Singapore Rebel: Searching for Annabel Chong

by Gerrie Lim

Back in January 1995 in Los Angeles, California, a Singaporean pornstar named Annabel Chong took cultural rebellion to an extreme, on terms that had never been negotiated before. She was filmed having sex with a long receiving line of men, servicing them 251 times over a ten-hour period to set a new world record. While this was recorded as The World's Biggest Gangbang, and later scrutinized in the documentary film The Annabel Chong Story, many of its actual participants were completely cluelessas to the significance of such history being made. Now, Annabel's longtime friend and confidante, and bestselling author, Gerrie Lim revisits those events and re-examines thosescenarios - to shed new light on her legend, to discover why such an enduring curiosity about her exists and to learn why she is still regarded in her own native Singapore as something akin to a mythological figure and an urban legend.This book, featuring many ofthe author's own conversations and correspondences with Annabel over the years, is the first serious inquiry into the fascinating persona of a seldom discussed, yet oftensecretly venerated, Asian celebrity.

Genres: Biography

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Khairul Hezry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Annabel Chong is the stage persona of Grace Kwek, a Singaporean lass who decided to go against the social engineering policy of Singapore and dropped out of studying law at King’s College, London (her parents’ friends actually offered their condolences when they found out) and found herself instead in the United States where she eventually starred in the film that apparently made her into a legend, The World's Biggest Gangbang where 70 men stood in line to have sex with her. Then they went back to the end of the line for another go in order for her to reach the total of 251 couplings.

Singapore Rebel isn’t just about her though. Author Gerrie Lim, no stranger on writing about the sex industry, also explores the impact of porn stars of Asian descent in the US porn industry. Did they gain prominence because of the trailblazing efforts of Annabel Chong? Probably not. Heck, Annabel was probably not the first Asian porn star but allowing 70 men to take turns on her several times each was what made her famous, regardless of her race. Sure, her record was broken the year after (in 1996 another actress had 300 men on her. So, Yay!) but Annabel was the first to achieve it on film as Lim liked to stress.

The book is also a critique on Singapore’s rigid look on life. You are expected to do well in school, go to a good college and then to a prestigious foreign University on a scholarship to study law, engineering, medicine, economics and other sciences. Woe betide those who want to study liberal arts. Perhaps today Singapore is a bit different (I don’t know, I’ve only been there once in the early 80s) but in Annabel’s time, long serving Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew was at the helm and you followed his way or no way at all. A few like Annabel and Gerrie Lim rebelled. They left for the West where they found, like a lot of migrants from South East Asia did, a place where a lot more freedom and choices were available. Including the choice to act in porn and to write about it.

Singapore Rebel is a quick and interesting read on the nature of sex on film and the ‘pioneering’ lady who went against everything she was taught to do growing up in Singapore and enjoying every second of it.

[Pandora · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't why I'm always let down when books about porn stars turn out to be poorly-written, hack-level rubbish. Can't these ladies (and a handful of men) afford better ghost writers? Gerrie Lim makes constant, repetitious mention of the fact that he and Chong are best buddies (and that they are the only Singaporeans in 'the industry'.) Great info, but it only needed to be stated once. Chong's story should be a fascinating read but Lim just recycles the same paragraphs again and again, sometimes literally cutting and pasting. Maybe a judicious editor could have helped but I'm not convinced. At the very least, it's superior to Kendra Wilkinson's 'Sliding Into Home, but that's only because I didn't hope Chong would die before the end (cf Morticia Addam's reading The Cat in The Hat and skipping to the end, sighing "Oh dear. He lives." One day, someone will write a great pornstar bio. Possibly.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was mediocre. I didn't know very much about the topic but I finished the book thinking I should have watched the documentary "Sex: The Anabel Chong Story" rather than reading the book as it referred to the documentary so often. The author repeated his point several times and talked about how important Anabel Chong's work was as a feminist but didn't explain why. He spoke about his personal interactions with the subject tediously. I don't need to know about your emails to each other. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't great.

[Daniel Molina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was first introduced to Annabel Chong through Chuck Palahniuk’s Snuff many years ago. I decided to read Searching for Annabel Chong: Demystifying the Legend of Singapore’s Most Famous Pornstar! after enjoying Gerrie Lim’s Invisible Trade: High-Class Sex for Sale in Singapore in 2024. However, Lim’s attempt to demystify Annabel leaves much to be desired.

The book reads more like a memoir as Lim recounts past interviews he conducted with Annabel, occasionally dedicating time to other Asian pornstars and superfluous material that comes across as disjointed from the central argument. Though he does comment on aspects that are intriguing like her upbring in Singapore and the sociopolitical elements of her career and personal views, Lim fails to delve deep enough (no pun intended) to fully “demystify” her as a legendary figure. Instead, Lim dedicates passages to arbitrary things such as writing an entire chapter that explores the contents of her now-defunct website, which often made reading the book a chore.

Lim claims that “any study about pornography today, it follows, is really a metaphysical search for Annabel Chong – an inquiry into what she stood for, by way of what pornography itself stands for.”

For an individual introduced in such a way who showed academic acumen, who entered the adult industry, and who quickly left to pursue a career in web development and consulting, readers are left with sparse commentary on an enigmatic person.

In the end, the book is repetitive and often deviates from intriguing content when it could’ve benefited from more cohesive investigative journalism when discussing a person readers are told requires precise scholarship.

[cypher · Rating 1 out of 5]

the book claims women say she's a role-model...and i have a really hard time accepting a woman who is referred to in the book by the author as being "pounded by (100) men (at the same time, on camera)" can ever be considered a role-model. that's not "liberation", as the book suggests, that's just another woman used for sex, for entertainment...objectified. these are not and should not be the role-models of our daughters. we can't teach our society, our kids, wrong values. we have that responsibility. this book is all wrong.
this is not a success story, this is not a "role-model".
...and i'm also not sure who really buys the porn is "a parody" narrative either...it's an addiction and an exploitative industry.
"pornography normalizes sexual behaviour through simulacra"...but this is just incorrect, porn normalizez extreme behaviours making them ok, and it's not simulacra, on the contrary...porn is getting more and more aggressive, hurting women more and more, and too many people start thinking that's normal sex, when it's just outlier behaviour pushed as "mainstream".
this book is just all twisted to promote a toxic industry.

also, "she was robbed and r*ped (by a group of men)", the author mentions, then immediately goes to refer to this as "the famous gangb*ng event"...and i am absolutely appalled. "famous"?! that is what that is, sensational?! is a r*pe a "gangb*ang" now?!

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read about a fascinating woman. Pity the author's tendency to repeat himself time after time as well as constantly over-analysing and intellectualising.

[Nurshafiqa · Rating 3 out of 5]

i first heard of annabel chong sometime last year. i was amazed.. mostly because someone like her actually came from conservative singapore. like, wow.
the book gave me a new perspective on the adult film industry and sheds some light on the "real" annabelle chong, grace quek, who is kind of a heroine to me.. someone who isn't afraid to defy what's "accepted" and does what she wants without giving much of a f***. i can only hope to be half as amazing as her.

this book, on the other hand, can be written better. like some parts were quite incomprehensible to me which sucks.

3 stars.

[Suica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very poor writing and structure it's very frustrating to read.

[Vanessa Khoo · Rating 1 out of 5]

boring book....

I read the same phrase "251 men" for like the 10th time in this god dam book...such a let down