Still Life With Brass Pole: Craig Machen

Good Reads Summary:

Craig is 16 when he returns from a drug-fueled visit with his gay dad in Miami to find his mom leaving town with her 23 year-old boyfriend. In the same moment, his dreams of settling down with his pregnant girlfriend are dashed when she is moved off to Texas by her parents. Left alone in small town Oklahoma, he embarks on a deranged, cross-country quest for a family of his own.

STILL LIFE WITH BRASS POLE is Craig Machen’s funny, debauched and heartfelt memoir about young love and coming of age in the titillation business. And how a roaring White Knight Complex, an eccentric comedy club owner, and a trio of unpredictable striptease artists conspire to help him achieve his aims.

The reader will love the writing style of the author, it truly feels like he is telling the reader about events in his life.  The reader will literally bite his/her nails in anticipation...and then later in anguish...and smile at the author's personality.  The reader will be immediately drawn into the novel.  The author describes his adoptive parents and how one abuses him, then takes the reader on a wilder ride through his time of sex, drugs, and steroids.  His forays into strip clubs leads to him being hired as a bouncer.  Arnold Schwarzenegger is his main focus in regards to body-building, something the author is unabashedly single-minded about.  He shares how he seems to be a "sex-fiend" at times, telling the reader without any qualms.  Machen is a very likable character; funny, truthful, and unashamed.  He reveals his desire to "walk in the light", get married and have children, and improve himself-all admirable desires.  The reader will be enamored of Machen, the pages will fly quickly.  This novel is great for adults and even young adults.