New Book Alert: SexyQuad Chronicles: The Life and Times of A Salacious Quadriplegic by Luke Stewart; Funny Salacious Autobiography About Disability, Sex, Love, and Regret

New Book Alert: SexyQuad Chronicles: The Life and Times of A Salacious Quadriplegic by Luke Stewart; Funny Salacious Autobiography About Disability, Sex, Love, and Regret

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Warning: This review speaks openly and frankly about sexuality.

Read at your own discretion.

When it comes to autobiographies about disabilities, they often fall in two categories. The first is meant to be inspirational. The author even was born with disability or acquires one. They struggle with daily activities, other's taunts, and their own limitations. They also have a big goal like climbing Mt. Everest, starting their own business, publishing their scientific theories and winning the Nobel, or even just inspiring other people with their stories. The point of these type of books are meant to move people and to marvel about how the protagonist triumphed over adversity. "If they can do it, then I can do it too," is what they might think.

The second type is less inspirational and more realistic. They often focus on the day to day struggles and the simple pleasures. The tone is less uplifting and can be sardonic, honest, and sometimes even funny. The goals when they are present can be minor but no less important. Sometimes it involves getting into a relationship, graduating college, or simply just getting through a day without struggling. In some ways those too can be inspirational. "Life can be difficult, but it can be good too," is what a Reader might think.

Luke Stewart's autobiography, SexyQuad Chronicles The Life and Times of A Salacious Quadriplegic is the second type of book. It involves Stewart, who became quadriplegic after a vehicular accident. While he goes through the tasks of living and working alongside caregivers, going to college, and finding work. He had one specific goal in mind. The same goal that many men have, disabled or not: to have plenty of sex. The book isn't just about Stewart's disabilities. It's a sharp funny book about his relationships with women, his frequent sex life, and the lessons that he learned along the way.

In 1989, while in high school, Stewart returned from a burger diner when he and a friend got involved in in a car accident. The accident left Stewart quadriplegic. Retaining the sharp sardonic humor in describing one of the biggest turning points of his life, Stewart reported apropos of nothing that he never finished eating his burger. In 2015, he finally returned to the diner and found "the food wasn't that great."

While Stewart describes some very traumatic moments, he does so in a realistic way that is matter of fact. He describes suffering paralysis in all four limbs and a broken neck. He also wrote about his various hospital stays and surgeries many of which caused more pain and discomfort. 

He also describes the impact that the accident had on his sexual organs. Being an at the time teenage boy, he was concerned about his constant erecetions and what they ahem revealed. "My little guy is a grower not a shower and of average size," Stewart said.

Sex is a continuous theme in this book. Stewart describes his many love affairs and relationships in a way that is very upfront and sordid but not misogynistic or abusive. Stewart was involved with many women and makes no secret about that. 

He writes that he was aware of the difficulties of maintaining a relationship with someone in his condition. He had limited physical mobility and required assistance for daily activities. The women that he was with could inundate him with questions or overcompensate by doing too much for him, acting more like caregivers than lovers. Of course, many observers could possibly make the pair uncomfortable with stares and condescending admiration. "I get it, I'm different," Stewart said sarcastically.

As with many straight guys, when Stewart began the dating scene, he wasn't concerned about having long term relationships as he was concerned about getting some. He thought of something to say that would ease concerns as well as serve as a pick up line for any prospects. He explained that he could feel his whole body but he couldn''t move much. When the potential date asks whether he can feel anything, Stewart then said that "(He) was incomplete, but felt touch. The pleasure is wonderful but the pain unbearable." Then he added, that he's lucky he can still has sex. 

Stewart candidly admits that he was a player but he rationaled, "In my shoes-that somebody has to put on for me- you do what you have to do. People could think what they liked but I had needs and tried to fill them as much as possible."

Stewart's relationships were exercises in differing personalities, disagreements, issues with commitment, and their insecurities and his own ego. One relationship ended because she "wanted to be wanted" and fell in love with a woman. Another couldn't balance her emotional needs with his physical ones. A married woman returned to her husband.

He met two different women on Craigslist. The sexual chemistry fizzled out on one before she decided that they should just remain friends. He hooked up with another even though he didn't "fancy her." 

By far the two most complicated troubling relationships cost Stewart a lot more than the loss of a sexual good time or potential girlfriend. As an instructor in a Psychology for Disability course, he had an affair with a student. Despite the concerns about violating campus rules, the affair ended quickly and he emerged unscathed for now.

 Unfortunately, the ramifications were felt later after he met another woman and told her about his former lovers including the student. After they broke up, she reported his student affair to the campus costing him his job.

 Each bad relationship carried with it a lesson to be learned and a means for Stewart to understand how he felt about other people and himself. After he lost his job, Stewart evaluated his past behavior. What kept him from being a completely reprehensible person was that he regretted that he was with so many women and quickly discarded them. That he was as much to blame for the end of the relationships as they were.

That "can feel pleasure" line was just that. A line. In thinking that he was doing something courageous by living for just sex and proving that he could have sex despite his disability, he was hurting many including himself. After this understanding, Stewart vowed to become a better person considering love and emotion as well as sexual chemistry. 

SexyQuad Chronicles is a salacious, frank, funny, and very honest book that shows that the greatest triumph that a disabled person, that any person, could make is to be truly honest with themselves. Then they could grow as someone who could be a better friend, lover, and person.