Belle de Jour “Secret Diary of a Call Girl”

Text and photo: Bed Assistant

Russian version

The first thing you should know is this book is about a prostitute. And this is not a curse, but an occupation.

With such a free retelling of the first lines, I would like to recommend reading the book by Belle de Jour “Secret Diary of a Call Girl”.

If the fame of the series of the same name has spared you (meaning the British TV series “Secret Diary of a London Call Girl” – ed.), If you have never come across “the most discussed book in Europe over the past 10 years” in a bookstore, then be aware that you missed at least an exciting reading, and at most – a kind of handbook of feminism.

Yes, because Belle does her business not because of a tragic childhood or need, she is a prostitute by vocation, by her own will. She is expensive and can do a lot, she is smart, educated, she has a silver tongue and her sense of humor will make you take a few phrases in your quote book. She is also real, not fictional. The book (as well as the series of the same name later) was written on the blog of an employee of the prestigious University of Bristol, MD Brooke Magnanti, who, taking the pseudonym Belle De Jour, frankly talked about her work and clients' preferences on the pages of an Internet diary.

Personally, I have re-read the book four times, and my opinion remains unchanged – every woman should read it, because in such an intricate way as, for example, allowing a man to hit himself (wait to swear – just read the book!), Belle demonstrates that she is not afraid of her desires. She wanted to experience these sensations, and she experienced them, no matter how it looked from the outside. And this is not much different from the desire, for example, to learn how to shoot a gun, even if someone considers it not a woman's business.

And when a series of love problems piles on, she teaches the reader not to forget what is most important in life.

Quotes from the book

“Love is a solution. YOU have to open the door before anyone can enter”.

“I don’t give people enough second chances. As soon as another person's interest in me wanders a little, the same thing happens to my own feelings. ("Oh! Hello, a free interpretation of the" prayer of the gestaltist” – the basic tenets of gestalt psychology).

And the book also has a lot of self-irony, funny jokes, really exciting descriptions, and in some chapters, it becomes clear why Belle has such an unconditional acceptance of her body (quote): “She (exposing her own vast bust for everyone to see): look too Busty Impossible! Do you want to be like a teenager?”

By the way, if you have already watched the series of the same name with Billie Piper in the title role, I still recommend that you read the book. If only because the types of film and book heroines (as well as the general mood) do not coincide at all.

I read the book four times and will definitely reread it again, as a remedy for blues or a decrease in sexual energy.