Rating: 
Summary: the stigma of Asian Women
Review: I was working in an escort service in Manhatten up until a monthe ago. I picked this book because I expected to find somehow positive effects such as sharing the facts only people who have been there and done can know and tell. The answer was simply NO. This is the worst kind of book if you are looking for something REAL. As an Asian woman myself, being a prostitute felt somewhat falling into a path of what people expect you to become of. I can't be so hypocritical and/or snobbish, if not naive for Quan's case, as her to ignore or deny the fact there is a stigma attached to Asian women in the US society that we are only good for pleasing men and that is the only way for us to survive, so we do not defy nor challenge. Apparently we are underprevilaged in terms of job opportunity as well. The biggest trouble of Quan is that she is not enough aware of the connotation of where she was situated politically and socially, even though she believes that she is abstracting the social order on purpose. How does this book explain that she chose this proffession over others? Wasn't she challenged enough and merely justifying her easy solution? Why does she have to spend so many pages on how powerful she is because of those powerful Johns and her boyfriend? If it was not the fundamental insecurity caused by the racism, what was it? That is the question she left unanswered. She once dismmissed the racial politics issue and her resposibility saying
a)her origin was West Indies, Trinidad instead of China
b)she has got the right to exercise to be a hooker reagerdless of her racial orientation
Those comments are all excuses she made to deny and ignore the racial/sexual politics perpetuated against Asian women. See the ads on free papers in NYC. They are filled with Asian women and Quan/Chan is just one of them no matter she tries to glorify and promote the idea "I am an exceptional gorgeous glamour with no ethnic hang-ups". No, you are not any exceptional. You are only a hooker whom people buy just like a ethnic food delivery. Considering she is promoting the idea of glory of prostitution, this books cannot be any more irresposible and offensive.
Rating:
Summary: A waste of time
Review: I've got no problem with women selling their bodies for a living, and I normally enjoy reading about the exploits of sex workers. But working as a whore doesn't automatically grant a writer any special insights on the human condition. There's no irony, no cultural context, and no story. The narrator's galling lack of self-awareness makes this book nothing more than a smugly-written laundry list of trendy places and products. The writing is neither funny, smart nor sexy; it's not even fluffy enough to qualify as "hooker chic" -- or whatever it was trying so desperately to be. I was so embarrassed to own this turkey of a book that I actually returned it to the store. For the author's sake, I hope she's better in bed than she is on the page.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny and sparkling!
Review: I've read several of the other reviews that people have posted on this site and I think they all reflect the dreadful conservativeness of Americans! (Nipplegate? It would have made scarcely a ripple here in Canada!) The book was about prostitution and that can be considered immoral, sure, but it can also be read on many other levels, despite its seeming frivolity. I was able to relate to it as a discourse about the tensions of being in a serious relationship - wanting to maintain independence and a sense of ones own identity and yet yearning for intimacy with another person. And also the part about having something to hide in an intimate relationship - haven't we all done that? How much do you reveal about the dark parts of your past? (and we all have dark bits in our past, unless one is totally boring!) It is a struggle, especially for women... The sociological analyses of the sex trade, as discussed in the sex worker's union talks, were very interesting as well, especially the part about who has the right to speak for sex workers - other sex workers? feminists? the religious right? only themselves? But more than any of these things, I loved the fresh, witty and sparkling way that Quan writes. This book was a fun read ' a woman unapologetically living her life the way she wants to ' what could be more radical and more refreshing? And I think that anybody who doesn't think agree is, dare I say it, just a little bit anal! ha ha ha ha ha!
Rating: 
Summary: This book is worth MORE than a look! This is a must read!
Review: In her first novel, Tracy Quan, a former call girl in one of the most glamourized cities in the world, gives us the insider's view of her oft-glamourized, often derided former profession--the world's oldest. The characters seemed like SUCH real people to me. Even the relatively boring and seemingly hum-drum johns and working girls were fun and interesting to read about. Tracy has a gift for bringing out the most fun and interesting parts of the lives and personalities of everyday people. I felt like the ultimate voyeur..into a world of kink, fun, power, high-finance, and...practical lingerie. I felt like I got to know the author personally...and ...felt like I got a bit of the call-girl experience myself...though I'm nowhere near as beautiful as the author is in her publicity photo. In short...if you'd like to get a dangerous, yet safe glimpse at "the life"...this is the ONLY way to do it. Let Tracy Quan be your guide. You'll love every page..and, you'll be left breathless with anticipation for the next Nancy Chan book.
Rating:
Summary: Smart & Sassy - Chan is a new voice about an old profession
Review: Nancy Chan lunches with her friends. She shops. She visits her shrink. She works out. She worries about her fiance. She frets about money. She can't find a cab in the rain. She dreads going before a co-op board. She lives an utterly Manhattan existence except for the fact that she's a call girl. Tracy Quan has created a humorous novel that discusses the life and times of a modern call-girl in a matter-of-fact way. She talks about sex with clients in the same way she discusses working out. A kegel here, an ab crunch there. They're both just simple parts of her life. Nancy's clients are an interesting and accomplished and older bunch, and her fondness for them is apparent. They add depth and color to the novel. These are not "Johns" in the typical sense. As Nancy travels around town, she encounters a cast of characters we have not seen anywhere else. A call-girl who graduated from being a drug dealer. A call-girl who graduated from the Ivy League. Sex-worker activists. Sex-worker groupies. A fiance whose sister works for the District Attorney. A fiance who works on Wall Street. Nancy doesn't just play her life for laughs. We learn about her childhood in Canada and her youth in London, where she turned tricks in hotel bars. There were scary moments on the job, so she doesn't glorify her profession. But she demonstrates courage and perseveres, until we find her at the top of her game, able to efficiently address a client's needs without mussing her hair or making her late for dinner with the in-laws to be.
Rating:
Summary: I wouldn't even give this book 1 star
Review: Ok I started reading this book because I was really interested in what a life of a Call Girl could be. On this point, it was really interesting NOW about the other context, about the character's private life with her fiancee, it simply grossed me out. What kind of image of a working girl and women in general, is Miss Quan trying to portray ?? The character obviously has no real feelings for her fiancee, never once does she wonder about quitting her profession for her marriage to be, never once she poses herself any moral issues about lying to her partner in life and she actually cites many times that she does not wish to marry, actually doesn't really love that guy more than any others but at the end still gets married (to escape any legal issues)and we learn this while she's getting undressed for her John.
This simply isn't real life.
Rating:
Summary: the characters came alive for me
Review: Quan's character-driven story of a pricey call girl stewing over both important life decisions and day-to-day trivia was fascinating to me because she and I have both worked in the same profession but have had such very different experiences. Where my work has mainly been "small town," Quan has worked as an upscale, uptown, chic and elite call girl. Quan's writing has been eye-opening for me because she shows another way of approaching the work -- another life altogether. But this isn't just a book about escorting and escorts and it's appeal is much broader than self-referential reading for other sex workers. This is a book about life, choices, fears and successes that everyone has in one form or another. More than describing the life of a call girl, Quan is describing the life of a Manhattanite. Stand aside, Seinfeld; step back, Sex and the City -- Nancy Chan owns New York! The characters are absolutely fascinating; I devoured this book. I've got my fingers crossed for a sequel -- I want more!
Rating:
Summary: Ugh.
Review: Quan's glamorized narrative obscures her poisonous ideology of yuppie materialism and "I got mine" right-libertarianism. Her tale is interesting enough, but Quan and her characters are no more worthy of emulation than the money-grubbing corporate sharks she serviced on her way to the top. Enjoy "Diary" as escapist diversion, but please don't make the mistake of buying into the right-wing propoganda of its author.
Rating: 
Summary: Can you say "Borderline Personality Disorder?"
Review: That's about the only conclusion that I could come to after reading this work. There were a few problems, mainly with plausibility. For instance: How much of this is really true, knowing her penchant to bend reality? On more than one occasion, she described herself trying to decide which version of the truth to tell her boyfriend. I'm sure that she took a lot more artistic license with readers than she would have us believe. Are there really *so* many people who would pay *so* much for sex that she could make a living by being a call girl who only accepts referrals? Another: Did anyone get the feeling that she was a bit....... whiny? Bursting into tears in the psychiatrist's chair? Bursting into tears with her boyfriend over this or that? Lastly: I've been in the mental health game for a while and know that Quan was rather selective in revealing details of her relationship with her therapist. What was she diagnosed with? I happen to know that psychiatrists DON'T spend that much time listening to a patient muse about this and that problem/ dark desire. They want to find out what are the symptoms, medicate them, and then get you OUT of there. Most visits last about 15 minutes-- if that. Her mention of either any medication regimen or a diagnosis are conspicuously absent, given the level of detail that she included in other aspects. The writing itself was pretty decent. But the book didn't stand the test of plausibility. At least not from the perspective of a mental health patient. This view has been echoed on here by reviewers who have worked in the sex industry and found this piece a bit..... inconsistent.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointed ...
Review: The book started off good but I was disappointed at the abrupt ending. I'm sure being a call girl is not all fun. I was expecting to read about the good AND bad experiences with johns. The book was also fairy-talish to me.
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