There has been a long gap between books I’ve found interesting enough to talk about. Since my last scribble I’ve read several books: Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong, Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar and Semicolon by Cecelia Watson to name a couple. All of which ranged from mediocre to alright, but none of which I could write a whole page about.

As per my usual heart-mind-soul routine, when I’m scouting for new books I usually try to cast a wide net; my online basket contains a book that makes me encounter feelings, a book that makes me a better person and a book that makes me a more knowledgeable person. Usually at least one of these books is also a well-known classic, for I also want to civilize myself. Hence my recent baskets have contained such novels as The Silmarillion, Fahrenheit 451 and 1984.

When I’m looking for a new book to read, I usually either browse online forums for recommendations or check the best sellers list on online book stores. None of which offered anything of interest this time. Incidentally, I am a person who listens to podcasts while doing chores, driving a car et cetera. One of my favorite podcasts is If Books Could Kill, a podcast about books propagating the worst ideas in recent history. The show is hosted by two guys, a lawyer and a journalist, and they have covered such classics as Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Freakanomics. I think you get the picture.

In one of their episodes, they talked about a book called The Game, which in turn carries the subtitle Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists. I had heard of the book before I listened to the episode, and I had a general idea of what the book was about. I had heard of the concept of “negging” before and knew it originated in this book. Anyway, in their usual style, the two hosts tore this book apart. However, even knowing the shortcomings of the author Neil Strauss as a writer and what the book stood for, I was intrigued.

You see, I have always been interested in the incel mentality as a psychological phenomenon. An incel meaning a person who is stuck in an “involuntary celibate”, ie. without a romantic or physical relationship. It is fascinating how that mentality can evolve into a world view where the only way to get out of the involuntary celibate is through a series of mind games, essentially teaching yourself psychological strategies and behavioral patterns just to get laid. Nowadays, of course, inceldom is more passive, and instead of, for the lack of a better word, improving oneself, they instead embrace the misery. However, it has not always been like it is today.

Enter Neil Strauss’ The Game, a semi-autobiographical novel about the period in the life of the author when he was engulfed in the pickup artist lifestyle and became a phenomenon in Hollywood in the mid-2000s. Neil Strauss, being a writer got in contact with people in the field through a writing assignment and turned out to be a diamond in the rough as picking up ladies went. He met a so-called pickup artist guru who took Neil under his wing and taught him everything there was to know about pickup artistry; lines, openers, behavioral cues, props and, as mentioned before, negs.

Neil Strauss, re-christened as Style, because everyone in the pickup artist scene used seduction pseudonyms rather than their real names, rose through the ranks of the PUA hierarchy and became a legend. The Game is a book about the rise and fall of Style.

First I have to clarify that I unironically like this book a lot. Even when I acknowledge its shortcomings, I must admit that Neil Strauss writes a compelling story. In the beginning of the book, while reminiscing about going to his first pickup workshop and paying hundreds of dollars for it, he openly admits that he was giving up and admitting failure as a virile man. I have been a young man and to this day I still think I am one, and I do feel sympathy for Neil here. Approaching girls, let alone picking them up, is a horrifying experience, and a simple rejection strikes you like a thousand needles. I also like how Neil throughout the book admits that the art of seduction is based on false premises even when he masters it, how it means complete dehumanization of the partner and becoming a fake person.

If you have heard of the book but not read it, you might think that it is a guide into pickup artistry. And you would be correct. Throughout the book Neil explains the patterns and strategies that one might use to pick up ladies. There are illustrations of positions, with plans detailed with arrows indicating where you should move in relation to a girl sitting at a bar counter and how you should approach them from a specific angle. He writes about routines and openers one should approach girls with, how to lure them into a false sense of relaxation and essentially cheat them into a conversation with you.

However, what I like about the book is that there is the constant background undercurrent that this is a hollow and empty lifestyle; a revelation that Style encounters at the end of the book, and one that some of his peers come up with on his journey. The book opens with a flash forward, of Style escorting his mentor/friend into a therapy clinic because of the latter’s mental breakdown. This character, Mystery, is Style’s closest friend and the one who introduces him into the world of seduction, but is also a complete piece of shit. Mystery is depicted as a master seducer, but also as a totally average looking guy, and as a person with severe mental health issues. In the book Mystery contemplates suicide several times, even going as far as planning a murder-suicide of his abusive father. He also is in complete disregard of female feelings; for him a woman is a blowjob and admiration dispenser, nothing more. Mystery amongst several other PUAs work as a constant reminder that even though they are getting laid a lot, none of it is fulfilling.

Indeed, on his journey through the seduction scene Style comes across several colorful characters. Pop quiz: which of the following names do you think does not belong to a pickup artist featured in the book; Twotimer, Extramask, Grimble, Tyler Durden, Papa, Sickboy, Sweater, Herbal, Sin? Trick question; those are all names of people Style meets in the book. In the last half of the book, after becoming a seduction superstar, Style gets a grand idea to gather a handful of the best PUAs there are and establish a seduction lair of their own in the heart of Los Angeles called Project Hollywood.

Before Project Hollywood the book is interesting but Style’s sexual encounters can be meandering and not serving the plot. However, once they found Project Hollywood the book picks up in my opinion. What has been a story about these pickup mentors and mentees, each deeply insecure and troubled in their own special way, turns into a rollercoaster of cohabital insanity. Everyone pays their share of the rent by organizing pickup workshops and crazy Playboy Mansion style parties. In the beginning of Project Hollywood, Style has this naive idea that together they would be stronger and create something larger than themselves. However, several PUAs under one roof, throwing competing workshops and going after the same women doesn’t work out so well.

What follows is that Mystery’s mental health continues to deteriorate. Papa and Tyler Durden go rogue and start alienating Style and Mystery. Herbal becomes involved with Mystery’s ex-girlfriend. Extramask, realizing how empty his newlyfound lifestyle is, leaves for India to go on a spiritual journey. Courtney Love moves in and trashes Herbal’s room. Threats of violence and retaliations are thrown back and forth.

In the end, Style finds a girl who seems to be immune to his game, but who likes him for who he really is. Mystery is ousted from Project Hollywood and people start leaving the community because of the growingly toxic atmosphere. The dream that was Project Hollywood turned to be a fallacy, fueled by neediness and troubled psyches. Style realizes the hollowness of the situation and leaves his old life behind.

I do enjoy The Game as a novel. Also, after the first chapter, I felt like I was staring into a funhouse mirror. As I have mentioned in my previous scribbles, I was a person who went through a fedora phase, although thankfully not acting on it in hindsight. I feel like if I had not had the relationships I had when I was young and had lived in an area with a population big enough to sustain a nightlife industry, I would have been one of the aspiring artists. That’s what was so halting about reading the book; I am living in Papa’s closet in another universe.

The book has its storytelling problems and questions about the morality of publishing it in general, but I enjoyed my time with it. I might even describe it as a page turner if I was feeling bold. Neil Strauss offered me a reading experience interesting enough to write about, and that’s more than I can say about Tolkien or Bradbury. If you’re interested in the psychology behind pickup artistry and are not afraid of a 500-page book, I recommend reading The Game. If you’re reading it in another universe, you might even get your hands on the copy with my alter ego in it; the man going by the name Tadpole.