Maggie L. (psychocygnet) reviewed Bare : The Naked Truth About Stripping (Live Girls) on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Maybe it's because I'd been reading a stripper's blog before I found out about this book, or maybe it was because I'd been having something of a winning streak when it came to picking out nonfiction, but this book left me cold in the end.
About half of the book is the writer's own memoir of her time performing in a peep show (which isn't quite the same as stripping), and the rest consists of mini-biographies of some of her co-workers, along with a couple of very short chapters about the author working in a couple of strip clubs. The book starts off with the part focused on the author- which may not be a problem for some readers, but I found the author very unsympathetic ("My adoring college boyfriend bought a house with me! My parents were kind enough to give me money for it! OMG I HATE THEM ALL FOR TYING ME DOWN. Wait, responsibility for your own decisions? That's a thing?"), both in the beginning chapters and the later chapters where she returns to stripping to do a little sociological research.
I loved the chapters where she brought in the very different perspectives of the women she worked with, though, and between that and the quality of the writing (just descriptive enough, without getting prudish and close-mouthed or going into shock-value territory) I did get a reasonable amount of enjoyment out of the book.
About half of the book is the writer's own memoir of her time performing in a peep show (which isn't quite the same as stripping), and the rest consists of mini-biographies of some of her co-workers, along with a couple of very short chapters about the author working in a couple of strip clubs. The book starts off with the part focused on the author- which may not be a problem for some readers, but I found the author very unsympathetic ("My adoring college boyfriend bought a house with me! My parents were kind enough to give me money for it! OMG I HATE THEM ALL FOR TYING ME DOWN. Wait, responsibility for your own decisions? That's a thing?"), both in the beginning chapters and the later chapters where she returns to stripping to do a little sociological research.
I loved the chapters where she brought in the very different perspectives of the women she worked with, though, and between that and the quality of the writing (just descriptive enough, without getting prudish and close-mouthed or going into shock-value territory) I did get a reasonable amount of enjoyment out of the book.
