One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed (Cento Colpi di Spazzola Prima di Andare a Dormire) by Melissa P. was originally published anonymously in 2003 and became a bestseller in Italy; the translated version in English by Lawrence Venuti was first published in 2004. This diary of a Sicilian teenager in search for love and experienced a series of promiscuous sexual adventures was assumed to be the work of an older writer, because of the sophistication and eroticism of its prose. And when an 18-year old Melissa Panarello came out of the shadows to reveal herself to the Catholic-filled Italy, everyone was in shock as well as the late Pope John Paul II.
For a beauty such as her, love may be hard to find, but sex awaits at every turn, and to this Melissa hardly ever says no. In this book spanning two years of her life from the age of fourteen to sixteen, the reader goes through her state of virginity to her introduction to self sex, oral sex, sex with older men, sex with women, sadomasochistic sex and group sex.
"He said he would do it with me only if nothing came of it, if there'd be nothing between us but sex."
The erotica in this book isn’t as titillating as what it promised to be, for the writer does not dwell on sexual descriptions. Or could it be that callowness in style was lost in the translation – for the genital euphemisms: “my fireplace”, “his lance”? For a girl as young as her who cannot possibly understand the depths of what she was doing is trite. I could sympathize in some moments when her nebulous sexual relations leave her feeling used and humiliated, but then again the thought that there are instances wherein she could have said no but didn’t; for sex to her is some kind of an addiction, even if she doesn’t admit to it. She was basically a teenage whore who got screwed but wasn’t paid – generally a convenient orifice, a fulfillment for men’s Lolita-fantasies, a dress-up doll to play with, or a dominatrix to obey.
"I search for excitement born from humiliation. I search for annihilation."
This is a touching tale of a girl who went inside the forest of uncertainty in search of something deep, defining love, but found ogres who debased her humanity and later discovered that the sensibility of it all is buried deep within her. I like the reckless confidence, isolated angst, pretentious convictions of the youth pictured in this book.
"I entered the bathroom, looked at myself in the mirror, and no longer saw the image of that girl who took such delight in examining herself..."
So if you like reading diaries and interested to get into the psyche of the modern teenage girl, pick this up and spend probably two or three hours of your time reading this on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Just a tidbit:
Melissa left the manuscript of this book carelessly one day and was discovered by her parents; they were in shock, of course, to learn of their daughter’s secret life from its pages. They didn’t even want it to be published, but Melissa told them that it was just a work of her imaginative mind, so they relented. They later on learned the truth when Melissa finally came out in the open and admitted that everything in the book happened to her. She said, "All of the experiences are mine. I experienced all of these things. In the book, I described it all in a more dramatic way, but I didn't make anything up."
Further comments by the author from interviews:
"I showed the hypocrisy of Italian society, things like adult men having sex with young girls, and the illusions of internet sex."
"I was always aware of what I was doing and this awareness gave these actions dignity. I did it in a dignified way because I was aware of what I was doing. It doesn't make any difference that I was just fifteen. You can have self-awareness at any age. A young girl of the age that I was doesn't usually go looking for adventures, but for real experiences. For me, it wasn't just having sex to pass the time, as older women do. I was searching for a true experience."
"It's very easy to hide things like this. Married women have affairs and they can hide it without a problem. I was also able to hide things."
"No one else knew anything. In the morning, I went to school like every other girl and in the evening I met men. Sometimes I would stay out until six in the morning and I had to be in school by seven thirty."
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