What was that novel that mentions grissini as a sexual metaphor?

March 3, 2014 7:31 PM

I read a novel that has lots of sexual scenarios, one of which involves a "frigid" woman who is repeatedly offered grissini (breadsticks) by a waiter as a subliminally sexual seduction. There was another ongoing scene in which a woman was a research subject for testing orgasm response. Why? Because I can't remember and like the pirate with the steering wheel belt buckle, it's driving me nuts. Thanks!
posted by haineux to Writing & Language (3 answers total)

Those sound really vaguely like scenes in 1982 Janine by Alasdair Gray, in which case they're some of the narrator's elaborate pornographic fantasies as he tries to stave off a suicide attempt, but my memory of that book is hazy enough that I can't offer it with confidence.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:33 PM on March 3, 2014

Sounds like things Nicholson Baker would write.
posted by mistsandrain at 3:29 PM on March 4, 2014

Response by poster: Aha! Literally popped into my head — "The Vertical Smile" by Richard Condon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vertical_Smile
posted by haineux at 1:45 PM on March 6, 2014