"...a genuine talent... he writes with elegance and precision about the existential pangs of his frazzled generation, as well as the perverse pleasures of sexual embarassment. At its finest, his work is an antidote to the swaggering misogyny of the genre that has been dubbed "fratire" and a welcome respite from the tales of abuse (drugs, alcohol, parental) dominating the memoir section."
"...in this consistently hilarious exploration of the life of an accidental sexpert, Stoddard combines adventures from his dot-com days with a portrait of the artist as a young virgin, growing up luckless and loveless in London. Stoddard would probably balk at the suggestion that he has a "typically English" sense of humor, but whatever he'd choose to call it, his self-deprecating style and wonderful appreciation of the absurd serves him well, whether he's describing his highly unusual university flatmate (an octogenarian named Mrs. Montague) or a more recent stint as a terrified extra in a pornographic movie...a smart and appealing book."
"...although Stoddard's adventures are graphically described, they are also relayed with self-deprecating wit, a surprising sweetness, and an unceasing sense of amazement at his own unlikely career path... What is, perhaps, most amusing about Stoddard's unusual memoir is the squeamishness with which he approaches his raunchy escapades."
"...after a raucous flash-forward detailing in graphic terms his experience having sex with himself (it involves plaster of Paris, a mold and a willing female friend with a harness) at a California ranch, Stoddard's memoir winds back to his modest roots in the benighted borough of Thurrock, Essex, one [and the] years at Thames Valley University are cringingly hilarious... Stoddard's descriptions of his increasingly edgy sex misadventures (bondage summer camp, public orgies, working out a closet full of kinks with an apparently endless stream of ready-and-willing New York girls) are enjoyable for their geek-out-of-geekdom charm."
Advance praise for Working Stiff
"Funny, exuberant, outrageous, and tender -- WORKING STIFF is an erotic and comedic page-turner. It's a bildungsroman-orgy of a memoir, a sort of sexual rags-to-riches story that will delight and fascinate its happy readers."
- , author of WAKE UP, SIR!
- , author of WAKE UP, SIR!
"Stoddard's prose manages to be clever, poignant, x-rated, and hilarious -- often in the same sentence. I blushed through the whole book, but couldn't put it down."
- , author of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
- , author of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
"Grant Stoddard's debut is a sex memoir with heart: an inspirational true story of how to "make it" in New York, in every sense of the word. WORKING STIFF is an American (wet) dream come true."
- , author of THE WASHINGTONIENNE
- , author of THE WASHINGTONIENNE
"Who knew that the recipe of self deprecation combined with a rapier sense of wit could make someone the sexiest person in all New York? Kleenex has many uses, and Working Stiff caused me to employ all of them. Naked (both figuratively and literally), Stoddard takes on the city with poignancy and hilarity...and triumphs."
- , author of I AM NOT MYSELF THESE DAYS
- , author of I AM NOT MYSELF THESE DAYS
"Peek under the dirty sheets of Stoddard's hilarious debut, and you'll find a brave, moving, and, yes, seductive story of a young man's struggle to find his way in a strange city, a foreign country, an unforgettable age."
-- , author of SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME
-- , author of SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME