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Just a disclaimer here: I recommended this book for book club and was thoroughly humiliated as a result. Now, I don't consider myself a prude by any stretch of the imagination, and am usually willing to stand by my recommendations. However. When it came time to lead the discussion group, I felt myself groping for questions. It seemed a little odd to open the session with, "What was your reaction when the author was working peep shows and would watch men jisming over the plate glass? Were you horrified? Gratified? Both?"

Obviously, this was my bad. I can't blame Cody for not having written a good book club book. (Actually, this probably goes in the "plus" column as far as its literary merit is concerned.) I don't know why I was shocked that a book about stripping would be so graphic, but there you have it. I'm an idiot.

That being said, I think Candy Girl suffers from Cody's stringent desire to defend her career choice. While I understand this impulse (I, myself, get a little tired of people painting EVERYONE who works in the sex industry as "perverted," "amoral," "disturbed," etc.), I still felt that Cody wasn't being honest about her motivations for working in an industry that is physically demanding, emotionally draining, and not even that financially rewarding. (I was shocked to learn how much the "house" takes from its strippers. These gals have got to unionize!)

After reading the book, I suspect Cody was testing the idea that the corporate workaday world is just as illegitimate and corrupt as the sex industry. The only difference is that the former pretends to be decent while treating people like crap, while the latter is honest about exploiting its workers and customers. This false distinction enrages me, too, and I'm totally with Cody on that score.

Still, I did wince at some of the stuff the author was expected to do. Somehow, I had an image of stripping that was akin to Gypsy Rose Lee coyly dancing behind a bubble, when in reality it involved laying spread-eagled on a stage while college guys sprayed your vagina with water pistols. An eye-opener, to say the least!

I guess I was wanting a little more vulnerability from the author. One of the few times I felt her letting down her guard was when she described being devastated when a group of women come into her peep show and openly mock her as she lays prone on a chaise longue. I guess the fact that there was a layer of glass between them made the ladies feel bold. Still, it was an awful moment and I really liked how Cody described how hurt she was as a result.

I also adored the fact that she would do karate kicks to heavy metal standards during her dance routines. She sounds like my kind of stripper!

I've heard Diablo talk about how she thought the job would cultivate a strong bond among she and her fellow strippers. Instead, the opposite was true. Everybody became ultra-competitive as a result of vying for dances. I wish she would have written a little more about that.

Anyway, I'm glad to see that her movie Juno has done so well. I suspect it's because she wasn't writing about herself. In creating fictional characters, she was able to drop the tough girl act and expose their vulnerability. And consequently, her own. Personally, that's the incarnation of Cody I most enjoy. I respectfully leave Cherish (her stripper ID), back at the pole.