This is the book review we wrote in 1997:

There's a book available about vaginal fisting called "A Hand In The Bush", by Deborah Addington, from Greenery Press, ISBN 1-890159-02-6, $11.95 (in 1997, currently $13.95) + S&H. 

We ordered the book back in 1997 shortly after it had been published and received it very soon after having placed the order, even though we live in Europe and chose not to pay extra for fast delivery. High marks to the publisher for good service.

Our feelings about this book are very mixed. On one hand, it's nice to see that a book has been written about our favorite hobby (it's the only one available as far as we know). But on the other hand, the book did leave us with a feeling that it's poorly written, greatly padded (despite being only 102 pages), and not very authoritative.

To start with, we found the author's writing style very gushy and irritating. Deborah Addington looks on fisting as a religion, and can't seem to get over saying again and again how wonderful it is. All well and good, but for us she is preaching to the already-converted, and the preaching together with the long-winded, gushy style became very tiring.

Even more annoying was the fact that the author tries to make you think that she really knows what she's talking about, but for us she came across as an enthusiastic devotee, and nothing more. There are a few quotes from doctors that she has known, but no indication as to whether these doctors have any relevant knowledge, and a few of her opinions and recommendations are, in our opinion, simply wrong.

For example, on page 3 it says "Who the hell is this Addington woman, and why should I listen to her? Because she has a college degree, and because she absolutely loves to fuck; ...". My goodness, the credentials of a real expert! No mention of which college she went to or what subject the degree is in. 

Then there's the question of how much real content the book has. As we read it, we kept wondering when the "good stuff", the real information about fisting, would start. It finally comes in chapter five, "Fisting, the adventure", which is 20 pages long. Great, now we're getting somewhere, we thought, only to discover that chapter five is the last chapter in the book! Following this chapter is a conclusion, some poems and essays by other fisting devotees, some appendices and a list of references.

OK, maybe it's hard to fill a major book with information about vaginal fisting, but this book comes across as 20 pages of "core material" and 80 pages of padding, some of which is relevant but most of which seems to be there primarily to flesh out the book.

Another thing that we didn't like was that the "how to do it" section assumed that the people involved were sleeping around, so 100% safe sex was the order of the day. The list of all of the paraphernalia and procedures recommended for really safe sex was enough to make you wonder if it isn't simpler to just refrain from sex. 

There are, of course, some very positive things to say about this book. It does paint a very positive picture of vaginal fisting as something that can be very exciting and pleasurable. There are a lot of nice hand-drawn illustrations, many of which show relevant information. The message that fisting is something that you can do even after you end up in the old-folks home was encouraging. And the book does emphasize the need to practice safe sex, despite the negative aspects of this mentioned above.

All-in-all, we're recommending the book, despite the negative aspects, seeing as how "it's the only game in town".

Review written by Cindy and Joe, CindyAndJoe.com, Oct. 1997.