@drasnianfrankā said:
I remember reading that book and being like 'I would really like you to focus more on these really cool and complicated madams' and less about prostitution mythos.
RIGHT???Ā I think probably it would have been a better book if it was more focused on them.Ā Although also, I have to say, I do wish there was more discussion of her sources on them, because it sounds like they both had about seven different versions of their own lives and thereās a lot ofĀ āshe said THIS once, and she said this OTHER thing once, and this is what it really was, but actually there were rumors that [other more plausible thing] was true,ā but thereās not a ton of talk about why she said x one time and y another time, or why the author thinks something specific is true, given the wild unreliability of every available narrator.
Like, for example, the author was very clear on Actually Neither Of Them Ever Had Sex Even For Money, Because They Hated Men, and I mean... are we sure they never had sex for money? or... not for money? maybe they had sex but not with men???Ā I hear thatās very popular in some circles!Ā Itās certainly plausible that, having had only horrible experiences with men and not being interested in women, they opted out of sex entirely, but the authorās assertion about this fact without any kind of explanation as to the sources was kind of weird.Ā Itās an incredibly personal and private fact about people who have been dead for a long time, so Iām curious how the author knows it, but she doesnāt say.
Admittedly, Iām only like a third of the way into the book; maybe these questions are addressed!Ā Not the Did They Have Sex thing specifically, Iām not super hung up on that?Ā But this book is like, peak āI didnāt know that before, and I still donāt!ā