Busy Being Born is unlike any book I have ever read. This book in unforgettable
I have just put down this extraordinary book and feel compelled to join a couple book forums to write a review. Busy Being Born is unlike any book I have ever read. Laugh-out-loud funny, filthy, tender, compassionate and insightful, the writing has clarity and beauty. Expect to be taken by the scruff of your neck and dragged far from your comfort zone in this no-holds barred romp through the underbelly of human desire by an author who I can only describe as Dickens on Drugs. Not for the fainthearted, this book is unforgettable
Whatever your opinion about this book might be, you cannot be indifferent about it. The book takes you through the entire spectrum of what human life has to offer and confronts you with beauty and the beast, both inhabitants of your own self.
Whatever your opinion about this book might be, you cannot be indifferent about it. The book takes you through the entire spectrum of what human life has to offer and confronts you with beauty and the beast, both inhabitants of your own self. You learn essential lessons. You find necessary truths. The reality of life is not to be found in the veneer and glossy paint. It is not represented by the shiny gift box society likes to offer it in. The content of life is finding the balance in manoeuvring that inner power between destruction and creation. It is rough. It is hard. But so rewarding when one turns inwardly, working that power, keeping it away from excesses. You will not regret it as you will not regret reading a book that confronts you with that truth, with life.
Absolutely loved Busy Being Born.... Philosophy, erotica, comedy all woven tightly together creating something that is hard to put down.
This book is not for the prudish or feint hearted. It makes 50 Shades of Grey look like a kindergarten novel. But its so much more than just sex. Busy Being Born is an extremely insightful commentary on the human race, from our deep desires and excesses to the really scary stuff...love!
Complex, intelligent but very easy to read. Highly recommend!
Engaging and intelligent, this is a book that truly takes you on a journey into the heady past of London in the 80s. Makes you think too. Enjoy.
Reading this book is like settling down in a cozy room with a glass of good wine in the company of an erudite and intelligent story teller who draws you into the tales of a wide variety of characters and their individual stories who are drawn so well that you feel you know them. It combines the Memoir of a Call Boy with a snapshot of London life in the 80s, and philosophy worth of Simone de Beauvoir. Life should be lived and savoured and Seidler shares a life well lived with deep insights into humanity, what drives us, and why we do what we do.
Erotic fiction has always been popular from Jilly Cooper’s tales of steamy bonking to the toys of 50 Shades but this is different in that it is sex that has been lived. It also evidences that woman want sex despite the societal norms that they don’t which provides the backbone of this entertaining book. Everyone is familiar with men wanting and paying for sex but here the eye-opener of the flipside of the coin of woman wanting and paying for sex is explored and explained from first hand experience.
Some of the stories bought a tear to my eye such as the husband whose genitals were so damaged that he could not be a lover to his wife but his love was such that he wanted to provide her with sexual comfort and that Seidler provided. Quite poignant and told with compassion so you can really understand the dynamics at play of a doting husband arranging what he thinks his wife needs and the wife going along because she knows that is what he thinks she needs. Now that’s true love and brought a lump to my throat as well as a tear.
The sex is treated with respect because Seidler clearly treats the people with whom he interacts with respect. It’s a raunchy, funny, sometimes pornographic, read that never crosses the line into distasteful. It follows a timeline but with many asides into anecdotes from being a carpenter for the famous to socio-economic observations that create a well-crafted narrative that is highly entertaining and made me laugh out loud in places as well as stop and think at the social commentary. Much like a gourmet, multi-course meal that is always a steady flow of something novel and intriguing to engage the brain with new ideas. I particularly like the fact the author assumes that the reader will get passing references without having to explain them.
This is not a bonkathon but an intelligent, well written book for intelligent readers. Settle down with that glass of wine and let Seidler entertain you.