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Jan 19, 2012

K2 rated it:

This is a quick read that is not earth shattering but it interesting in a bit of a National Enquirer way. Ignore the dime store cover.

I suppose it depends what expectation you bring to the book how you feel about it. If you want to know the inner workings of a harem or juicy sex stories I think you may well be disappointed. If instead you read it for the portrait of the roots of troubled young people it's quite a road map.

Take an adopted daughter, throw her into an upper midd More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 15, 2012

Allison rated it:

If you've been a real, live, contemporary harem girl, and you can write worth a damn, then clearly you have a story to tell. Jillian Lauren certainly can write worth a damn, which makes for an entertaining and rather sickening glance into a mental landscape that is frequently unflattering, vacillating wildly between a preciously narcissistic self-concept and good ol' low self-esteem. In Lauren's world, other women are a series of assets and liabilities to be assessed as "the competition" More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 02, 2011

Gem rated it:

This is an absolutely fascinating memoir by a smart, funny, witty woman. At so many points in this book, I found myself thinking, “How have I never heard of this woman before? How do more people not know about this?” I always knew that harems of this sort still exist in this world. Of course they do – and it’s portrayed all the time in the movies. So why wouldn’t it be real? The only difference is, when you see a powerful man with a bevy of beauties on his arm in a movie, you don’t really get to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Beth rated it:

A friend loaned me this autobiographical book and suggested that I read it; otherwise I would have never picked it up. Nowhere near as mindnumbing. An adopted, rebellious Jew girl from suburban New Jersey runs off to NYC with big dreams of becoming an actress. Drops out of college, becomes a stripper, and then an escort to get easy money. She gets picked at the age of 19 to travel across the world to be a part of Prince Jefri's harem in Brunei. She ends up staying there for 18 months. A More...

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May 01, 2011

MaryEllen rated it:

Some Girls: My Life in a Harem — an absolutely amazing read. Go inside a world so foreign, and yet so familiar with the female competition and power struggles that occupy the scores of women in a modern harem in Brunei. Women from all over the globe. Some trashy, some classy, and some seeming like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ just recognizing, "this isn't Kansas anymore . . . "

A striking thing about the existence of sex-worker mistresses of a madly outrageous, country-ownin More...

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Mar 25, 2011

Thomas rated it:

I admit that I gave this memoir five stars instead of four because I know the author, though only distantly. I admired her writing early in her career and when I finally read this memoir I was pretty blown away. I hear a lot of hating in the comments, but that doesn't really make sense to me. It's really quite a beautifully-written book. Maybe memoir is just one of those things that either clicks with you or doesn't. But I've read a lot of books about sex work, and this one was unquestionably on More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 11, 2011

Teresa rated it:

I found this book sad and disturbing, bereft of any real point.
I picked it up out of curiosity about Brunei and an abiding interest in each
person's unique story, but finished it only to see if the poor girl eventually
found some sort of redemption. It seems she didn't.
Jillian and her brother Johnny grew up in the middle-class non-observant
Jewish family into which they were both adopted. Both experienced troubled
and wild teenage years. Johnny found fulfillment in God More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 30, 2010

Laura rated it:

This book tells of the experiences in a girl from the tri-state area that was in the Brunei harem. While not entirely typical (she's adopted, dropped out of school at age 16), Lauren is easy to relate to and generally likeable. She doesn't dwell on how she got her start in the sex industry, but it's not hard to read between the lines (father issues, needing to be loved etc). Her account is pretty upfront, and she dwells more on the sorority-like aspect of her living situation rather than the More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 10, 2010

Ket rated it:

Some Girls: My Life In a Harem is a riveting memoir about an 18-year-old NYU theater school dropout-cum-stripper who is lured by the promise of a $20,000 paycheck to party in Southeast Asia for a couple of weeks. On the day of her father's surgery, Jillian Lauren lies to her adoptive parents, claiming she's booked an acting job on an independent film in Singapore, and leaves her boyfriend and crummy East Village apartment behind. Under a cloak of secrecy, Jillian lands in Borneo, where she and More...

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Jul 22, 2010

Maggie rated it:

I began reading this late one night and hated it. I found the language to be clunky, the plot to be slow, and the narrator uninteresting. I put it on the shelf for two weeks. When I picked it up again, I found that I was absolutely enthralled by it, though I couldn't tell you what changed. Maybe I just needed to be in a different mindset? Anyway, I strongly suggest pushing past the first two chapters before making any decisions about this book.

Lauren's word choice is sumptuous; I wan More...

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Jul 20, 2010

Eliza rated it:

My first thought when starting this book is that it probably takes place in a huge palace in a Muslim Middle Eastern country, like Saudi Arabia or Dubai. In fact, although there is a huge palace and Islamic faith the story instead is located in Brunei, a country on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. My second stereotype was that these women would be stuck in an undesirable situation with no freedom that they'd be very lucky to escape from. This too was wrong, the protagonist was basicall More...

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Jul 08, 2010

Liz rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

May 21, 2010

Cat rated it:

I saw this author on The View promoting this book. I immediately thought 2 things: 1) I am about to rewrite a story that is set in a modern-day harem and this would be good for research and 2) here is another person who got a publishing contract not because she can write, but because she happened to have a good story which in light of the recent Oprah book club memoir debacles may or may not be true. Amid the depressing thoughts that I would perhaps have to join a harem to get a NY publishing co More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2012

Pikachu rated it:

One thing I hear people say a lot is that the court intrigues of the past - most notably the Tudor and Borgia courts - are so barbaric and base; something like that would never happen now. Well, this is only partly true. It would never happen now because we have laws prohibiting multiple wives and prostitution and murdering people because they're too nosy. If the rich in our society had ultimate power that allegedly came from God, do you really think they would hesitate to construct a viper's ne More...

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Aug 21, 2011

♥Xeni♥ rated it:

Okay, so I know it's rude to judge someone's memoir, but if they publish their life story, I feel it's okay to judge them. They could just keep these things private if they don't want my judgements.

That said, I was so totally disappointed by this book. It was lousy. I had expected something to be learned from this tale, or at least leave the book with the idea of "Now I am prepared!" but there wasn't even that in it. It was just one huge monologue on this girls' horrible lif More...

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Dec 12, 2011

Ruds rated it:

In the mid-90's, the Philippines was gripped by a scandal on the alleged flesh trade of Filipina models, actresses and entertainers in Brunei that a senate investigation was even called. I picked out this book hoping to glean insider accounts of the mysterious, sensual lives of the girls( or, as the author lightly put it, the royal entertainers) inside a harem. And yeah, I was hoping Ruffa Guiterrez's name will be brought up.

In her time inside Prince Jefri's harem, the author befriend More...

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Jul 08, 2011

Meredith rated it:

I heard the author give an interview on Howard Stern about this book, and was intrigued not so much by her harem/hooker past but by the fact she is now married to the bassist of Weezer, and they adopted a little boy from Ethiopia... just like me (the Ethiopia part, not the Weezer part).

And okay, the harem thing was sort of interesting. But though this book was readable, by the end I was totally annoyed by the writer. She has the pretense of being this fantastic author who honed her cr More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 16, 2011

Whitney rated it:

the short: Beautifully, though somewhat theatrically written, relatable memoir about a young girl and the time she spent in a harem.

the long: I was very surprised by this book. I expected a story about a girl who was promised a modeling contract or a movie deal overseas, only to be thrown against her will into the sex industry. I expected details of kidnapping and horrific rape. I couldn't imagine relating to a girl who would be so naive. I could not have been more wrong. The author More...

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Sep 18, 2010

Jay rated it:

Good girl goes bad and joins a harem. Sounds like something straight from a bad romance novel. Or a mediocre memoir, as in this case.

I would have liked it if Lauren had established more about her reasons behind pushing away from her parents. While I know it happens a lot, and sometimes there aren't any good reasons, I would have liked to have seen more of a change from Daddy's Little Girl to Prince Jefri's Harem Girl. Lauren brushed over the abuse, that while awful, didn't really re More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 13, 2010

Pam rated it:

How does a fairly wealthy adopted Jewish girl end up in a modern day harem at 18? Lauren does a good job of explaining her journey. She is a very angry teenager. She has been physically and mentally abused by her father for yrs. When he gets angry at her he beats her and then later apologizes. After one of her father's tantrums she tells her mother she is moving out. Her mother agrees with her. HUH????? She is only 16! Her mother suggests she gets her GED and skip her senior yr of High s More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 23, 2010

Alice rated it:

(2.5 stars) This is a very quick, interesting read. The author is looking back at her 18-19 year old self who dropped out of NYU, became a stripper, became an escort, and ended up as a member of the Prince of Brunei's harem (this is all on the book jacket, so it's not a spoiler). While I really enjoyed some of the passages (the scenes where she spends spends spends in Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, etc. are crazy), there are a lot of long boring flashbacks to her upper-middle class Jewish upbringing i More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 01, 2011

Shawna added it

It's hard to feel sorry for a woman who prostituted herself to the richest man in the world, and was allowed to fly to Singapore and spend more than "the down payment on her house" on designer clothes. Sure, she was bored, and manipulated, and pulled into the catty machinations of the harem, but in the end she walked away with ten of thousands of dollars in cash, and jewelry. It was a fascinating story, and the author's background/upbringing explains a good deal of dissociative relat More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 13, 2010

Emily rated it:

"So these were the women with whom I was traveling halfway around the world: a Jesus-loving Hustler centerfold, an evil shadow Marilyn, and a summer=camp counselor gone wrong." page 72

Some Girls is the story of Jillian Lauren who at 18 took a chance of a lifetime and traveled to the country of Brunei to be part of Prince Jefri's harem. She had just recently started working as an escort on the recommendation of a girl named Taylor whom she met while playing More...

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Jun 24, 2010

Caitlin rated it:

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. I've often found there is a relationship between the quality of the writing in a memoir and the outlandishness of the story - The crazier the life story, the crappier the writing, and vice versa. So I figured that it doesn't really get much more bizarre than spending several months as part of a harem for the sons of the Sultan of Brunei, and that the writing would be horrible.

Well, it wasn't. I thought it was actually really good. I More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

Sandra rated it:

I really wanted to love this book. I heard an interview from the author on a podcast and was intrigued by the whole story. However, the book just didn't do it for me. I thought the author made some poor decisions that led her to this life and never really owned up to the fact that she brought this upon herself. I thought she blamed her dad for these choices and has never really grown up to the fact that she, alone, is responsible for her actions. Sure, she had a rough childhood. But so did More...

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Sep 25, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

Don't judge a book by it's cover subject. The author powerfully conveys some of the universal baggage us women carry around. The desire to be desired. Looking for love in all the wrong places. The fear of being alone. The pull to be independent and free. Sex as the most important sign of love. How damaging it can be to base our self worth on things outside of ourselves, especially on the approval of others and in particular, men and money. Feeling unlovable, defective, unworthy and then More...

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Oct 24, 2010

*MystGrrl* rated it:

Thought I'd take a break from the supernatural & fantasy genre. And WOW did I ever!!!

Jillian Lauren's book "Some Girls" looks into her life as a modern day Harem Girl. If you're thinking I Dream of Jeannie stylized fantasies be prepared for a rude awakening.

Jill was a normal teenage girl who has gone through the typical angst & rebellious stage everyone else goes through, wanting more out of life that what she already had. The choices Jill makes during the course of More...

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Oct 09, 2011

Tina rated it:

"The "casting director" told her that a rich businessman in Singapore would pay pretty American girls $20,000 if they stayed for two weeks to spice up his parties. Soon, Jillian was on a plane to Brunei, where she would spend the next eighteen months in the harem of Prince Jefri Bolkiah..." (The back of the book)

With an introduction like that, I expected a different book than the one I got. I expected the story of an American girl sold into white slavery and her More...

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Jul 16, 2010

shannon rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

6 comments like

Jun 15, 2010

Amy rated it:

Jillian Lauren might be considered an opportunist, both in her decision to enter the employ of the Prince of Brunei and the decision to write this memoir. But after I read "Some Girls," I realized that Lauren's decision to venture to Brunei were founded on circumstances that she neither fully understood at the time, nor even grasped the significance of. She was up against someone in a position of power. This person did not give a second thought to exploiting those who were not. Th More...

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