Kirjoittaminen on vaikeaa, varsinkin seksistä kirjoittaminen. Seuraavassa Prix Goncourtin vuonna 2006 ja yli miljoonan myynnin saavuttaneen Jonathan Littellin hikistä vyörytystä
Una had stretched out on the bed of the guillotine; I lifted the lunette, made her put her head through it, and closed it on her long neck, after carefully lifting her heavy hair. She was panting. I tied her hands behind her back with my belt, then raised her skirt. I didn't even bother to lower her panties, just pushed the lace to one side and spread her buttocks with both hands: in the slit, nestling in hair, her anus gently contracted. I spit on it. 'No,' she protested. I took out my penis, lay on top of her, and thrust it in. She gave a long stifled cry. I was crushing her with all my weight; because of the awkward position – my trousers were hindering my legs – I could only move in little jerks. Leaning over the lunette, my own neck beneath the blade, I whispered to her: 'I'm going to pull the lever, I'm going to let the blade drop.' She begged me: 'Please, fuck my pussy.' – 'No.' I came suddenly, a jolt that emptied my head like a spoon scraping the inside of a soft-boiled egg.Vuonna 2010 kirjallisen kyvyttömyyden kuninkuuden voitti Rowan Somerville toisella romaanillaan The Shape of Her. Muina ehdokkaina olivat
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (4th Estate)
The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (Atlantic Books)
The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon (Atlantic Books)
Maya by Alastair Campbell (Hutchinson)
A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee (Constable & Robinson)
Heartbreak by Craig Raine (Atlantic Books)
Mr Peanut by Adam Ross (Jonathan Cape)
Tuomarit vakuutettiin viime vuonna seuraavanlaisilla lauseilla:
'Like a lepidopterist mounting a tough-skinned insect with a too blunt pin he screwed himself into her.'Kiitospuheessaan Somerville tiivistää koko sukurutsaisen saaren dilemman:
'There is nothing more English than bad sex,' said Somerville, whose first novel, The End of Sleep, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. 'So on behalf of the nation, I thank you.'Guardianista löytyi vielä Rowan Somervillen Top10 hyvästä fiktiivisestä seksistä.
