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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've been a fan of Chester Brown's for many years now and have always enjoyed what he's put out, whether it's childhood memoir (I Never Liked You, The Playboy) or historical narrative (Louis Riel), he always produces work that's both highly readable and unlike any other graphic novel out there. He is a true original.
So when I looked him up thinking that it's been a few years since Louis Riel, I was pleasantly surprised that he had another book completed, Paying For It, but even more surprised that he'd gone back to memoir and that it turns out it's about his personal history with prostitutes.
And that's part of why this book is so interesting - it makes you learn something about yourself even if, like me, you're a grown up and think you have a fixed world view. A comics artist I respect not only going with hookers but also proud of it? And then I thought why is that a bad thing? It's probably because part of our culture often shames those people who are famous and having affairs but oftentimes those people are married already - Chester Brown isn't.
As I read the book I realised there is another side to prostitution. It's not all street walkers and junkies, there's a civilised way of hiring a prostitute. Chester Brown shows this as well as the humanity of all the prostitutes he's been with, challenging the reader's (certainly mine) view that all prostitutes have sad lives and that people who hire them are sad themselves. Brown certainly isn't a damaged person with issues and self-hatred and neither are the prostitutes in the book. And why is it anybody's business besides theirs? If a man wants to pay a woman to have sex with him, who is anyone to say that it's wrong?
The book makes the case for legalised prostitution as well as another side to this complex and intriguing person that is Chester Brown. The artwork is wonderful as always and the book, despite having an agenda, is always entertaining and never overburdens the reader with the impression that the author is standing on a soapbox, droning on. But if you want to read more on the subject Brown has included a number of appendices at the back of the book that develops a number of arguments presented in the graphic novel.
Once again I've picked up a Chester Brown book and once again I set it down, completed, a better person having read it. If this is your first time experiencing this artist then my only question is - what took you so long? My next words would be - good choice. "Paying for It" is a fantastic and vital book which hopefully influences peoples' opinions in a positive way all the while never forgetting why people pick up books to start with - for a good read.
So when I looked him up thinking that it's been a few years since Louis Riel, I was pleasantly surprised that he had another book completed, Paying For It, but even more surprised that he'd gone back to memoir and that it turns out it's about his personal history with prostitutes.
And that's part of why this book is so interesting - it makes you learn something about yourself even if, like me, you're a grown up and think you have a fixed world view. A comics artist I respect not only going with hookers but also proud of it? And then I thought why is that a bad thing? It's probably because part of our culture often shames those people who are famous and having affairs but oftentimes those people are married already - Chester Brown isn't.
As I read the book I realised there is another side to prostitution. It's not all street walkers and junkies, there's a civilised way of hiring a prostitute. Chester Brown shows this as well as the humanity of all the prostitutes he's been with, challenging the reader's (certainly mine) view that all prostitutes have sad lives and that people who hire them are sad themselves. Brown certainly isn't a damaged person with issues and self-hatred and neither are the prostitutes in the book. And why is it anybody's business besides theirs? If a man wants to pay a woman to have sex with him, who is anyone to say that it's wrong?
The book makes the case for legalised prostitution as well as another side to this complex and intriguing person that is Chester Brown. The artwork is wonderful as always and the book, despite having an agenda, is always entertaining and never overburdens the reader with the impression that the author is standing on a soapbox, droning on. But if you want to read more on the subject Brown has included a number of appendices at the back of the book that develops a number of arguments presented in the graphic novel.
Once again I've picked up a Chester Brown book and once again I set it down, completed, a better person having read it. If this is your first time experiencing this artist then my only question is - what took you so long? My next words would be - good choice. "Paying for It" is a fantastic and vital book which hopefully influences peoples' opinions in a positive way all the while never forgetting why people pick up books to start with - for a good read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Prior to reading this, I wasn't familiar with Chet Brown's work. I read one of his comics about 16 years ago, which I probably wasn't mature enough to appreciate. The author was going through a phase of only having 2 small panels per page because he felt normal comic strips seemed 'too cluttered'. As such, I felt he was a little 'too arty' for me. But that is certainly no the case here - Paying For It is a pretension-free & exceptionally honest account of the authors' real-life experience of hiring prostitutes.
His journey begins when his Jerry Springer-esque relationship with his girlfriend leads him to question the socially-accepted ideal of romantic love. I was about to say he became 'jaded' or 'cynical' but I'm not sure the intrinsic value-judgments these words imply are applicable here, since he thinks his decision through in rather a clinical fashion. He decides he doesn't agree with romantic relationships & concludes that the best solution for reconciling his needs with his opinions is to simply pay for sex.
This graphic novel recounts these dalliances, as well as conversations in which he justifies himself to his friends. The 50-page afterword primarily consists of arguments in favour of legalisation of the oldest profession. In this sense, Paying For It is rather one-sided - his friends & the girls are given a voice but aside from Seth's response to his portrayal in the afterword, their words are ultimately filtered through Chet.
What fascinates me about this work is not only its ability to make the reader challenge their preconceptions but also that so much is ambiguous & down to opinion that everyone will take something different from it. While Chet tries to teach us about the reality behind our assumptions & the perceived sleaze, I felt we ultimately - probably unintentionally - learn more about Chet than we do about anything else.
Yet it's ironically because of Chet's honesty that this strip is not entirely open. For instance, we learn very little about a girl who becomes particularly significant to him because when he tells her he's working on this book, she responds by saying that she doesn't want to be a major part of it. Chet himself admits it's a pity because he is unable to demonstrate just how intimate his relationships with the girls became but it's admirable that he is respectful of their wishes to the extent that he allows it to slightly impede his work.
And what a compelling work it is - shockingly honest & in places, frustratingly enigmatic; thus a lot like a lover itself. It's also of sociological importance since while many books like the infamous Secret Diary of a Call Girl have been written by the girls themselves, I'm not aware of any others which have been written by the 'johns'.
It's the sort of book you want to lend to friends so you can discuss it with them, as I imagine everyone will take away something very different. After all, I was left with the opposite impression from the one which the author intended - that of a (surprisingly) superficially affectionate but intrinsically hollow, 'quick-fix' industry which, in Seth's words, "just seems sad to me."
His journey begins when his Jerry Springer-esque relationship with his girlfriend leads him to question the socially-accepted ideal of romantic love. I was about to say he became 'jaded' or 'cynical' but I'm not sure the intrinsic value-judgments these words imply are applicable here, since he thinks his decision through in rather a clinical fashion. He decides he doesn't agree with romantic relationships & concludes that the best solution for reconciling his needs with his opinions is to simply pay for sex.
This graphic novel recounts these dalliances, as well as conversations in which he justifies himself to his friends. The 50-page afterword primarily consists of arguments in favour of legalisation of the oldest profession. In this sense, Paying For It is rather one-sided - his friends & the girls are given a voice but aside from Seth's response to his portrayal in the afterword, their words are ultimately filtered through Chet.
What fascinates me about this work is not only its ability to make the reader challenge their preconceptions but also that so much is ambiguous & down to opinion that everyone will take something different from it. While Chet tries to teach us about the reality behind our assumptions & the perceived sleaze, I felt we ultimately - probably unintentionally - learn more about Chet than we do about anything else.
Yet it's ironically because of Chet's honesty that this strip is not entirely open. For instance, we learn very little about a girl who becomes particularly significant to him because when he tells her he's working on this book, she responds by saying that she doesn't want to be a major part of it. Chet himself admits it's a pity because he is unable to demonstrate just how intimate his relationships with the girls became but it's admirable that he is respectful of their wishes to the extent that he allows it to slightly impede his work.
And what a compelling work it is - shockingly honest & in places, frustratingly enigmatic; thus a lot like a lover itself. It's also of sociological importance since while many books like the infamous Secret Diary of a Call Girl have been written by the girls themselves, I'm not aware of any others which have been written by the 'johns'.
It's the sort of book you want to lend to friends so you can discuss it with them, as I imagine everyone will take away something very different. After all, I was left with the opposite impression from the one which the author intended - that of a (surprisingly) superficially affectionate but intrinsically hollow, 'quick-fix' industry which, in Seth's words, "just seems sad to me."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This comicbook surprised me: in its uncomfortable way it brings up topics which not a lot of people deeply think about, since it's easier to discard them labeling them as "immoral" and/or "disgusting".
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Thought it would be better
It is brave of Chester Brown to put himself out there and tell us all about his, uh, 'hobby'; then again maybe not as all his liberal friends don't seem bothered. Read more
Published 6 months ago by katyn1940
Another triumph
Whilst using much the same writing and drawing style on all his works , Chester Brown has turned these tools to a wider variety of story types than most other creators , from... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Tony M.
A Wonderful Book
This is Chester Brown going back down a familiar route. After the historical Louis Riel - a Comic-Strip Biography, now he's moving back into the realm of Autobiography with his... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Colin Murtagh
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