Stefan Plesoianu

I was given a copy of this book by the author to read and review.

And to him, I have to say I'm very sorry, because this is going to be a harsh review.

Maybe this just wasn't the book for me, but I feel it was problematic in a lot of ways, and I think it's important that other people know that.

The term "gypsy" is used repeatedly. I understand "it's a product of the time and place", but explaining that you and your friends used to say it but now know it's an offensive term, and using the proper one would be a much better way to handle it. Unless, of course, you still use the term, and if so, please stop.

A lot of the terminology used in the book is pretentious. I'm sure it's a stylistic choice, but it's alienating to your readers. If I, as a fairly intelligent human, have to look up words you use because I have literally never heard of them (and they are in English), then I am going to feel alienated. If I am having this much issue with word choices, I can't imagine what the other average or even below average reader would be dealing with.

I have literally never read an author so proud of jerking off (while claiming to be tired of it and/or that they felt disgusted by it). You realize that's a very normal teenage boy thing to do, I hope. I have brothers. Doing it twice in a day isn't even extreme. Even twice in a row wouldn't be extreme. This doesn't make you a weirdo.

Your friend so wondered how a fat man had sex that it became the topic of a chapter. I have no idea why that warranted an entire chapter, but... okay.

Sex worker, not hooker. Also, vaginas are elastic, thus having an active sex life, even with multiple partners, even for a number of years, would not make her so loose you wouldn't feel anything. Also, labia can look many different ways, and most women have one that's larger than the other. This has NOTHING to do with her sex work, it is just how her body is made. Your issues with your penis during the encounter were 100% on you.

How charming is the conversation in which the sex worker called homosexuals "faggots"? That totally needed to be included. You've already made it clear you think gay people don't exist in Turda, (though you did acknowledge "at least not openly"), which leads me to believe that you are way more naive than your virgin status at 20 years old said.

Here's the thing. When the book is just telling stories about your friends, and not filling those stories up with racist, sexist, homophobic, or violent things? The book is fine. A 2.4-2.8 on the five-star scale. Nothing outstanding, but nothing terrible. It's just that there are so many times that things are said that are, frankly, not okay. More than just "the author is a product of his time/the place he grew up". That has some merit, of course, but the thing is, this book is opened to a much wider audience than the small town of Turda, Romania. In the outside world, it's not okay to toss slurs out every time you speak. It's revolting to anyone who pays attention to how they speak to/about others, and I absolutely do not condone it.

Does the second half of the book make up for the first half? I don't think it does. It's much calmer, and less filled with hate-speech, which is it's real positive, but beyond that, the stories are like reading someone's diary with some extra explanations thrown in. And not even a "weirdo"'s diary. Just a normal guy, obsessed with drugs and drinking and girls and hanging out with his friends.… (plus d'informations)