Pimp: The Story of My Life Paperback – 10 May 2011

Great Read. Iceberg Slim is a legend. Beautifully written. Well paced and filled with life lessons.

If you don’t understand some of the words phrases used in the book, there’s a section at the back of the book the has translations. Great read and really got me into reading again!

The stories within are incredible. At times, you'll feel compassion due to the author's problematic upbringing. Then you'll feel anger, due to the completely unjustified horror and cruelty he imposed on these women. It's a rollercoaster, really, and I think that, horrible as Slim was, he's not the worst of the bunch in the book, by far!The only problem i had was with the language... it is so filled with slangs and neologisms that i had to go his provided dictionary 3 or 4 times in order to understand a single sentence! So it becomes tiring really fast.. but definitely recommended!!

This book is really well written, everything is well described so helps to make for a clearer mental image. Definitely recommend, it's real

Great book! Had to get a second copy as friends took my other one.

His style of prose is clearly unique for the time and furthermore influential, but I felt myself drifting in and out of the story. If this is based more on fact than fiction then this really is a warts and all documentary on that kind of like from a first person perspective, adding onto a very tough childhood. Maybe I was hoping for a rays of light to emerge here as, despite reading the entire Irvine Welsh collection on the other hand, I'm still brought up on traditional storytelling. It's gritty, does not pull any punches and occasionally humourous. Along with the style of prose, I can see why Irvine Welsh was influenced by this, as there are no clear protagonists or antagonists. Just huge grey areas of morality within the context of that world and it's down to the reader to determine what is right and wrong, although Slim's actions aren't all that surprising considering where he came from. Not a book based specifically on morality or even mere survival, but about a guy who just wants to be somebody, despite having been dealt a bad hand in life.

90s gangsta rappers owe a lot to Iceberg Slim, who published this first hand account of pimping way back in 1967. There is zero compromise in Slim's writing: He makes the reader understand the glamour and appeal of the pimp lifestyle, whilst also detailing its brutality and danger. He also makes it clear why it held a particular appeal for certain young black men in 1940s America. He does so with a language that is both street and poetic. Open to any page, and you'll find descriptions cracking with wit and gusto.This book is not for the faint-hearted. It contains horrifying accounts of violence against women that would make even the most vehement misogynist wince. In some ways, this is their story as much as Slim's: By the end of the book, you won't just understand why someone would choose to be a pimp, you'll also understand why someone would allow themselves to be pimped. It's a grim portrait, but there are certainly lessons from history worth learning here.

Just an amazing read from start to finish.Like nothing you've read before.Really interesting. Some of the parts of it you'd swear weren't real but they were.A truly original book, and all true.It's like nothing you've read before.