Peeling away stereotypes amid peals of laughter
Dutch Courage ★★★★★ Paige Nick (Penguin Random House, R220)
WHEN you’re invited to a book launch at Beefcakes in Illovo, rated as a bachelorette party venue for its shirtless waiters, you know this ain’t no ordinary book. When the author in question is the inimitable Paige Nick, you can be certain this will be a rollicking read.
Dutch Courage lives up to the promise of its hilarious, raunchy launch, but also offers an empathetic insight into the world of strip clubs and sex work.
Set in an Amsterdam club that features celebrity impersonators, it details the adventures of Grace, a sheltered young teacher from Cape Town who arrives full of trepidation, having agreed to fulfil her sister’s contract to perform as a Rihanna lookalike for a few weeks. But her sister omitted to mention the entertainers take their clothes off . . .
Nick says part of her intention was to demystify the sex industry. She conducted research in Cape Town, New York and Amsterdam, with assistance from Amsterdam’s Prostitute Information Centre.
“It’s not all downmarket nor all glamorous,” Nick says, a point that hits sharply home in the novel when Grace first enters the club’s dressing room. On the one hand it’s as though she’s backstage at the Grammys, with Madonna, J-Lo, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. On the other, there’s the sobering juxtaposition of smells — sweat, perfume, makeup and the acrid sting of Deep Heat (for the muscle pain that accompanies repeated strenuous pole-dancing).
Nick does a great job of transferring people’s quirks to the page, bringing to life the anomaly of a Paris Hilton lookalike who’s really a brunette with an East European accent and a kind heart.
“It’s kind of amazing when you meet them, how real and normal their lives are,” Nick says. “They could be the women you see dropping off their kids at school or in the queue at the pharmacy.”
Nick discovered that many who choose this industry (as opposed to being forced or trafficked into it) find it empowering. The novel tracks Grace’s evolution from a hesitant woman who allows her manipulative sister and controlling fiancé to make most decisions for her, to a person who claims her power and revels in it, albeit in unexpected ways.
With Nick’s trademark light touch, Dutch Courage compels the reader to reconsider ingrained stereotypes, provoking serious reflection on the oldest profession. — Ayesha Kajee @ayeshakajee