In November, 2003, Carmen Mitchell from Justin, Charles, & Co. emailed me to compliment Group Hug, and to ask if I had considered compiling some of the content into a book. I had considered it, so we met a few days later to talk about it. Things remained theoretical for a couple of months, then some time in January, Carmen emailed to let me know that they wanted to meet again about the book, and mentioned a holiday release.
I started work on the manuscript in February, and by the end of March I had piles of confessions sitting around my apartment.
In July I started working with Simon & Schuster on a UK edition of the book, heavier on the Brit confessions and in a handsome hardback.
I have read tens of thousands of the quarter-million confessions on Group Hug. Stoned, Naked, and Looking in My Neighbor's Window is a distillation of this un-fucking-believable mass of words. It's my first report on a large, distributed consciousness.
Publishers Weekly
The Internet is "the Shangri-La of anonymous, voyeuristic gratification," which, among other things, includes purging your guilt and 'fessing up to sins both trivial and grave. In September 2003, Jeffrey founded a Web site where people could do just that, and the result was a hit. Now it has spawned this engrossing collection of Web site confessions.
Boston Globe
Admit it: You're going to pick up a book called "Stoned, Naked and Looking in My Neighbor's Window," especially if there's a bikini-clad torso staring youin the face and suggesting you come inside.
Cosmopolitan
Got something to get off your chest? Do it at the new site www.grouphug.us
New York Post
Think of the worst thing you've ever done. Or the one secret you'd never tell anyone. Then go to www.grouphug.us and feel relieved that there are so many people who have committed far nastier sins -- or feel deeply freaked out that such people walk among us.
Boston Magazine
Gabriel Jeffrey's confessional site is anonymous, untraceable, and, as an added bonus, provides an engrossing public record of naughtiness.
The Weekly Dig
A flip through Stoned, Naked, and Looking in My Neighbor's Window is a revelation--and one hell of a good time.
