The Happy Hooker: My Own Story

4 out of 5

By Debee Norling on Jul 17, 2010

In the mid-seventies, when I was new to middle school, we spent a hot boring summer at our Grandmothers. When mom and Grandma went on one of their interminable shopping trips we begged to stay at home with our dad, because unbeknownst to them, he'd pull out his tattered copy of the first edition of this book and read us a few more chapters on Grandma's breezy front porch. Instead of telling us directly about the birds and the bees, Dad patiently read us chapter after chapter, stopping to explain and even elucidate with examples from his own navy days. It was a safe and comforting way to lose my virginity, mentally at least, curled up next to my dad with my little sister, raptly learning about boys, men and sex for hire. We were sworn to secrecy because in those days, the book was considered porn in polite circles, but Ms. Hollander's writing is educated, fascinating and insightful. There's nothing particularly shocking or titillating about this memoir, simply a high-class working girl and businesswoman's explanation of a life that most citizens know very little about. A few years later, when I got down to actually experimenting with boys, this book showed me how to please them and made me feel confident saying no when there were boys I had no interest in.