book data
270 ratings,
3.44
average rating, 60 reviews
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published
February 19th 2003
(first published 2001)
by Miramax Books
binding
Paperback, 336 pages
isbn
0786886757
(isbn13: 9780786886753)
description
Lily Burana had given up on stripping years before she accepted a marriage proposal-but decided to strip her way from Florida to Alaska before settlin...more
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avg 3.44
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in November, 2005
sometimes someone can come along and write an autobiographical book that bends stereotypes in the mids of its readers. this is not that book. Lily Burana had a great idea- to strip her way across america, and documenting her experiences. Unfortunaltey she is neither clever enough to covey her story gracefully or young enough to still be capitalizing on her physical assets.
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Read in March, 2005
I am a feminist. In college, I minored in women's studies, and I ended up taking lots of classes with some very earnest, intelligent women about various "women's issues." Inevitably in these classes, the sex industry would come up for discussion at some point or another -- stripping, pornography, prostitution, etc. I didn't know what I thought about the subject back then, and I still don't today. I'm deeply ambivalent about it. On the one hand, I agree with the argument that says that ...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
Lily's Mom, insomniacs, bonfires
Full disclosure: I didn't read this to the end, I lost it around 125 pages in. The first 100 pages were completely boring, understandable if the subject matter was accounting or patent law, but this book was about stripping -- if the author can't make stripping entertaining, why did they ever pick up a pen? Seiously I have read manuals on PAINT stripping that are more engaging. Not surprising according to her own account she is a low-earning stripper, obviously the author doesn't understand th...more
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If you don't know anyone in the industry or know anything about it this is probably a good book to read. It gives you an insight into stripping from the eye of the stripper and answers questions a lot of people have like "how much do those girls really make?"
Another thing I like about it as compared to other writers about sex work (Carol Queen comes to mind) is that it doesn't gloss over the mixed feelings many strippers have about their work. The sex-positive community would...more
Another thing I like about it as compared to other writers about sex work (Carol Queen comes to mind) is that it doesn't gloss over the mixed feelings many strippers have about their work. The sex-positive community would...more
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Read in January, 2006
Part of me feels like a traitor to my fellow sex workers for saying there were things about this book I really hated, but more of me feels like I'd be a traitor if I *didn't* say that. Because what I really hated was the feeling of being judged for being a "dirtier" kind of sex worker than Lily-white Burana. From her disgust with peep show girls who worked the booths and did hardcore toy shows, etc. to her complaint about her thighs being overworked from regularly squatting/hovering ov...more
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Read in May, 2009
recommended to Hilaroodle by:
Townes v. Z.recommends it for: Meg
Strip City was a book that I came upon without knowing what to expect of it. Knowing only a limited number of people within the adult entertainment industry, the stereotypical view of those who populate it wasn't one that I necessarily held in mind. While this book did little to "open my eyes" to what the industry is, it did entertain me considerably.
I found her forays into the history of the striptease interesting, and particularly enjoyed the anecdotes of Times Square t...more
I found her forays into the history of the striptease interesting, and particularly enjoyed the anecdotes of Times Square t...more
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This is supposedly a book about a woman who, after accepting her boyfriend's marriage proposal, decides she must spend a year stripping across America to help make sense of her stripper past - and herself. Only it quickly becomes clear that instead of leaving her fiance for a year, she takes little, well, what I thought of sarcastically as "stripcations," spending a weekend here, three days there, in between long visits with her man at home. As a reader, I felt a bit gypped at that poi...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
all my girlfriends. It is a girl book. If you love Sex and The City read it.
I picked up this book off the bargin table because I find anything that is set in New Jersey in any way interesting. That fact that the author writes for publications like The Washington Post and Spin attracted me to it as well.
Once I started this book I could not put it down. Lily is a talented writer with an amazing voice. It was a story of someone confronting their past in a very powerful way. Even though I can't relate to stripping (except for the fact that I take pictures at ...more
Once I started this book I could not put it down. Lily is a talented writer with an amazing voice. It was a story of someone confronting their past in a very powerful way. Even though I can't relate to stripping (except for the fact that I take pictures at ...more
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Read in February, 2009
Reading this book for me was like going to the beach for the day and coming home with my dream job. Not what I was expecting from something light but twice as good as anything I could have wished for--she is effortless at dropping genius images very very quickly, one right after another. I can't wait to read Lily Burana's next one, I Love a Man in Uniform.
Read in January, 2001
very well written but left a lot to be desired. . . i read it before i ever knew anything about it, and after being in the industry for 6 years, i find it to be far too tame to portray a real understanding of what it is like to be a dancer. very informative on the history of stripping though.
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Read in December, 2007
This book makes me want to go to more strip clubs. Not in Washington though, where they are prudes and don't serve alcohol.
I bought this on a trip to Portland, OR where I went to an old female-run strip club that I thoroughly enjoyed. I learned somethings about stripping and the business of stripping from this book. It was interesting. The author isn't sharing a "this was my fucked-up life as a stripper" story, but goes on a journey across the US to strip in various clubs ...more
I bought this on a trip to Portland, OR where I went to an old female-run strip club that I thoroughly enjoyed. I learned somethings about stripping and the business of stripping from this book. It was interesting. The author isn't sharing a "this was my fucked-up life as a stripper" story, but goes on a journey across the US to strip in various clubs ...more
Read in May, 2009
Flippant fun tone, surprising punk roots references, first half has interesting introspection, loses cohesiveness 3/4 of the way through, doesn't really address the initial questions, would be great with more class analysis (references to buying tons of betsy johnson like no biz).
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Read in January, 2005
I enjoyed the book and it made me look further into the sex industry and the opinions of those who work/ed in it. But if you are looking for a better written book that is far more interesting, read Diablo Codys' book.
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Read in December, 2008
so iwas really excited to read this but... it wasn't so great. i much prefer candy girl by diablo cody. this book was just all over the place. it shouldve been made into three different books. the author is supposed to be on a frewell to stripping tour and the summary gives the idea that this is what the book is about. her journey, the cities and clubs she goes to, the people she meets. it does, but not so much. it has a lot of her past in it, which should have been put into a second story. its ...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in February, 2008
I picked this up because it seemed like an interesting spin on the memoir genre and I was intrigued by Burana's bio and author photo: an intellectually journalist and former punk posing in a leopard print halter with big hair. I wouldn't say I was disappointed: as others have mentioned the book is pretty readable and I did learn a good deal about the world of exotic dance, but ultimately something was missing for me. I guess I was hoping for more jaded humor, in the vein of Carl Hiassen's "...more
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Suprisingly intelligent and funny. I really enjoyed this book. Incidently I have been to two of the bars she visits on her trip; the Bush Co. and PJ's in Anchorage, AK
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Bor-ring. Burana supposedly goes on a fairwell tour to close the door on her pre-marriage life working in the sex industry. But it sounds more like an edgy topic chosen in order to get a book deal. There's a lot of navel gazing about why she worked as a stripper and her mixed feelings of pride/self loathing. But she's not a particularly compelling or funny writer. I also kind of find some of her attitudes towards the women who come into the clubs to be a bit problematic, in setting up another si...more
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Read in September, 2007
not sure how I feel about this book yet... I'm about 1/4 of the way in, but it still feels like I am reading the first chapter. I like stories about journeys & transformation, though. This is supposed to be "A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America" - so we'll see!
Update:
ok, it is January now & I have finally finished this book... How sad it is that I only have time finish one "for fun" book during the semester... Anyway, it was an enjoyable read - es...more
Update:
ok, it is January now & I have finally finished this book... How sad it is that I only have time finish one "for fun" book during the semester... Anyway, it was an enjoyable read - es...more
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Burana's book is refreshing in that, being that she is simply writing about her life at the same time as she is exploring her personal reasons for becoming a stripper, she does not fall into the pitfalls that other strippers' memoirs have in which they try to justify their profession through an overly-protesting, cloyingly feminist stance on the matter. To Burana, stripping is what it is, and it has its downfalls as well as advantages--as well as a history that she explores through speaking with...more
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quotes from this book
"Somewhere nere Ogallala, about six hours into that majestic, maddening prairie, I realize that half an hour has passed since I've seen a vehicle in either direction.
Oh, I think, as I finally see a pair of headlights draw nigh in the eastbound lane, so this must be where the West begins."
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