Ruth's journey of sex and self-discovery in 'Soft Core'

Brittany Newell's novel "Soft Core" immerses readers in a raw, sensual exploration of a woman's life in San Francisco.

Illustration by Marie Bertrand

By Novanka Laras and Sarah Oktaviany

Soft Core, by Brittany Newell

In Brittany Newell’s bold novel Soft Core, the narrative unfolds through the eyes of Ruth, a 27-year-old woman who is living a disjointed and chaotic life in San Francisco. Ruth, who shares a Victorian house with her ex-boyfriend—a ketamine dealer—seems to be floating through life, a state described as "loose, like favorite panties with the elastic stretched out.” Her existence is paradoxical, both aimless and full of moments that spark intense emotional shifts, encapsulating the essence of her complex, transient life.

Ruth is also known as Baby, a name she uses at the strip club where she works. Later, in a dungeon, she adopts the name Sunday, catering to private clients with particular sexual fetishes. The novel takes us on a journey between extremes as Ruth moves from one identity to another, and from one chaotic encounter to the next.

Ruth’s wild journey through sex, identity, and desire

Ruth’s narrative is rich in tension, oscillating between seemingly mundane moments and deeply significant interactions. Whether she’s watching Sex and the City while eating beans and leftover tiramisu or engaging in illicit drug use with a married lawyer, the rhythm of her life fluctuates between extremes. But it’s not long before the strange events begin to take hold of her world.

One client offers Ruth $800 a month for unconventional sexual favors, only to ask her to delete his number while still sending her money. Ruth also begins receiving mysterious emails from a cryptic address—nobody.is.home@protonmail.com—adding to the growing sense that something is unraveling in her life. Another girl at the strip club becomes unnervingly attached to her, even stealing Ruth’s signature scent—a fragrance called Soft Core, which mixes notes of licorice, orchids, leather, and plums.

When Dino, her first love and the owner of the house she lives in, suddenly disappears without a trace, Ruth’s world begins to disintegrate. As the world around her crumbles, Ruth begins searching for meaning, as if trying to piece together clues that could explain what’s happening to her.

Brittany Newell’s rich, multi-layered writing in Soft Core

Soft Core is a novel brimming with energy, drama, and sharp attention to detail. Newell, who brings a wealth of real-life experience as a professional dominatrix, has an exceptional ability to immerse readers in varied and intricate worlds. Her approach to storytelling is a departure from the minimalist trend in contemporary literature. In many modern novels, characters often seem adrift, disconnected from their surroundings, and even from themselves. In contrast, Ruth’s first-person narrative brings San Francisco to life in full three dimensions, from the pink neon lights of the strip club to the distinct chill of tall Victorian homes. Ruth’s experience of the city is as much a part of the story as her personal journey.

Through Ruth’s perspective, we are invited to engage with the sensuality of life—the smells, sounds, tastes, and textures that form the backbone of her existence. Ruth’s memories are rich with sensory details, like the scent of Fruit Roll-Ups from a childhood friend’s house or the lingering odor of her ex-boyfriend’s last meal of garlic rice and stewed beef.

This attention to the specifics of life sets Soft Core apart as a deeply ambitious narrative, one that seeks to capture the overwhelming flood of experiences that define a life. Newell’s skillful exploration of Ruth’s life in transition creates a vivid portrayal of a woman grappling with the complexity of identity, sexuality, and emotional growth.

The gradations of Ruth’s 20s: finding meaning in chaos

A major theme in Soft Core is the disorienting yet profound changes that occur between the ages of 24 and 27. As Ruth reflects on her experiences, she observes, “It was crazy how much could happen to a girl in three years.” This realization is both mundane and deeply insightful. Ruth, like many women in their late 20s, grapples with the tension between her past self and the person she’s becoming. The shadows of her younger selves—the 22-year-old, the 25-year-old—are still very much a part of her, even if they no longer define her. Ruth’s journey is as much about self-discovery as it is about the ghosts of her former identities.

The moments of transition are not always easy, and Ruth finds herself revisiting aspects of her old life, including her “slut-self.” A night out in the Mission District, dancing to reggaeton, sparks a wave of nostalgia for her past behavior and identity. This conflict between past and present adds emotional complexity to the novel, as Ruth attempts to reconcile the different versions of herself that have lived in parallel throughout the years.

The influence of San Francisco and the weight of mystery in Soft Core

San Francisco serves as more than just a backdrop in Soft Core—it is a character in its own right, influencing Ruth’s journey. Newell draws inspiration from the city’s distinct atmosphere, which serves to heighten the novel’s noir undercurrent. Ruth begins to see echoes of Dino, or versions of him, in her surroundings, further blurring the lines between the real and imagined. The email correspondent remains an enigmatic presence in her life, and Ruth begins to miss the mystery man who continues to pay her without any apparent need or request.

The novel explores the question of connection versus randomness—whether these encounters and moments of mystery are part of a larger web of meaning, or if they are simply random events in Ruth’s chaotic life. This ambiguity, coupled with the novel’s distinct noir tone, gives Soft Core its compelling sense of unease. Ruth’s struggle to understand her life becomes a search for clues in a city filled with secrets.

A joyously loose ending in Soft Core

As the novel approaches its conclusion, Ruth reflects on the web of people who have come in and out of her life. While not all subplots are neatly tied up, the final pages of Soft Core offer a satisfying, if unconventional, resolution. The novel’s open-ended, strange finale captures Ruth’s ongoing journey, one in which the mysteries of her past seem to fall into place, even as she steps into the unknown future. Ruth’s realization that she was never truly alone, that she only had to “know where to look,” offers a hopeful, if bittersweet, message in the face of the novel’s exploration of loneliness and disconnection.

Brittany Newell’s Soft Core is a powerful meditation on the complexities of modern womanhood, sexuality, and self-discovery. Through Ruth’s eyes, we experience not only a journey through the heart of San Francisco, but also the emotional labyrinth of a woman’s transition into a new phase of life. It is a raw, sensual, and beautifully messy exploration of what it means to be alive, to be human, and to seek connection in a world full of contradictions.