Tracy Clark-Flory says that Daniel Stern’s Swingland “at moments … reads like a self-discovery memoir à la “Eat, Pray, Love,” only with super-graphic group-sex scenes”:
The most satisfying bits of “Swingland” are also the most fleeting: Stern’s description of an elderly orgy-goer who boasts of a new hip replacement and osteoporosis medication; the Russian husband who leaves a Sylvester Stallone movie playing on TV throughout Stern’s carnal encounter with his wife; the anxious home improvement chatter that inevitably happens between men before everyone’s taken their clothes off; and the deaf swinger who responds to a woman’s loud moans with, “Even I could hear that!” Behind the absurdity and occasional braggadocio, there is a sweetness hidden at the center of the book, encapsulated in Stern’s revelation toward the end: ”I’d escaped that tonnage of performance-hindering anxiety and understood sex for what it was: fun.”
From TCF’s interview with Stern:
What kind of people did you meet in the lifestyle? What are they like in their everyday lives? What cross-section of America are we talking about?
They really run the gamut, everything from people in the police force to teachers to administrative assistants to people you would recognize from being on television. Age-wise, everyone from early 20s to octogenarians. The vast majority of swingers that I’ve met are middle-aged. My theory to explain that is they live long enough to have enough normal experiences when it comes to sex that they seek out something that is different. They’ve been in a marriage or relationship long enough that they want to get a bit of spice.
The Dish 