(Reviewed by JD Jung)
“…I had plenty of money but always needed more. I had thought of myself as a healer when I started work at the spa. I had turned into a total slut. I played every client until they let go of their inhibitions and submitted to their secret fantasies. Ladies who left the massage suite after an unexpected orgasm dug deep into their purses. “
Ben Foster didn’t always have money though. This thirty year-old husband and father of three could barely make ends meet. His wife worked at a laundry and he was a care giver at a home for boys with “psychological problems”. When his grandmother died, he spent his inheritance going to massage school and earning a certificate. When he wasn’t working at the home, he gave massages to a small group of clients.
“All my life I had been weighed down by that working-class feeling of not being quite good enough. Massage had helped me to overcome that to a certain extent, but it’s like a birthmark, you never completely lose that sense of inferiority.”
This was about to change, at least on the outside. In 2006 the wealthy mother of one of his male clients spotted him and showed him off to her friends. He soon found himself servicing London’s upper-class including a conservative MP. One got him a job at a spa that provided “extras”, and soon he was able to add female celebrities to his list of famous clients. Making at least fifty quid for an hour’s work in addition to sporting expensive clothes was difficult to turn down. He also enjoyed buying his family things they never dreamed they would ever have. He did feel guilt lying to this wife, but became good at it. He was at the beck and call of some of his clients and often had to travel with them at a moment’s notice.
Gigolo is a well-written memoir, exposing Ben’s feelings such as how being desired by beautiful women boosted his lacking self-esteem. What I particularly liked is how it provides insight into London’s class structure, like old money versus the Nouveau riche . He realized his place as a servant to the rich and their whims, but takes complete responsibility for his actions.
Though he relays his personal thoughts and emotions throughout the book, he is pretty objective. Ben graphically details the sex and proclivities of these women. He doesn’t seem to resent them though, whereas I detested them for their self-indulgence, sense of entitlement and the way they treated those who work for them. He partially excuses their behavior, explaining that the rich have so much that they don’t know what they want. This is evident in his vivid account of their decadent parties.
This book kept me engaged throughout, anticipating when Ben’s lifestyle would come crashing down. In that way it was pretty suspenseful.
I think both male and female readers will enjoy this wild ride. Gigolo will keep you glued to the pages until the very end.
