Sadomasochism for Accountants

By Rosy Barnes

"What an absolute pleasure to read, escaping our own dull lives into blissful abandon of self-indulgent behavior, laughing all the while."- Sacramento Book Review

Alan said I was boring. But I'm actually very flexible. My mother used to say I was double-jointed.--Paula

Paula is still smarting from being called boring by Alan, her longtime boyfriend. Then he leaves her for Belinda, the egotistic would-be partner of accountancy firm Smith, Smith-Brown and Smith. Her mother suggests she spice up her life, so Paula joins the local fetish club.

Luda the transvestite is not fooled when Paula enters Club Liscious. Her off-the-shoulder dress cannot turn her into a thrill-seeking member of the Liscious elite. "She" decides to have nothing to do with the newcomer.

Over the next few weeks, the club-goers' suspicion turns to friendship, and "boring" Paula recruits Luda, gentle Dominatrix Gretchen, and bossy SlaveBoy to help her win Alan back.

Meanwhile, Alan's new fianc e Belinda, locked in a bitter battle for a promotion with her paraplegic colleague, starts working on Alan's own lack of ambition.

Both a comedy and a satire on accountants' status obsessions, Sadomasochism for Accountants is a look behind the masks people wear and the roles they play between the sheets and the spreadsheets. This is a comedy for fans of Little Miss Sunshine and Pedro Almod var's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

Rosy Barnes graduated in fine art, English literature, and theater directing before moving to Dublin to form a theater company. Her comic radio play The Dog House was an RTE Times' Pick of the Week and was shortlisted for the PJ O'Connor Award. She lives in Scotland.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0714531812
• ISBN13: 9780714531816
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Marion Boyars Publishers
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.0" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

humorous satire

Her boyfriend Alan dumped thirty-eight year old accountant Paula insisting she was boring after spending eight years together. By May, he has moved on becoming engaged to corporate take no prisoners climber Belinda whose only goal in life is to see her surname added to Smith, Smith-Brown and Smith. Paula insists she is not stalking Alan when she regularly drives fifty miles to his neighborhood to shop although the calls have Belinda calling her a "crazy cow". Paula's mom and therapist suggest she find an exciting diversion as her life seems dull to them. Desperate to prove she is not just another tedious number cruncher, Paula joins Club Liscious. The members know at first look that Paula does not belong there; they put a different spin to the thrill of the sex hunt. Luda the transvestite assumes this newcomer won't last more than a night. Thus she is shocked when the persistent Paula, used to grinding away looking for a missing pound or two in the ledger, keeps coming back. Soon, Luda, Gretchen the kindhearted dominatrix, and domineering SlaveBoy decide to help her hogtie Alan who has woes with aggressive Belinda's demands on his layback career. Belinda is even aggressively uglier than usual as she is at war against a competitor who has the unfair advantages of being paraplegic for the step up the ladder. This humorous satire lampoons sex, genders, and accountants through the actions of a purposely hyperbolic cast although told by Paula in a chick lit style. The story line is very thin, but entertaining as Paula sets out to prove she is not boring by getting a "life" and Alan with it. Fans will enjoy the antics of her support team and the bellicose reactions of Belinda as Alan is caught in the middle of a female surge. SADOMASOCHISM FOR ACCOUNTANTS is a fun tale that does not worry about the bottom line. Harriet Klausner