Thunder's Mouth (2003), $14.95
On concept alone Berkeley author Timothy Reed's first novel, Showing Out, seems like a winner. A story about a schizophrenic girl who works in the sex industry sounds, at the very least, like a trip to the dark side -- especially since the author's bio makes the tale out to be somewhat autobiographic. So it pains me to say that as far as sex books go, I coulda had a V8.
Showing Out does little to reflect its title, as the characters are bland and unlikable. Reed's approach seems to assume that these are people we're all likely to know, so she doesn't take much time exploring their backgrounds or giving the reader enough information to care. Tiffany, the lead character, was as much a mystery to me at the end of the book as she was at the beginning. Most disappointing was the plot, which was predictable. Reed's creatures lead the stereotypical lives that anyone would expect of someone in the sex industry -- such as the abused peep-show girl with the alcoholic boyfriend who beats her and takes her money -- and are more like caricatures than real people. A friend of mine guessed the plot without reading a page. It's a carbon copy of every other pedestrian book about living on the mean streets of New York.
The novel might have benefited from more time in development. It's as if no one bothered to ask Reed the point of her story, so the result feels as if it's told secondhand, like hearing gossip about someone you never met and not caring enough about the subject to get the particulars. Showing Out might have been a great book had the author spent less effort describing the graphic details of what happens to her characters and more developing personalities for them.
