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Review

I think it is only fair to disclose the fact that I have never seen a film starring Aiden Shaw. While I have not seen any of his movies I have seen plenty of pictures and he is a very handsome, well endowed man. The reason I am putting this out there is that I did not begin reading this book with any special affinity for Shaw as a porn star. This, perhaps, was to his (and my) detriment.

In this entire book there is nothing too endearing about Shaw as a person. He reveals his start as a hustler in London and his climb to the top of the heap of male escorts. For a moment in time he also becomes a drug dealer. While this is all his reality, it isn’t a reality I was too interested in. There are no magical moments for me here. It is interesting on a sort of sadistic level -- I wanted him to crash and burn because he was so reckless with sex and drugs, LOTS of sex, and LOTS of drugs. Frankly I am surprised that he can string together a sentence after so much drug use. Now he wants to be seen as an intellectual, a writer, a composer, an academic, but I think he is trying to convince himself of these roles more than the reader.

Shaw’s writing is too self-serving and obvious for me to find it attractive. There were some erotic passages but they too were flavored with a desperation that drained some of the excitement. If you are a fan of his adult film work, you are more likely to enjoy this foray into his tragic 20s than I did.

This book draws to a close with Shaw’s introduction to Larry (Chi Chi LaRue), thus beginning his career in gay porn. Overall, Sordid Truths reads exactly like a story you would expect to hear from a handsome man who has lived entirely on the income generated by his large dick. If that is a story you want to read, then this book is for you.

 -- Nick Strathern