Whip Smart: The True Story of a Secret Life

As the mother of a 20-something daughter, I had to sit on my phone while reading Whip Smart not to call her and desperately ask, "What aren't you telling me?". In this edgy memoir, author Melissa Febos consciously walks herself down a path few have traveled. While excelling in elite academia, she dances with heroin addiction and lucrative, bizarre employment as a dominatrix. The reader is skillfully lead on a wild ride from privileged childhood through mature mid-20's hard earned recovery. Melissa unfolds her growing awareness with compassionate insight, never pretending to have it all figured out for herself or her clients. We are left with our own, better informed pondering on the often conflicted human spirit's quest for wholeness. Both thoughtful and humorous - highly recommended.

i almost cut my finger off with a grinder at work because i stayed up till three oclock in the morning finishing this book the day i got it in the mail. it was well worth it. i love memoirs about hookers, dominatrixes, drug addicts and generally speaking anything dark and sordid...but usually they hold the same appeal as Star magazine: a quick fix. this one's different, it's not the same tired trope, it's a thinker as well as a page turner. best thing i've read in ages. i can't wait for the movie!

When I picked up this book it was during my grad school midterms. Well studying got put on hold for one night! Yes only one night is all it took for me to read this because from the first page it just grabs you! It portrays an honest and beautiful description of a life some of us know, but most of us don't and yet it makes you feel like you were there by her side the whole time. Eloquently written, funny, witty, over the top while keeping a firm foot on the ground. Melissa you have just joined the ranks of the authors (Stephen king, Christopher Moore, Augusten Burroughs, etc) who's books I will have to buy the day they hit the shelves. Please keep writing!

I read this book in two days straight. I basically didn't put it down. What struck me about the book is that while it is about a more salubrious side of life, it is written in such an intelligent and measured way you don't realize the content is a little racy. Highly recommend it. A great read.

I stayed up in the wee hours of morning to finish this book, I couldn't stop turning pages. When I picked it up, I certainly didn't think I would find anything relevant to my own experience growing up, but the way the author describes her struggle in getting to know herself and coming to recognize her own self-destructive behavior did remind me of my own struggles as a teen -- wanting to be seen as desirable, wanting short cuts to succeed and identify myself, but ultimately having to deal with the fall out. Febos is truly a great writer, she writes beautiful sentences. I hope she'll keep writing.