Sex Tourist in Rio

[Lucky]

It's about straight women, but we can imagine it being about men, can't we?

SEVEN DAYS IN RIO

By Francis Levy

Two Dollar Radio, paper, $16.

Levy’s first novel, “Erotomania: A Romance” (2008), drew critical comparisons to Charles Bukowski, Henry Miller and D. H. Lawrence, with one critic praising his attention to “the mechanics and energy and animal filth of rumpy-­pumpy, bringing to his sex scenes all the humor they need.” These traits are on full display in his second novel, a ribald chronicle of the 60-­something Manhattan accountant Kenny Cantor, who’s come to Rio de Janeiro as a sex tourist. Cantor is obsessed with rumpy-­pumpy, yes; but he has exacting standards. When a buxom, beautiful concierge throws herself at him, Cantor is disgusted. “The thought that she wasn’t a prostitute and that I didn’t have to pay for sex was so repugnant to me that I lost all interest in her.” Cantor appears to be a lifelong bachelor without friends or attachments. He traces his preoccupation with prostitutes (or “Tiffanys,” as he calls them) to the wanton ways of his mother, “whose vagina was visible to me through the diaphanous nightgowns she insisted on wearing around the house.” This fever dream of a novel traces Cantor’s “desire to find the perfect whore to settle down with,” a rather insatiable goal.

[TampaYankee]

Nothing in that description makes this work appeal to me-- from the disgust at being offered free candy to the description of his mother's lounging wear. I already have enough baggage to live with, I don't need to experience him wallowing in his. Count me as a NO.

[BigK]

Nothing in that description makes this work appeal to me-- from the disgust at being offered free candy to the description of his mother's lounging wear. I already have enough baggage to live with, I don't need to experience him wallowing in his. Count me as a NO.

I agree...couldn't be less interested.

[Lucky]

I thought it was funny that the guy did not want what he could have for free. Isn't that the case with a lot of us?

[Lucky]

Yikes! I see that ten of the threads on the first page of the Hooboy Pub were started by me. I don't like that, as I want others to start threads that thrive.

So no new threads by me until my first page count goes down!

[lookin]

Good gosh!

With your gift for launching threads that are at once salacious, thought-provoking, and all-round entertaining, it would be a shanda to unplug your keyboard for fear of a little exposure.

Imagine if William Shakespeare had decided to sheath his pen, or Pablo Picasso to return his brush to the linseed oil, or Pablo Casals to de-rosin his bow, or Ralph Woods to zip up his . . . Well, you get my drift.

Some folks were just meant to light the way for the rest of us and I trust you will continue to bear your burden with customary grace and good humor.

[Lucky]

Do I get ten minutes alone with Ralph?

Thanks for the nice comments.