Joséphine/Rose Lee is a young French woman with a double life. By day she teaches philosophy in a high school, constantly on the verge of a meltdown and forever intimidated by her students. But by night she thrives as a stripteaser, emboldened by the limelight and the erotic power she learns to harness.

Joséphine criticises the French education system harshly. She sees teaching as a castrated profession, done only for the money because she has no other choice in life. She is frustrated because teachers are not given the right tools to inspire the students or challenge them intellectually. Kindred souls (a sympathetic colleague, a genuinely interested student) are few and far between.

On the other hand, her nocturnal escapades are as gratifying as her day job is tedious. The sensual descriptions of her dance are not just voyeuristic glimpses into sex work. For her, performing onstage is self-asserting, allowing her to gain full control of her body and command the attention of the male audience. She also finds a sense of belonging in the non-judgemental camaraderie between female strippers.

It’s worth asking whether all this idealises sex work. Maybe. I don’t know enough to have an informed opinion yet, but on the whole I find it quite inspiring. I like the idea of a woman learning to appreciate her body and not to feel ashamed of her sexual needs or for craving the male gaze, when that’s what she wants.

A story of Josephine, a disillusioned philosophy teacher, who finds freedom and joy thanks to Rose Lee - her striptease stage persona.

Josephine was depressed, at odds with her body, her work and her colleagues. The idea of going back to work was almost panic inducing and her life felt pointless and bland. Until she found her way to striptease classes and eventually on the stage of one of Paris' high-end strip clubs. Through her journey as Rose Lee - fearless, sexy and confident woman - she reconnects with her body and finds freedom and thrill in the seductive game. It also allows her to reflect and see her life and those around her in a new light.

I've truly enjoyed Jo's story. I liked her character - how daring and smart she was. I enjoyed following her on her journey from reserved and stifled, to confident, daring and more self-aware. I also appreciate how the author did not alter her completely, the character grew organically and realistically. Her reflections and philosophical musing (not overwhelming, but competent and mature) added depth and three-dimensionality to the story. I rooted for Josephine to find her place, grow and learn the most she could while having fun and connecting with different parts of herself.

In a month dedicated to women in translation Italian-born author, Ketty Rouf’s debut novel not only underlines the importance of translations, but also challenges preconceived ideas about being a woman.

Josephine is a philosophy teacher in a suburb of France. The world’s noblest profession is no longer respected, especially not by the students in Josephine’s class. Trapped in a situation she has no control over, which no longer brings her any joy and contentment, she is gradually being worn down by the monotony and soullessness of her everyday life and routine.

Full review: https://westwordsreviews.wordpress.com/2021/08/28/no-touching-ketty-rouf/

Right after finishing this book, I looked briefly into the author’s short bio. Ketty Rouf has a master’s degree in philosophy and is a passionate ballet dancer. I was wondering for a while if this book is indeed a roman á clef, derived from the author’s own experience which is moulded into the character of Josephine. In the first part of the book, Josephine asks herself this question: what can a master’s degree in philosophy do for your life? She has spent several years teaching philosophy in a high school in Drancy, a suburb of Paris. Her life consists of balancing between Xanax, Propranolol, and Tupperware lunches in the staff room. One night, the Xanax won’t just put her to sleep, and that’s when she decided to roam around Paris with no goal, no destination, no watch, no phone, only to lose herself.

That night, Josephine is christened with a new name as she entered a striptease club and joined the team. Rose Lee is the name she had chosen for herself, the one for whom the word ‘striptease’ was invented in the forties, a burlesque legend. After thirty-five years, four months, and sixty days, Rose Lee has been born. The alter ego has been awakened, and after that night Josephine leads a double life as a striptease dancer by night and a philosophy high school teacher by day. And this is when things get interesting, as Josephine begins to realise the problem with modern life and philosophy in general.

As a philosophy teacher, Josephine often feels that her life is unfulfilled and boring with so many unruly students who could not seem to appreciate the beauty of philosophy. She begins to have some conflicting feelings, as philosophy is meant to help us understanding life, but it was as though her own life itself is refusing to be understood by way of applying philosophy. She happens to find her fulfilment through her job as Rose Lee at night, utilising her insomnia to fill a new role in society as a striptease dancer, to make more customers get hard and give them their fantasies. Yet it’s during this time that one of her students, Hadrien, finally awaken Josephine about how philosophy could be applied in daily life through his letters, thanking Josephine for her lessons and asking for advice.

It seems as though this brave debut novel is all about the conflict between the body and the mind. As a philosophy teacher who has learned so many ideas from various philosophers since antiquity, Josephine frequently uses her mind to make her decision in life. Whereas during her striptease career, Rose Lee encounters the fact that the body cannot lie and sometimes does not even require any negotiation with the mind to act. Her customers get hard, even without feeling any emotions towards her. Our existence begins with the act of two bodies being put into one, and there are some limits for the mind to explain things.

Josephine has been living in ignorance, through her bookish knowledge. Ignorance of real experience, of deep emotion, and of understanding the human condition and of herself. Her ignorance is cured as she becomes Rose Lee by night, even though French Law does not allow a public servant teacher like her to engage in an act labelled as shameful by society. After all, her purpose in life seems to be simple, to experience the happiest moments of her life as she wears nothing and dances in front of her customers, fulfilling their fantasies. As Albert Camus said, “You cannot create an experience, you must undergo it.”

Building on Descartes’ philosophy, particularly the mind–body problem, No Touching is a narrative about a woman gaining control of her life and strengthening her mind by coming to an intimate understanding of her own body. When she becomes Rose Lee, her stage name as a dancer, Joséphine launches herself into a life she could never have imagined, throwing wide open the doors of her mind and growing to love her physical form in a way she never did before – she used, she tells us, to look in the mirror and see ‘the ugliest girl in the world’, a state with which many woman will be sadly familiar. While the message of female empowerment here is strong, underscored by the solid friendships and even romantic relationships Joséphine develops with her fellow dancers, all of whom she views as ‘unassailable in their womanhood’, there remains still a rather troubling undercurrent of how the female body is objectified by men. Despite the fact that Joséphine feels herself to have total power over her customers (the club’s private rooms are monitored from all angles, and the strict rule of ‘no touching’ applies to both dancer and client), she still uses all the means at her disposal to make herself into a male fantasy, presenting herself in the way she knows they wish to see her.

[. . .]

Outside the world of Dreams and the edgier, often overwrought scenes, Rouf adopts a more sober tone for detailing Joséphine’s work and her relationship with her students. A clandestine correspondence with one teenager, Hadrien, is a neat if slightly fanciful narrative device for exploring philosophical concepts, particularly the ideas of the Stoics, but her fragile relationship with seventeen-year-old Wallen is altogether more interesting, though sadly too briefly explored. Only rarely allowing her mask to slip, Wallen is in many ways a younger copy of Joséphine, whose narrative voice is often cold and aloof, preventing the reader too from getting close enough to touch her. Besides considerable criticism of the national education system, Rouf also builds in a marked anger at societies that have come to rely on a soulless nine-to-five – while the strip-club scenes may be explicit, the real vulgarity lies in scenes like lunchtime in a bland school cafeteria, ‘women and men brought together in an obscene display of our lack of drive and passion’. Perhaps even more than a cry for female empowerment, No Touching is a call for rebellion against the system.

In the end, as much as I could hear her voice and appreciated the vibrant nature of Tina Kover’s translation, which maintains the French flavour of the novel while making cultural references work in an English-language context, I couldn’t quite get on with Joséphine. Not bonding fully with the narrator isn’t necessarily a problem, and her reserve is more than likely a deliberate choice on the part of the author – another layer of the ‘no touching’ message, a subtle comment about how a naked body isn’t a revealed mind – but I did feel I needed a bit more emotional investment, particularly when Joséphine faces dilemmas or, later on, grief.

In this and many other aspects, readers of Rouf’s novel will doubtless be polarised – and so, I suspect, the author has achieved her aim. Unusual in tone and subject, courageous and (that word again) challenging, No Touching is not for the faint-hearted, but doubtless one of the more memorable novels of the year.

[extracts from the full review available on my blog]

No Touching is a short novel which focuses on Josephine, a philosophy teacher in a high School in Paris. Her job restricts her, and she spends her days between Xanax, disruptive students and marking work. One evening, she walks into a strip club and her life is completely changed. She finds the joys of female company and the feeling of men’s desire. She begins to lead a life of teacher by day and stripper by night, which helps her gain confidence and control of her life.

This was an interesting novel, and it poses a lot of questions. It was interesting to see that she feels her day job oppresses her and her sense of self whereas her night job liberates her, allowing her to feel comfortable in her own body and mind. I do feel like this novel slightly romanticises the life of a stripper/dancer though. I liked seeing the strong bonds and relationships that were formed between the women that worked in the strip club and how they supported each other.

The writing was good, with a strong juxtaposition between her monotonous daily life and the joy she feels at night. I did feel like I was kept at a distance from Josephine, so I wasn’t able to feel or connect with her, but I do not find that necessary to enjoy a novel.

Overall, a quick and interesting read.

I've been really enjoying translated fiction recently and this was translated from french. I believe the original was released last year and won some awards.

I can see why. It's provocative and thought provoking and I love the questions this book poses. The main character is a teacher by day and a lap dancer by night - and the juxtaposition of these two roles is really interesting to read.

A great read!

This book has been described as “A moving story of liberation that shatters tired prejudices about womanhood, sex, and society” so I was intrigued to give it a go. Its the story of Josephine a teacher of philosophy in a school in the suburbs of Paris. Her teenage students are bored and disinterested and she appears to be disillusioned with the sheer mundanity of her day to day existence. All this changes when she walks into a strip club in the Champs-Elysée. Josephine initially decides to become a stripper/dancer almost to see if she can do it, as its a world away from her humdrum daily life. Soon she’s buying seductive lingerie, high heels and make up for her nighttime job as Rose Lee. During her time at the club Rose Lee comes across an A-Z of male customers, and meets an array of strippers/dancers who befriend her. She enjoys the female camaraderie and develops a growing confidence in her ability to inspire desire in her customers. Josephine/Rose Lee maintains a delicate balance although her night job threatens to destabilise her daytime occupation when one evening a customer appears who is a little too close to home.
What I liked about this book was the portrayal of how easy it was for Josephine to be sucked into another life - a life few women would willingly choose; and how it increased her self confidence and self worth. She did not see the job as demeaning and although she enjoyed the financial rewards these did not seem her primary motivation. I particularly enjoyed the depictions of her teaching role and how despite being a vocation, the regimented nature of the job and lack of personal choice could make it tiresome. I found some of the stripping/dancing sections of the book far less appealing but I understand the need for them as a contrast. It made me challenge my own preconceptions.
The author, Ketty Rouf has a Masters in philosophy which is evident in her debut novel - some of the philosophical principles went over my head but I enjoyed them nevertheless. I did enjoy this book but am not sure who I would recommend it to as its an unsettling read.
Well worth a read if you’re a fan of modern European literature and I’m intrigued to see what Ketty Rouf will write next.
Thanks to the author, NetGalley and the publisher Europa Editions UK for the opportunity to read the e-arc in return for an honest review.

Genre: Literary Fiction
Release Date: Expected 12th August 2021

Publisher: Europa Editions

Translated from French by Tina Kover


No Touching is a re-release of 'On ne touche pas', originally released in French in 2020 and winner of prix du premier roman 2020, or the Premier Novel Awards.

Following Josephine, a philosophy teacher in the suburbs of Paris. Her daily life is a tedious, never-ending repetition of working and anxiety medication, and ocassionaly reading erotic novels to break the monotony. But at night, she becomes Rose Lee, a glamourous, desired dancer that breaks the grey of her daily life and fills it with colour.

But living a lie is a dangerous game, and soon Josephine realises she's going to have to make a decision between her stable, safe career and her passion before it all slips from her fingertips.

"You have to cling to something and what better to cling to than yourself?"

No Touching is a story about self-love, freedom and passion, about the way women are taught to look at themselves and how they're seen through everyone elses eyes.

The writing was beautiful - the harsh juxtaposition of the dreariness of her daily life to the explosion of colour and life she feels as she learns to own her happiness and sexuality was crafted masterfully. The world building was otherworldly in a way, making everything seem just slightly magical in a very boring world. At times I felt the prose was somewhat stiff and kept me slightly at an arms length from Josephine and her journey, but I was still able to connect with her as a character on a personal level.

This was a story about the journey itself - I had guessed early on where the road would take Josephine but watching her as she learned and grew was a pleasure to read.


RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Ketty Rouf, Europa Editions and Netgalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

Josephine teaches philosophy in a high school in Drancy, a suburb of Paris. Her life is a balancing act between Xanax, Propranolol and Tupperware lunches in the staff room. When, one evening, Josephine walks into a strip club on the Champs-Elysée, her life is completely overturned. There she learns a secret nocturnal code of conduct; she discovers camaraderie and the joys of the female company, and she thrills at the sensation of men’s desire directed toward her. Josephine, a teacher by day, begins to lead a secret existence by night that ultimately allows her to regain control of her life. This delicate balance is shattered one evening by an unexpected visitor to the club where she dances.

This read is more of the women having the power and control over men, but that isn't the case, overall, in today's world. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

Josephine teaches at a college in a Paris suburb. Her life is a despondent routine of Xanax tablets and Tupperware lunches in the staff room. A tedious existence punctuated by the incessant, onerous, sometimes surreal, directives from the department of education.

Except that, every night Josephine undergoes a radical transformation and becomes Rose Lee, a stripper in a night club on the Champs-Elysees. There, under the spotlights, she reclaims her life, reconciles herself to her own body, and falls head over heels in love with the desire she inspires in men, the power she draws from it.

Josephine’s life is a mixture of glamour and greyness, a heady, dangerous seesaw between the omnipotence she feels when she’s desired, and the boredom of her day job. But if she carries on playing with fire, Rose Lee may end up burning her wings.

A story of liberation, a heartrending reflection on a woman’s image of herself, and the way others see her, Ketty Rouf’s extraordinary debut gets right down to shattering tired prejudices about sex and society. Definitely a book to add to your list if your open minded, definitely thought provoking.

"You can hold a master’s degree in philosophy, and have cellulite and stretch marks, and dream of being a nude dancer. You have to cling to something, and what better to cling to than yourself? The body is weightier than an idea."

No Touching is Tina Kover's translation of Ketty Rouf's 2020 Prix du Premier Roman winning On ne touche pas.

Our first person narrator Joséphine teaches philosophy to largely disinterested 17 year-olds in a rather sub-standard school in Paris. But at night she performs as Rose Lee in a lap-dancing club having rather stumbled into that world, and increasingly she finds more mental satisfaction and stimulation in her night-life than her day career.

"I need Rose Lee, her perfume that envelops me like a magical charm, my new inner life that’s like music I can dance to. The night is my brightest day, a perpetual present of brilliance and well-being. It’s life without classes and meetings and the worries that crush my spirit, where the world and my fellow humans have a presence like nothing I’ve ever known. It’s almost a kind of perfection, where there’s no longer any need to ask the metaphysical question Why? The truest luxury— the truest happiness, maybe— is to exist without sorrow, without limits: to linger around a drink, a game, an encounter in order to prolong the night and go to bed later and later until it circles back around to early, when the faceless masses are leaving for the office, or are already there."

In a side-story Joséphine also helps one pupil grow as a person as he starts to understand the choices he faces through a philosophical lens.

The novel is deliberately provocative and poses some interesting questions, and would be a good bookclub / Goodreads readalong choice.

But it felt that the set-up made Joséphine's choice rather easier by emphasising the rather meaningless nature of her teaching role given the pupils, the school and the frustrations of the system (school inspectors are constantly telling the teachers to dumb things down, and the school administration turn a blind eye to the pupils disrespectful and even aggressive behaviour). And at its low points the novel can rather resemble a mash-up of Sophie's World, Grange Hill and Showgirls.

2.5 stars, rounded to 3.

This is undoubtedly provocative and deliberately so as the book takes as its source Descartes' mind/body division and plays it out via the life of a contemporary French woman who teaches philosophy in a school by day and slips into being a pole/lap-dancer by night.

Does it romanticise sex-working? Jo isn't a prostitute, the eponymous 'no touching' rule applies in the bar where she works, though she does do naked lap dances. What is striking is that it's her day job that constricts and oppresses her sense of self; her night job that liberates her both mentally and physically, which enables her to fall in love with her own body, to live fully inside it for the first time, to experience its power and to celebrate its potent agency. Problematic, huh?

I still don't quite know how I feel about this book, and I'm not even sure we're supposed to come down on the side of either mind or body - but I love the complex questions this book is posing for women especially women whose sense of identity is bound up with their intellectual capabilities.

Bold, provocative and stimulating - this is one I want to discuss with all my friends.