Graphic Book Best Sellers: A Treatise on Sex Workers

“Paying for It,” a memoir about prostitution by the cartoonist Chester Brown, lands at No. 2 on our hardcover list. The book, published by Drawn & Quarterly, has received a number of reviews: “Brown believes that prostitution is a logical and healthy choice for him, and the women he engages, to make,” reads the write-up on the Monkey See blog on npr.org. “His friends disagree, for a host of reasons. “Paying for It” is, at its cool, affectless heart, an argument for a deeply unpopular position, and as such it seems destined to become one of the most controversial memoirs of the year, graphic or otherwise.”

Dwight Garner, in his review in The New York Times, described “Paying for It” as “not a feel-good comic book.”
“It’s sober and intense,” he wrote, “as if written by a lonely and homely Lou Reed and meant to be read aloud beneath a single light bulb hung from the ceiling. But it delivers a series of moral and cerebral and horndog thwacks. It will stick in your mind and perhaps in your craw. It’s a real if squeamish-making work of art.”

Another view: “Brown’s real concerns lie beyond mere observation. Throughout, he uses his own experiences to make the case for decriminalizing prostitution. In boldly direct style, his character expounds on his reading material, inquires after his friends’ stance on the morality of sex work, and, in one sequence, simply sits around in his underwear thinking,” reads the review at walrusmagazine.com. “It is a testament to Brown’s accomplishment as a cartoonist that such heady stuff remains compelling reading, each thought progressing mathematically to the next. And while he sets out logically to convince us of his argument, this isn’t exactly tract literature either: credit him with making room for doubt, too. A cast of quippy, incredulous confidants serve as stand-ins for readers unswayed by Brown’s line of reasoning, and debate with him in lengthy Socratic passages.”

As always, the complete lists can be found here, along with an explanation of how they were assembled. See you next week!