Madam on the Menu Reviews!
Prostitution memoirs tend to be either collections of random anecdotes, or bundled accounts of customers serviced, ultimately as arousing as a MacDonald's daily tally of burgers served. "Madame on the Menu" is a more ambitious work, offering insight into the mechanics of managing a legal brothel and portraying sex workers as individuals rather than stereotypes. Unique to the industry, Bandolik was a "working" manager personally available to customers with cash. Graphic but never gratuitously prurient, she frankly discusses how polyandry for profit affected her life and her marriage.
Bandolik's boss Dennis Hof owned multiple Nevada brothels. Charismatic multimillionaire, burgeoning politician, and self-styled 'pimpmaster general,' Hof changed the face of legal sex in Nevada, and was a powerful influence on Bandolik's experience. Her account of their relationship and her exploration of his complex personality may be the only objective study to date of a man vilified by many yet elected to the Nevada State Assembly three weeks after his demise.
Readers may or may not agree with Bandolik's personal choices, but they will not be bored. "Madame on the Menu" offers a detailed insight into a controversial industry, and an intelligent discussion of one woman's experiences. - Jay Gatsby
Sonja Bandolik has masterfully penned an excellent short novel on the life of a Madam of brothels in "Madam on the Menu". Her tale takes you on her journey as a key player in the legal sex profession business in Nevada and her stories with the players involved, from the main Pimp (Dennis Hoff), to the working gals, and the Johns they service. The book surprised me with its fun reading style, making it hard to put down. I recommend it to all who are curious, maybe have thought about visiting a brothel, or are just short-circuiting over the thought of such a thing! Hey! Put that in your pipe and smoke it! Nah, give it a read! Even if you think it's of the Devil, you might learn a little about something you're condemning out of secondhand talk. Thank you, Sonja, for the great work! Now, I must read the others. Chris Rohe
Having read Sonja‘s second book, Sex Warrior, I was very eager to read its sequel, Madame on the Menu.
One would expect a book with this type of name and such a provocative cover to be little more than a journey down Smut Lane. Titillation is not her goal, but rather sharing a journey filled with interesting and complex individuals. Sex isn’t the point, the people are. Sonja doesn’t shy away from the truth about the industry nor the challenges she and her husband face in navigating it. She dives right in, completely comfortable, expressing her naïveté and shortcomings, and the effect their learning curve has on both she and her hubby. I can’t think of another book that offers such a raw uncandy-coated view of an industry very few understand - one burdened with moral and social complexities - without spiraling into wanton debauchery.
Madame on the Menu is not just about Sonja and her husband, but about the people behind the industry. She does a wonderful job of painting an honest portrait of the wide variety of individuals who work in the brothel industry, going beyond the clichés and fleshing them out as real people.
As much as I enjoyed Sex Warrior, her second book, I thought her writing in this, her third autobiographical tome, was even more fluid and unrushed. She writes with a confidence and grace that paints beautiful pictures without ignoring some of the ugliness she experienced.
However, it’s Sonja herself that makes this book such an enjoyable read. She has a wonderful sense of humor, a large, kind heart, but also doesn’t take any bull feces. Most of the time she’s in charge, navigating with the confidence that even if she doesn’t know where she’s going she and her husband will figure it out. But when she’s lost and bewildered, she owns it and beautifully expresses the humor or heartbreak in the moment.
This is a book about real people in a misunderstood industry and how Sonja and her husband navigated it while learning and growing as individuals and a couple. These are real people and it’s obvious Sonja cares for them each and every one including those who are the least pleasant.
Lots of drama and fun. I recommend it wholeheartedly. William Skelton