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Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity | 
 enlarge | Author: Kerry Cohen
Publisher: Hyperion
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $11.96 (54%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 17959
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 1401303498
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.7083520973
EAN: 9781401303495
ASIN: 1401303498
Publication Date: June 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW!! MINT CONDITION!!!
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Product Description
For everyone who was that girl.
For everyone who knew that girl.
For everyone who wondered who that girl was. Kerry Cohen is eleven years old when she recognizes the power of her body in the leer of a grown man. Her parents are recently divorced and it doesn't take long before their lassitude and Kerry's desire to stand out--to be memorable in some way--combine to lead her down a path she knows she shouldn't take. Kerry wanted attention. She wanted love. But not really understanding what love was, not really knowing how to get it, she reached for sex instead. Loose Girl is Kerry Cohen's captivating memoir about her descent into promiscuity and how she gradually found her way toward real intimacy. The story of addiction--not just to sex, but to male attention--Loose Girl is also the story of a young girl who came to believe that boys and men could give her life meaning. It didn't matter who he was. It was their movement that mattered, their being together. And for a while, that was enough. From the early rush of exploration to the day she learned to quiet the desperation and allow herself to love and be loved, Kerry's story is never less than riveting. In rich and immediate detail, Loose Girl re-creates what it feels like to be in that desperate moment, when a girl tries to control a boy by handing over her body, when the touch of that boy seems to offer proof of something, but ultimately delivers little more than emptiness. Kerry Cohen's journey from that hopeless place to her current confident and fulfilled existence is a cautionary tale and a revelation for girls young and old. The unforgettable memoir of one young woman who desperately wanted to matter, Loose Girl will speak to countless others with its compassion, understanding, and love.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 An engaging memoir October 13, 2008
Loose Girl: a memoir of promiscuity was engaging from beginning to end. I can tell I enjoy something when I can read for at least 30 minutes straight without paying attention to anything else (I usually get distracted very easily). This book hooks you and doesn't let go of you until the end. Around the age of 11-12 Kerry discovers the world of boys and how she can capture their attention and hopefully love as well. She basically becomes addicted to boys and eventually sex as well. She reflects it back onto her upbringing, her mom basically leaving her and her sister behind to start her own life and her father that basically let her do whatever she wanted. I actually identified more so with Kerry's sister, Tyler so it was interesting to read about how Kerry didn't understand her sister and her behavior.
Seeing what Kerry has gone through and what she has achieved in her life definitely makes her a role model. People can't be "cured" of their addictions with the snap of their finger. She realizes that she can take it day by day and can still be OK. She has written fiction and also is a practicing psychotherapist.
I do wish the ending/resolution didn't happen so quickly but this is a memoir so she wrote it how it happened. Maybe I would have liked the book to extend a bit further into her life than where it stopped. All and all a very engaging and important memoir.
 No self-knowledge. October 2, 2008
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
Most of this book was written with such unflinching honesty, that the poor ending and lack of self-examination or understanding was that much more of a disappointment and shock.
While the author traces her history of longing for physical attention, I felt for the uncertain teenager who believed her worth came solely from males. I believe this is a trap that is easy for any young woman to fall into, but Cohen did so with a vengeance, sleeping her way through high school, college, and beyond.
While I appreciate her bare-bones honesty, I found the book lacking in any sort of self-analysis. I never got the sense that Cohen understood why she felt so undeserving of love, nor why she stayed in unfulfilling, dysfunctional relationships.
Suddenly, she seems "recovered," though I wonder if she truly has made her way out of the abyss. Instead, I think she just replaced one relationship with another. The book ends on a high note, but I think it will be just a matter of time before her insecurities suck her back into her black hole.
 A MUST READ. NOT FOR MINORS. NOT TO BE MISSED September 25, 2008
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
I was fortunate enough to read a review copy. A MUST READ. Not to be missed. compelling, frightening, heart wrenching, fast paced, horrifying, the sorrowful mysteries. The hollowness of her life makes me vomit. Sadly she can't give, but only take. In the last few pages there is redemption.
I would be curious if young women think this is a typical experience for girls of the writer's age. Her escapades seem to begin in the very early teen years and end perhaps in her mid-twenties. What surprised me also was the unwillingness of some of the young men to jump into bed quickly with her.
Reflections September 7, 2008
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
Not about sex but a girl's journey into understanding the double standard game that is out there between girls and guys. It's heartfelt writing and I really felt compassion for the charachter.
Don't judge this book by its title... August 14, 2008
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
For a memoir about promiscuity, there is surprisingly very little about sex. Loose Girl is so much more than a tale about a promiscuous girl. It is a gripping and courageous account of one woman's prolonged struggle with shame and insatiable need.
There is a certain element of seduction buried in the way that author Kerry Cohen frames her poignant story. Only a few pages in, I found myself hopelessly seduced by her impressive ability to captivate the attention of her readers. She is undoubtedly an extremely talented writer and a woman who has clearly mastered a tremendous amount of emotional and psychological growth. Luckily for her audience, she was brave enough to share the painful lessons of her own evolution so that others might learn from her mistakes. It's no surprise that this book has its fair share of critics, but hopefully readers will be wise enough to judge for themselves.
In my opinion, Loose Girl is worth well more than its entertainment value alone. It exposes not only the author's painful past but also the fundamental cracks within the human condition, by which we are all afflicted in some way. It acknowledges the realities of our frailties and dissects the incessant agony of our need, not necessarily in a sexual manner but in a human way. Anyone who has ever felt unworthy, unloved or unsatisfied in any way should definitely pick up a copy of this book.
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