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A review by harry_lemon
My Undoing: Love in the Thick of Sex, Drugs, Pornography, and Prostitution by Aiden Shaw
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
3⭐
This book was perfectly fine.
I firstly want to take a second and address the concept of the "narcissistic" book reviews. Though there are moments where the author comes across ego-driven, I do think that other reviewers need to realize the industry that this person works in. This is an individual who has gained notoriety for his physicality and sexuality. Aiden Shaw obviously works in entertainment, in many forms, where he survives off of being "likable" or attractive to audience members; this is his livelihood. Of course, that means he has to pay attention to his abilities and physical form, because that is how he sees himself and how he makes his career. Additionally, I think there is a great amount of vulnerability in this work, and I doubt if anyone of those reviewers would fell comfortable enough to talk about those private matters in such an honest way. Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones...
Ranting aside: reading this book, I definitely did not expect it to go the way that it did. This book did talk about love and the definition of it within the author's life at a certain point in time; however, I thought there might be more evolution throughout his stories. I'm not down-playing Shaw's life or any of his experiences, but I just felt like I was missing some "aha" moment. But, maybe that's the point...
I do think this could have benefited from another set of eyes, as I found a few parts of the book a bit monotonous. There is mention of a lot of drugs, a lot of concerts and gallivanting around the world, but by a certain point I was more curious about the main theme of the story - love - than what concert was happening where.
While I wouldn't say this was an absolutely "breathe-taking" novel, I commend Shaw for his vulnerability in this work; I can only imagine how difficult it must be to rake through so much of one's life to then put words to paper and explain the situation, as best they could. His style of writing had me interested and encouraged me to keep reading to better understand him, which I think is a good sign of a memoir. I've seen that there is a second memoir of his - "Sordid Truths" - and I do believe I'll be reading that sometime in the future.
Overall, I don't not recommend this book. I think that this is one of those memoirs where each individual can get something from it that is beneficial to them.
This book was perfectly fine.
I firstly want to take a second and address the concept of the "narcissistic" book reviews. Though there are moments where the author comes across ego-driven, I do think that other reviewers need to realize the industry that this person works in. This is an individual who has gained notoriety for his physicality and sexuality. Aiden Shaw obviously works in entertainment, in many forms, where he survives off of being "likable" or attractive to audience members; this is his livelihood. Of course, that means he has to pay attention to his abilities and physical form, because that is how he sees himself and how he makes his career. Additionally, I think there is a great amount of vulnerability in this work, and I doubt if anyone of those reviewers would fell comfortable enough to talk about those private matters in such an honest way. Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones...
Ranting aside: reading this book, I definitely did not expect it to go the way that it did. This book did talk about love and the definition of it within the author's life at a certain point in time; however, I thought there might be more evolution throughout his stories. I'm not down-playing Shaw's life or any of his experiences, but I just felt like I was missing some "aha" moment. But, maybe that's the point...
I do think this could have benefited from another set of eyes, as I found a few parts of the book a bit monotonous. There is mention of a lot of drugs, a lot of concerts and gallivanting around the world, but by a certain point I was more curious about the main theme of the story - love - than what concert was happening where.
While I wouldn't say this was an absolutely "breathe-taking" novel, I commend Shaw for his vulnerability in this work; I can only imagine how difficult it must be to rake through so much of one's life to then put words to paper and explain the situation, as best they could. His style of writing had me interested and encouraged me to keep reading to better understand him, which I think is a good sign of a memoir. I've seen that there is a second memoir of his - "Sordid Truths" - and I do believe I'll be reading that sometime in the future.
Overall, I don't not recommend this book. I think that this is one of those memoirs where each individual can get something from it that is beneficial to them.