Book Review by Patricia Vaccarino: Showing Out by Timothy Reed

Ms. Reed does a fine job of weaving the tale of working-girls who use their most flamboyant sexed-up wiles to make a living. Peeking into the flesh parlor, “Peeps Castle,” to watch the girls in action is a voyeuristic jaunt well worth the price of admission. Coming from bad homes and nasty families, the girls’ hearts were broken long ago. Stopping short of engaging in actual sex acts, they pantomime, prance and preen, shaking their booties to get men to part with their money. And they make lots of money, easy money. Plus, they get all gussied up, wearing expensive platform shoes, ass-grabbing skirts, silk blouses and glittery wigs. I loved all of these girls. While life is not kind to them, they never lose faith in each other or their humanity. Although the author’s life was short-circuited by chronic schizophrenia, ironically, a realistic depiction of schizophrenia is sketchy at best and too sadly understated in the narrative to be credible.