Neil Strauss – ‘The Truth’ [Book Review]
As the song from Team America tells us, freedom isn’t free.
Pause for a second, and think about what the word “freedom” means to you. Do you associate it with money? Power? Fame? Travel? Sex? Love?
On the surface, The Truth is about the latter two terms on that list, combined under the umbrella label “relationship”. After all, its subtitle is An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships – and its author, Neil Strauss, also infamously penned The Game, a testosterone- and male-insecurity-fuelled tome primarily concerned with…shall we say…relations.
Plenty of readers will pick this book up expecting balls-to-the-wall debauchery involving more body parts than just balls. They will also find more than enough to satisfy – a literary orgy of orgies, a smorgasbord of explicit experiences recounted in graphic detail. The S-word is a core theme, as is the L-word.
But so is the T-word.
Trauma.
When you first dive into The Truth, tumescent with anticipation, smut-radar set to Hypersensitive, I recommend you resist the temptation to hit fast-forward. Digital culture has programmed us all to value instant gratification over deep focus – and at its wounded core, The Truth is about resisting, defying, and unlearning the psychological programming we may not know is even there, buried in our subconscious minds.
You owe it to yourself to slow down. Freedom isn’t free; time is what it costs. Rush, and you’ll miss words that could change your life.
Although I could only get through books faster if I were stuck on a desert island with dysentery and an Amazon delivery box, I’ve never had one keep me awake at night. Not “…up allll night, wink wink, giggity giggity,” more like “…fuck me, my brain won’t even let me sleep until it’s over.” This is that kind of book – soul-baring, harrowing, awkward, puncutated with joyful hilarity, and utterly unputdownable.
Neil Strauss has never been one for holding back – but with The Truth, he has unpacked himself completely, piece by vulnerable piece, and laid each part out in full public view, never to be taken back or hidden under wraps again. For some – fuck it, most – people, The Truth is going to be tough reading. But it is also essential reading.
Why? Run through the list of songs in your music collection, and you’ll probably find at least a few favourites offering a glimpse of the dark side, the side so speedily stigmatised by a culture that should know better.
The songs that hit you hardest.
Where did they come from?
Why do they affect you so deeply?
Only you can answer those questions for yourself. Trauma – the six-letter T-word – may not crop up often in everyday conversation, and even thinking about it is not fun, to say the least. But sex and drugs and soundwave-enabled catharsis are merely surface-skimming symptoms here; trauma is the glue that binds The Truth, humanity, and our favourite invisible artform together.
I can say no more without ruining the journey – except this:
Read The Truth.
It might set you free.
TMMP RATING: 100%. Seriously.
Links
The Truth is out now; head to Neil Strauss’s official website for more info.
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