One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed

One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed is a coming of age memoir about Melissa, a young sexually ravenous girl growing up in Italy. At the age of 14, she decides that she no longer wants to be a virgin and that she will share her body freely to anyone who asks. This takes her through a wildly experimental phase that involves a great deal of sex. When she was ready to publish it, her mother threw it into the trash. It was hyped as a very powerful piece of transgressive fiction and somewhat achieved Love It or Hate It status among readers.

This book provides examples of:


 * Adults Are Useless: Melissa P's mother periodically comments that her tutor looks creepy but fails to notice what all she is doing.
 * All Abusers Are Male: Somewhat upheld. She is just as submissive with women as with men, but women do not take advantage of her the way that men do.
 * All Women Are Prudes: Commented on and averted by the narrator, who seems to have a very low opinion of virgins.
 * Author Avatar: Obviously, this is Melissa P's memoir.
 * BDSM: Melissa acts as a dom for one of her "lovers."
 * Bi the Way: Melissa halfway through the novel experiments with bisexuality.
 * Ephebophile: Melissa's tutor.
 * Even the Girls Want Her: Justified trope in Melissa's case since she does pursue lesbian women.
 * Hormone-Addled Teenager: Melissa.
 * Hot for Student: Melissa's tutor.
 * Incompatible Orientation: Melissa becomes attracted to a lesbian until she realizes just how straight she is.
 * It's Not Porn, It's Art: The entire novel has been debated.
 * Jerkass: Melissa's first boyfriend.
 * Let's Wait a While: Melissa and.
 * National Stereotypes: The stereotype that Italian men are perverts is upheld.
 * Nice Guy: Her boyfriend in the end.
 * A Party - Also Known as an Orgy: Melissa's final "wild" sexual encounter before she meets the boyfriend at the end of the book.
 * Rape as Drama: Melissa P is raped by a stranger and steals money out of his wallet so she can at least feel like a proper prostitute. She acknowledges this experience as rape and after the fact, her fantasies and actions become arguably darker until eventually she.
 * Teacher-Student Romance: It's questionable how romantic the relationship between Melissa and her tutor is, but he buys her gifts and seems to care for her.
 * Their First Time: Melissa loses her virginity to her boyfriend in the beginning of the book. A boyfriend who doesn't respect her very much.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: One of the men Melissa sees.