Fresh Girls and Other Stories

Bruce Meyer teaches English at Trinity College, University of Toronto.

What separates this book from the classic works of erotic fiction by
Miller, Nin, or Jong is the fact that its stories are completely devoid
of either humor or emotional connection. Lau presents the feelingless
world of prostitution convincingly, but the resulting fiction is
ultimately pointless. In Kawabata’s erotic masterpiece Snow Country,
the wealthy businessman Shimamura watches his own finger move back and
forth with such complete detachment that the image becomes almost
inviolate—art assuming a kind of focused impact that is not possible
in life. In contrast, the various hookers and sex addicts depicted in
Fresh Girls fail to make any lasting impression. The stories read like
medical experiments; Lau has carried the hard edge too far. Fresh Girls
falls short of its potential even as a chronicle of fetish, deviance,
violence, or darkness.