormonal development, with a clitoris overgrown to a decent-sized cock.
Such is the wages of steroid abuse, one of the many chemical cocktails that give the novel its name, injected to enhance training and sculpt the female form into something deep-voiced and bulky, just as Charles likes it. But the side-effects eventually overtook the desired effects, and this failed experiment was put to pasture like the cow she had become.
Along comes Aurora to the Venice Beach gym Charles frequents like a brothel. She has potential and he lures the single mother with cash and prizes.
“Chemical Pink” started as a short story exploring the dynamics of Charles relationship with Aurora and her daughter Amy, but once Arnoldi introduced the bodybuilding into the plot it expanded. It can be looked at as a cautionary tale, but really it’s larger than even the musclebound bodies it portrays. The lens can open wide enough to take in the whole culture, but the disturbing details are what drives a reader forward.
There’s the character of Hendrik, a older German trainer, drug dealer and pimp, who wears tube socks and a toupee, and claims have made Arnold Schwarzenegger a champion. He supplies Charles with bodybuilding dominatrixes.
If the development of secondary male sexual characteristics on a female body isn’t upsetting enough, then Charles’ femdom scenarios are going to test the limits of your tolerance. Or maybe you’re just turned on by them.
Charles is seen swaddled like a baby in a dirty diaper, clawing at Aurora’s naked breast, hungry to suckle. He bathes and preps Aurora for what she thinks is sex, and is for Charles, but first he needs her displayed naked in a seatless chair so he can squat beneath her splayed bottom and snort the odorous essence of her bowels.
It’s a mutually rewarding relationship. Charles gets to rule from the bottom and Aurora gets a house for herself and her daughter, food and jewelry, a car, everything she could have desired or wanted. Mostly Aurora gets the body she always dreamed of through a torturous regiment of weightlifting, diet and injections, even as it ruptures her family. The line between sadomasochistic arousal and physical improvement disappears as obsessions tend to erase boundaries.
The story moves swiftly to the competition that will put Aurora on the professional map, and it sweeps a reader along for the ride with conflict and resolution terminating in a brutal conclusion fitting for the cult novel this is, and one that could easily be adapted into a great exploitation film. Yet, it’s more than merely the mechanics of storytelling which give this novel its heft.
What resonates is the Frankenstein’s monster of blind consuming passion that can literally warp the mind and the body, and the ignorance that isn’t bliss but fuel to further push the engine of obsession to its logical conclusion, destruction.
That said, “Chemical Pink” is a hoot. It’s hilarious and upsetting, thought provoking and entertaining, perverted and surprisingly touching—the great American bodybuilding novel.
October 11, 2020
i've grown to appreciate incredibly insular looks at subcultures, and it helps when they're filtered through the lens of genre fiction. i could not possibly not relate to a book any more than i didn't relate to this book, which is about the world of female competitive bodybuilding and the fetishization that is inherent in those that circle the community. but this granular look at the biology and ranked order lives of the people involved is fascinating, as well as the emotional tolls taken; it's an empathetic story, told complexly. i did /not/ enjoy the ending, which was abrupt , unearned , and a character betrayal that swerved the story away from its emotional core and damaged a lot of the scaffolding the preceded it
October 19, 2007
this book left me deeply sad. i could not put it down because of the 'behind the scenes' peek at women's body building. i have had body image issues just like most people but what these women go through to achieve the ideal is amazing...its the flipside of the actresses with their faces so botoxed you can't tell if they are taking a dump or smiling. the changes she goes through because of the testosterone and steroids kept me fascinated and her coach is a strange mix of fetishist/serial killer/mommie, but by the end of the story i was depressed.
April 4, 2008
odd, odd, odd, but a page-turner
September 21, 2022
I was ready to write off this book as nothing but shock with little substance, similar to the Chuck Palahniuk novels I devoured as an angsty teen. With meditations on the strive for perfection and obsessive body modification similar to Melissa Broder’s work (I see thanks to this website that she is a fan), there was something there but the sheer extreme of the female bodybuilding world - and some of the fetishes - kept me from connecting to it overall.
This changed in the last 50 pages of the novel, when it feels like Charles full delusions are really on display, as he encounters the first woman that doesn’t beckon to his call, although he is able to convince himself otherwise. It was then that it all clicked for me, what all this striving and poking and prodding is for - that as women, we’re always made to “work” on ourselves as and never just be content as we are, and it’s all goaded by men, whether they be admirers or societal gatekeepers, who are too high on their own supply to notice our struggles.
This is a novel that uses extremes to show these inner most private conflicts, which at times became exhausting, but definitely always amusing, to culminate into a satisfying revenge of an ending.
It’s worth a read, as whether it leaves you laughing or disgusting, you’ll take something with you regardless.
This changed in the last 50 pages of the novel, when it feels like Charles full delusions are really on display, as he encounters the first woman that doesn’t beckon to his call, although he is able to convince himself otherwise. It was then that it all clicked for me, what all this striving and poking and prodding is for - that as women, we’re always made to “work” on ourselves as and never just be content as we are, and it’s all goaded by men, whether they be admirers or societal gatekeepers, who are too high on their own supply to notice our struggles.
This is a novel that uses extremes to show these inner most private conflicts, which at times became exhausting, but definitely always amusing, to culminate into a satisfying revenge of an ending.
It’s worth a read, as whether it leaves you laughing or disgusting, you’ll take something with you regardless.
December 27, 2021
Sick and twisted, I really loved it. The pretty much ''secret life'' of female bodybuilders and the steroid cycles that they go through is grotesque and painful, to say the least. But that's what happens with extremes, and that's why the book is excellent. The author is invested in giving an accurate description of the drug-related details. In the Acknowledgments part of the book, Arnoldi writes, "Chemical Pink is a story about obsession and drive within a small subculture but, if you take a step back, the book reflects the narcissistic priorities of today's culture."
August 29, 2014
Fifty Shades of Grey meets women bodybuilding!
I was pleasantly surprised by this weird and unusual book. I have never been interested in nor read anything about bodybuilding but the idea of it as an addiction intrigued me. I'm glad I picked this one up!
I was pleasantly surprised by this weird and unusual book. I have never been interested in nor read anything about bodybuilding but the idea of it as an addiction intrigued me. I'm glad I picked this one up!
April 10, 2016
Although I rated it a 3; I couldn't put it down. The two main characters are so psychologically sick, I was hooked immediately. Interesting read, and interesting subculture in bodybuilding.
May 7, 2023
I'm not even going to try to rate this one but I will say that the look it provides into woman's bodybuilding is very interesting.
Read
February 19, 2023This was totally crazy
January 4, 2016
I'm surprised this book worked as well it did, for one reason: while Arnoldi gives the main characters clear goals and desires, she never makes it clear why they have such goals and desires. Why is Aurora Johnson so driven to "perfect" her body? Why is Charles Worthington willing to spend a seemingly bottomless fortune "creating" a perfect woman? The answers to these questions should be central to the success of these characters, but against all odds, the characters still work. The story still works.
The reason, I think, lies in Arnoldi's combination of voice and verisimilitude. Arnoldi knows the world of competitive bodybuilding, and she fills the novel with specific details that give the characters credibility. Even if she's making up some or all of these details, they seem true.
More importantly, she knows her characters' voices. The fact that Arnoldi doesn't necessarily relay important character information to the reader matters less and less because it's clear that Arnoldi knows, and therefore the characters know. Their hidden motives fuel their actions, so I never questioned lurid developments like Aurora willingly allowing Charles to use her as his sex slave, trying out fetish scenarios. Even side characters like Henrik, Aurora's trainer, have distinctive voices in dialogue and action. Arnoldi gives the smallest character enriching touches of humanity.
I liked the characters, but what about the story? The characters help smooth over the rough patches; it follows Aurora's training from the moment Charles discovers her through her competition. The competition itself is anticlimactic, perhaps by design. The emotional fallout of some shocking moments are glossed over by point-of-view shifts or time jumps... These issues made me go from loving Chemical Pink to merely liking it. It's a very good debut.
The reason, I think, lies in Arnoldi's combination of voice and verisimilitude. Arnoldi knows the world of competitive bodybuilding, and she fills the novel with specific details that give the characters credibility. Even if she's making up some or all of these details, they seem true.
More importantly, she knows her characters' voices. The fact that Arnoldi doesn't necessarily relay important character information to the reader matters less and less because it's clear that Arnoldi knows, and therefore the characters know. Their hidden motives fuel their actions, so I never questioned lurid developments like Aurora willingly allowing Charles to use her as his sex slave, trying out fetish scenarios. Even side characters like Henrik, Aurora's trainer, have distinctive voices in dialogue and action. Arnoldi gives the smallest character enriching touches of humanity.
I liked the characters, but what about the story? The characters help smooth over the rough patches; it follows Aurora's training from the moment Charles discovers her through her competition. The competition itself is anticlimactic, perhaps by design. The emotional fallout of some shocking moments are glossed over by point-of-view shifts or time jumps... These issues made me go from loving Chemical Pink to merely liking it. It's a very good debut.
January 10, 2022
when i finished this book, i was disappointed for a little while. i sat still for a few minutes wondering why aurora had come to such an out-of-character climax, until i finally realised that, when pushed far enough, it wouldn't be out of character for anyone. chemical pink is a book about a man who is willing to push a woman as far as he possibly can. charles has a number of nontraditional sexual desires, but in my personal opinion it would be completely missing the point of the book to believe that those are the issue with his character; the issue with his character is his all-consuming narcissism, leading him to spend countless amounts of money on sculpting his ideal woman, never stopping to think about the suffering he causes unless to plan his next acts of manipulation. aurora, a single mother whose only 'friend' has become obsessed with her to the point of stalking and whose mother despises her, is isolated and vulnerable enough to fall victim to charles' predation. out of financial desperation, aurora accepts charles' offer to sponsor her bodybuilding career. charles is described as a scrawny, short, man, and yet he abuses only the most muscular, physically imposing members of society. i don't want to spoil any of it, but it's DEFINITELY worth a read. i'd also like to note that katie arnoldi's depictions of steroid use are the most accurate i've seen in any piece of media to date, which i LOVED - no more will i accept the stereotypical 'injecting a random substance in a locker room' trope, i want all authors to pay as much attention to detail as arnoldi has!!
April 24, 2021
This book remains a perennial favorite. It's a quick read about a woman's desire to reach the heights of the body building world and the lengths she will go to to get there. It takes place in the time when steroids and chemical enhancement reigned over strength and athleticism. (maybe steroids are still part of it, I don't know. I was a strength trainer more than a bodybuilder--or "natural bodybuilder" as the term went--so I never touched the stuff.) The Faustian deal she makes is perverse and perhaps not confined to women only, and its depiction is rather comical, but the comical can also be degrading, demeaning and soul crushing.
Personally, I like reading this to remind me that a book doesn't have to be miles deep in Proustian phrasing or Joycean linguistic gymnastics to have an effect on the reader.
Personally, I like reading this to remind me that a book doesn't have to be miles deep in Proustian phrasing or Joycean linguistic gymnastics to have an effect on the reader.
August 8, 2012
A good first book, an intriguing story, though certain elements could do with a little work. The characters are not developed especially well, in some places it is plain that this is a short story that has been stretched out to just shy of 300 pages. An entertaining read in spite of its flaws.
I was promised similiarities to Chuck Palahniuk style in the reviews of this book, and was mildly disappointed. This book deals with obsession, but glosses over things (like deep psychological problems of central characters) that could have made this an amazing book.
An interesting, if slightly disjointed snapshot of obsession overall, but lacking the passion that goes hand in hand with obsession.
I was promised similiarities to Chuck Palahniuk style in the reviews of this book, and was mildly disappointed. This book deals with obsession, but glosses over things (like deep psychological problems of central characters) that could have made this an amazing book.
An interesting, if slightly disjointed snapshot of obsession overall, but lacking the passion that goes hand in hand with obsession.
July 25, 2011
Chemical Pink by Katie Arnoldi is a novel that explores how obsession can take over peoples' lives. This book is extremely entertaining. I read the book in one day, it was hard to pull myself away from it. This book is similar to a Chuck Palahniuk story, both delve into subjects that many people are uncomfortable dealing with. They both write stories in a way that keep the reader interested. Overall, Katie Arnoldi is a great writer and Chemical Pink is a great book.
October 7, 2018
I am going to start by saying I am an amateur bodybuilder and I follow the sport. With that being said I highly enjoyed this novel! I am very familiar with the drugs and the obsession to the stage. So for a novel to touch on this in such a taboo topic is amazing to me! If you do not follow the sport of bodybuilding you will not enjoy this book or the obsession! As for Charles what a creep!!! Loved the ending! Binge read this one in 2 sittings!
May 9, 2007
Not for the faint of heart, a frighteningly accurate portrayal of certain aspects (the seedier ones) of the fetishistic world of women's bodybuilding. I couldn't put it down despite its many flaws.
September 9, 2008
Women bodybuilders!!!!
January 4, 2011
Sick and twisted, in a really good way.
March 29, 2020
Kirjassa sinänsä ei ollut mitään vikaa, mutta hahmoista oli tehty erittäin kyseenalaisen maun omaavia ihmisiä. Charlesilla tuntui olevan monenlaisia fetissejä, vauva-äiti -leikit, alistuminen, superlihaksikkaat naiset - kun taas Aurora -parka oli niin huonoitsetuntoinen, että joutui Charlesin kynsiin "muunnettavaksi". Kehonrakennus on sairasta touhua jo muutenkin, tämä nyt ei ainakaan parantanut kuvaa siitä.
June 2, 2025
- this book was incredible… accurately self-described as “a gothic and erotic duet” and “reflects the narcissistic priorities of today’s culture”, contained grotesque imagery and content which was equally disturbing and mesmerizing
- the characters were well-developed, I thought, and I didn’t like any of them, though I wasn’t meant to. Displays the power dynamics of having money or not, as well as between different genders
- the characters were well-developed, I thought, and I didn’t like any of them, though I wasn’t meant to. Displays the power dynamics of having money or not, as well as between different genders
September 18, 2018
Back in 2002, I met Chuck Palahniuk. He recommended this book to me and Amy Hempel’s writing. Chemical Pink is certainly in the same vein as Palahniuk’s work. At times, my mouth was hanging open in disgust, or I would be chuckling at the absurdity and monstrosity that was happening. It’s transgressive, so if that’s not your thing, forget it. If it is your thing? Read this book.
June 19, 2021
Tämä on osastolta hyllyssä lojuneet ja mistä lie sinne tulleet. Tämä oli aika häiritsevä monella tavalla. Inhaa kuvausta kehonmuokkauksesta ja samalla itsensä riippuvaiseksi altistamisesta toisen ihmisen perversioille. Suomennos oli aika kaamea, mutta kun sen unohti, niin tämä oli nopea, vähän inhanmakuinen, mutta hullulla tavalla viihdyttävä kuvaus ihmisten pimeistä tarpeista.
June 17, 2022
Trashy. And hard to put down. It’s trans phobic, fat phobic and kink shamey and has no likeable characters except for the child who is just miserable through the whole book. No redemption at the end. You kind of keep waiting for a serial killer moment and then it comes but kind of disappoints. Ehhh… a sorta fun beach read if you need one.
November 6, 2019
I appreciated a view into the world of female competitive strength training but I'm still not sure how I felt about the story. The descriptions were great, really allowing me to envision the characters but I was hoping for something more!
September 20, 2022
I could not put this book down. I previously had zero interest in female bodybuilding but within the first few pages of electrically good writing, I was hooked. The author managed to write an entire book of unlikeable assholes that still made me sad when it was over.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews