(no subject)
I'd been reading this book, right, and it started off kind of soft, almost like a romantic comedy in the British style, and I'm thinking you know: that's OK, I haven't read anything so self indulgent in a while. He barely knows her, wants to spend his life with her, they're in Venice, he's British, she's from California and has got a nipple ring and a dolphin tattoo on her ass. Yaada yadda. Around page 60 I'm hooked, and then it sinks me at about 110 with the first sex scene. Now I'm thinking YEAH. YEAH. But I leave off the rest for the next day, which is today. Now, within the first 10 pages, they're on a Yacht. They're at a party and the party is on this Yacht and they're in Venice, and the girl with the dolphin tattoo disappears for a little bit and comes back and she tells our protagonist-- I've got some coke. And he says, you know, "Splendid, my dear". So now they're in the bathroom, and they do some lines together, and all of a sudden she has to pee. So he says "Let me watch," which is fine, whatever. Girls pee. But then he sticks his hand between her thighs. Doesn't say anything about it, neither does she. Just lets the piss wash over his hand and he fills with glee. She pulls up her cotton panties and that's that, he washes his hand in the sink. Now, as they leave the bathroom, he wonders whether or not now would be the time to ask if she wouldn't like pissing in his face later. Honest, right there, page 118. The critics adore you Geoff Dyer, the critics adore you but you're no Nicholson Baker.