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Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America
You don't always choose your journeys in life, writes Lily Burana when she accepts a marriage proposal but decides to strip her way from Florida to Alaska before settling down. An 18-year-old dropout when she first entered the world of exotic dancing, Lily, now a successful journalist, looks back at stripping with a writer's perspective.
328 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
13 people are currently reading
1167 people want to read
About the author
Lily Burana
13 books49 followersLily Burana is the author of three books, including Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America, Try, and a memoir entitled I Love a Man in Uniform. Strip City was named Best Memoir in 2008 and Best Book of the Year in 2001 by Entertainment Weekly.
Burana also works as a journalist and has freelanced for The Washington Post, GQ, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Self, Glamour, Entertainment Weekly, Details, The Village Voice, and The New York Observer. She serves as a contributing editor for New York Magazine and Spin.
Burana married a Lieutenant Colonel in 2002. In 2008, she founded Operation Bombshell, a burlesque school for military wives. She currently lives with her husband in New York.
Burana also works as a journalist and has freelanced for The Washington Post, GQ, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Self, Glamour, Entertainment Weekly, Details, The Village Voice, and The New York Observer. She serves as a contributing editor for New York Magazine and Spin.
Burana married a Lieutenant Colonel in 2002. In 2008, she founded Operation Bombshell, a burlesque school for military wives. She currently lives with her husband in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
March 29, 2009
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 over toilet seats in rest stops (a) I can't stand women who won't sit their precious asses down on a toilet seat, especially in rest stops I know from experience are almost always 4-5 star clean, and b) most strippers I know would first complain about their thighs being sore from performing LAP DANCES which would give them ample preparation/toning for hovering over a toilet seat, but Lily wouldn't lower herself to doing those disgusting full-contact dances, now would she).
If you can get over all of that (and you probably can and would appreciate her point of view unless you're one of the gross people Burana recoils from in horror) then it's an entertaining book. In spite of myself, I did care about her story and perspective and was moved by her plight (even if I couldn't relate to it). I'm not saying it would have been a better book if she'd been DIRTIER -- not at all. I'm just saying I personally would have enjoyed it more if I didn't feel like she was judging those of us who aren't . . . cleaner(?). Her perspective and a lot of the information is skewed by class, her own value system and limits on what kind of dancing she'd do so it's NOT the grand, diverse representation of stripping across America it pretends to be.
A good read even though it chapped my hide. I'm writing this years after I read it -- maybe if I read it again I'd be more objective, but I don't know. I'm getting some of the same feelings reading _The Orchid Thief_ and thinking in my head "fucking New Yorker snob" about Susan Orlean. My emotional, snarling responses to these women's books are my own issues and probably not good indicators of their work's merit. I just feel like I and "my people" are being looked down on with disgust, like they need to burn their clothes after coming into proximity with us and our stinky lower-class auras.
*****
After reading some of the ridiculously stupid reviews here of this book I already feel guilty for what I've written. This book is way better than some of the clueless people are saying. Changing to four stars to balance out some of the dumb-assness, both mine and yours.
If you can get over all of that (and you probably can and would appreciate her point of view unless you're one of the gross people Burana recoils from in horror) then it's an entertaining book. In spite of myself, I did care about her story and perspective and was moved by her plight (even if I couldn't relate to it). I'm not saying it would have been a better book if she'd been DIRTIER -- not at all. I'm just saying I personally would have enjoyed it more if I didn't feel like she was judging those of us who aren't . . . cleaner(?). Her perspective and a lot of the information is skewed by class, her own value system and limits on what kind of dancing she'd do so it's NOT the grand, diverse representation of stripping across America it pretends to be.
A good read even though it chapped my hide. I'm writing this years after I read it -- maybe if I read it again I'd be more objective, but I don't know. I'm getting some of the same feelings reading _The Orchid Thief_ and thinking in my head "fucking New Yorker snob" about Susan Orlean. My emotional, snarling responses to these women's books are my own issues and probably not good indicators of their work's merit. I just feel like I and "my people" are being looked down on with disgust, like they need to burn their clothes after coming into proximity with us and our stinky lower-class auras.
*****
After reading some of the ridiculously stupid reviews here of this book I already feel guilty for what I've written. This book is way better than some of the clueless people are saying. Changing to four stars to balance out some of the dumb-assness, both mine and yours.
October 10, 2025
A Bittersweet Farewell
Little or nothing is more fascinating than human sexuality, especially when the sexuality involved is on the edge. In the past few years, a number of highly literate women have written books describing in substantial detail their experiences in various aspects of what is called the sex industry. Among the best of these books is Lily Burana's "Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America." (2001). Lily Burana (b. 1968) has become a well-known essayist, and she the author of a recent novel, "Try". But her memoir of her life as a stripper established her fame.
Burana grew up in New Jersey as a rebellious daughter of highly-educated parents. She dropped out of high school and ran off to New York City where she was determined to establish her independence and her own character. In order to support herself she began to work at Times Square's notorious "Peepland", dancing nude for men in the grimiest atmosphere behind a two-way mirror. She gradually becomes involved in the industry and moves to San Francisco where she works as a nude dancer for two major clubs, the "Lusty Lady" and "Mitchell Brothers" for five years. During this time, she was teaching herself to write and finding a market for her writing. She spearheaded a lawsuit against Mitchell Brothers for which she worked trying to secure the status of "employee" rather than "independent contractor" for the dancers and better pay and working conditions.
When the book opens, Burana has been away from stripping for several years and is supporting herself as a writer. On assignment in Wyoming she meets and falls in love with Randy, a rodeo worker and cowboy who is comfortable with her past. Before settling down with Randy, Burana finds she needs to get stripping out of her system. She takes up dancing again in a variety of clubs across the country. This new period of life as a stripper differs from the first in that Burana determines to dance topless rather than nude. She discusses at length the differences in exposure both the dancers and their customers see between nude dancing and dancing with even the tiniest g-string.
The book moves back and forth in Burana's life from her childhood, to her first experiences as a dancer, to her decision to go back to the business and then again to give it up, apparently for good. The book offers a picture of the externalities of a life of a stripper in its pictures of countless clubs and of the endless details of buying costumes, hustling customers, and trying to maintain one's physical and sexual allure. Burana has also done research on her topic and offers portrayals of the Pure Talent School of Dance, a school for strippers that Burana attended at the outset of her second tour in the profession, and the Exotic World Museum in California, among other places.
A great deal of the book is internal, as Burana attempts to describe the complex factors that led her into stripping, and the factors that led her to leave it. Burana discusses her relationship with her parents and their reactions to her career and with her sister who had taken a different path in life and become a minister. Many of the best moments of the book involve Burana's relationship with other women in the profession. Burana obviously feels close kinship to many of these women as they are joined in a life that they perceive as beyond the accepted pale for the expression of female sexuality.
Burana remains deeply ambivalent about stripping. Clearly, she enjoyed the money and, unlike many women, had the prudence to save wisely. She also found a rewarding relationship with a man (She doesn't much describe her personal romantic life before meeting Randy.) and a permanent career as a writer. She also seems to enjoy dance, the sexual allure of her profession, and the feeling of power she received from knowing men's attentions and desires were riveted on her when she was, ultimately, unattainable. But Burana also realizes that stripping is a difficult, dangerous, and emotionally-damaging business, as she is wrung-out from her nightly dancing, incessant sexual come-ons, disrespect, rejections, and mutual objectification, of herself and of the men. Burana remains attracted to the business and does not advocate its elimination. But she becomes open to those who criticize and who ask her if she made the best choice in pursuing it. In short she becomes less defensive and more aware of the pitfalls of the life she had led for many years. She made her second tour as a stripper and presumably wrote her memoir as a sort of catharsis to get the profession out of her system for good. She herself realizes that she only partly succeeds.
"Strip City" is a well-written, thoughtful, and I think, largely candid account of Burana's experiences as a stripper and of her responses to these experiences. It teaches a great deal about the sex industry and about what Burana calls the sexual underside of life in the United States -- and probably in most other highly-developed nations, at the least, as well.
Robin Friedman
Little or nothing is more fascinating than human sexuality, especially when the sexuality involved is on the edge. In the past few years, a number of highly literate women have written books describing in substantial detail their experiences in various aspects of what is called the sex industry. Among the best of these books is Lily Burana's "Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America." (2001). Lily Burana (b. 1968) has become a well-known essayist, and she the author of a recent novel, "Try". But her memoir of her life as a stripper established her fame.
Burana grew up in New Jersey as a rebellious daughter of highly-educated parents. She dropped out of high school and ran off to New York City where she was determined to establish her independence and her own character. In order to support herself she began to work at Times Square's notorious "Peepland", dancing nude for men in the grimiest atmosphere behind a two-way mirror. She gradually becomes involved in the industry and moves to San Francisco where she works as a nude dancer for two major clubs, the "Lusty Lady" and "Mitchell Brothers" for five years. During this time, she was teaching herself to write and finding a market for her writing. She spearheaded a lawsuit against Mitchell Brothers for which she worked trying to secure the status of "employee" rather than "independent contractor" for the dancers and better pay and working conditions.
When the book opens, Burana has been away from stripping for several years and is supporting herself as a writer. On assignment in Wyoming she meets and falls in love with Randy, a rodeo worker and cowboy who is comfortable with her past. Before settling down with Randy, Burana finds she needs to get stripping out of her system. She takes up dancing again in a variety of clubs across the country. This new period of life as a stripper differs from the first in that Burana determines to dance topless rather than nude. She discusses at length the differences in exposure both the dancers and their customers see between nude dancing and dancing with even the tiniest g-string.
The book moves back and forth in Burana's life from her childhood, to her first experiences as a dancer, to her decision to go back to the business and then again to give it up, apparently for good. The book offers a picture of the externalities of a life of a stripper in its pictures of countless clubs and of the endless details of buying costumes, hustling customers, and trying to maintain one's physical and sexual allure. Burana has also done research on her topic and offers portrayals of the Pure Talent School of Dance, a school for strippers that Burana attended at the outset of her second tour in the profession, and the Exotic World Museum in California, among other places.
A great deal of the book is internal, as Burana attempts to describe the complex factors that led her into stripping, and the factors that led her to leave it. Burana discusses her relationship with her parents and their reactions to her career and with her sister who had taken a different path in life and become a minister. Many of the best moments of the book involve Burana's relationship with other women in the profession. Burana obviously feels close kinship to many of these women as they are joined in a life that they perceive as beyond the accepted pale for the expression of female sexuality.
Burana remains deeply ambivalent about stripping. Clearly, she enjoyed the money and, unlike many women, had the prudence to save wisely. She also found a rewarding relationship with a man (She doesn't much describe her personal romantic life before meeting Randy.) and a permanent career as a writer. She also seems to enjoy dance, the sexual allure of her profession, and the feeling of power she received from knowing men's attentions and desires were riveted on her when she was, ultimately, unattainable. But Burana also realizes that stripping is a difficult, dangerous, and emotionally-damaging business, as she is wrung-out from her nightly dancing, incessant sexual come-ons, disrespect, rejections, and mutual objectification, of herself and of the men. Burana remains attracted to the business and does not advocate its elimination. But she becomes open to those who criticize and who ask her if she made the best choice in pursuing it. In short she becomes less defensive and more aware of the pitfalls of the life she had led for many years. She made her second tour as a stripper and presumably wrote her memoir as a sort of catharsis to get the profession out of her system for good. She herself realizes that she only partly succeeds.
"Strip City" is a well-written, thoughtful, and I think, largely candid account of Burana's experiences as a stripper and of her responses to these experiences. It teaches a great deal about the sex industry and about what Burana calls the sexual underside of life in the United States -- and probably in most other highly-developed nations, at the least, as well.
Robin Friedman
March 22, 2013
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? Seriously I have read manuals on PAINT stripping that are more engaging. Not surprisingly according to her own account she is a low-earning stripper, obviously the author doesn't understand the purpose of entertainment --be it writing or writhing-- is to entertain.
Sadly, she just began to touch on the circumstance that lead her to stripping in the first place when I lost the book, this story comprised the first interesting pages I read(I think they were interesting, but it could be because I was so bored by the first 100). However, I assume fate took the book from me and spared me a few hours of my life that would have been spent just finish a book for having started it.
Sadly, she just began to touch on the circumstance that lead her to stripping in the first place when I lost the book, this story comprised the first interesting pages I read(I think they were interesting, but it could be because I was so bored by the first 100). However, I assume fate took the book from me and spared me a few hours of my life that would have been spent just finish a book for having started it.
July 12, 2007
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 all sex industry workers are being exploited, degraded, and objectified; on the other hand, I agree with the argument that glorifies sex industry workers for taking charge of their sexuality, and asks what's wrong with being (or being seen as) a sexual being anyway? I have absolutely no personal experience with the sex industry, so all this discussion was purely theoretical. So when I saw this book, I knew I had to read it. Surely I would find some clarification, some resolution to this conundrum, in the memoirs of an ex-stripper?
As it turns out, not so much. Lily Burana herself is deeply ambivalent about stripping, about what it means to her, to her friends and family, and to society at large. That's why she decided to write this book in the first place -- to get some closure on a sticky subject. In the end, she finds personal peace of mind, but no absolute answer, no epiphany. The truth, I think, probably lies somewhere in the middle of those two opposing points of view -- as well as at both extremes. The two different arguments are both true, at the same time. It's enough to give you a headache!
The book itself was very good, I thought. I found it entertaining, informative, and interesting. The author has a gift for descriptive prose, for immersing the reader in a particular time and place so that you feel you're there, part of the action. I enjoyed the parts about the various strip clubs she worked at and the parts about her personal life and history equally. Ms. Burana is a gifted autobiographer, and she wrote the book so that her personal journey interwove itself with the nitty-gritty details of what it's like to live as a working stripper seamlessly, each half of a larger whole.
An excellent book! Very different from my normal reading fare, but worth the trip!
As it turns out, not so much. Lily Burana herself is deeply ambivalent about stripping, about what it means to her, to her friends and family, and to society at large. That's why she decided to write this book in the first place -- to get some closure on a sticky subject. In the end, she finds personal peace of mind, but no absolute answer, no epiphany. The truth, I think, probably lies somewhere in the middle of those two opposing points of view -- as well as at both extremes. The two different arguments are both true, at the same time. It's enough to give you a headache!
The book itself was very good, I thought. I found it entertaining, informative, and interesting. The author has a gift for descriptive prose, for immersing the reader in a particular time and place so that you feel you're there, part of the action. I enjoyed the parts about the various strip clubs she worked at and the parts about her personal life and history equally. Ms. Burana is a gifted autobiographer, and she wrote the book so that her personal journey interwove itself with the nitty-gritty details of what it's like to live as a working stripper seamlessly, each half of a larger whole.
An excellent book! Very different from my normal reading fare, but worth the trip!
August 18, 2011
Where do you draw the line, I wonder, between objectification and admiration? Is it a matter of manners? Intent? Money? I can pass off a casual leer as maintaining my competitive edge, so I don't need to worry about what anyone thinks of my girl-watching. Maybe it's a matter of time and place, of when it's appropriate. Or maybe it's just a matter of respect, or knowing that there's a complicated girl behind the glassy facade that's caught your eye, one whose wishes and desires may have nothing to do with yours.
-Lily Burana, p. 174
Burana, a retired stripper who got back in the business one last time for a year (either as a gimmick to write a book or to ponder unresolved issues and questions weighing on her mind about her profession, or both) penned this often insightful and vivid account of exotic dance on the North American continent a decade ago and her place in it. It's the Eat, Pray, Love of stripper lit, with plenty of eating, praying, loving and also a bit of the whining that marks Elizabeth Gilbert's treacle. But Burana is not nearly that annoying, she writes with elan, and is (or was) a stripper, which gives the thing inherent page-turning gravitas, or prurient interest, take your pick.
Along the way she meets strippers who've come out on the good and bad sides of the business, addresses some of the seamier sides and venues of the trade (she started out working as a peepshow booth girl in New York), gives voice to the testimonies of women who worked in the wilder days of the '70s and the moderately more elegant days of the '50s. She attends a stripper pageant of oldsters and youngsters at the cheesy Exotic World Museum in California (and interviews its fascinating old grand dame, a stripper from the Rat Pack era), hits the still-crazy Wild West strip clubs in Montana and Alaska, tries out for Miss Topless Wyoming (and comes in second place), and even becomes mired in a tussle with the Mitchell Brothers in San Francisco over labor and wage issues. And she gets in a dig at Bob Hope (who once pointed to the crotch of a 14-year-old doing a cartwheel at one of his USO shows with an aside to the cheering troops: "Now that's what we're fighting for..."--thus reducing the poor girl to tears), which is always welcome, since it seems almost everyone (including someone I know) has a personal story about what a jerk ol' Bob was.
It's a glorious hotch-potch (yes, she uses that phrase rather than the now more standard "hodgepodge", which earns her extra points from me) of mixed messages, personal memoir, oral history and fascinating archaeological detail that helped me better understand a subculture of which I've never been a part. To date, I have never been to a strip club and really have no strong desire to do so.
In the Eat Pray Love vein, Burana finds her dream man and makes peace with an estranged sister (yes, they pray together), but the book, and Burana, are always self-aware and she never lets the thing become too sappy. Perhaps the stripper side of herself knows how to work the crowd, or at least knows what a savvy reader expects. In any case, this has to be one of the better books on this subject out there.
-Lily Burana, p. 174
Burana, a retired stripper who got back in the business one last time for a year (either as a gimmick to write a book or to ponder unresolved issues and questions weighing on her mind about her profession, or both) penned this often insightful and vivid account of exotic dance on the North American continent a decade ago and her place in it. It's the Eat, Pray, Love of stripper lit, with plenty of eating, praying, loving and also a bit of the whining that marks Elizabeth Gilbert's treacle. But Burana is not nearly that annoying, she writes with elan, and is (or was) a stripper, which gives the thing inherent page-turning gravitas, or prurient interest, take your pick.
Along the way she meets strippers who've come out on the good and bad sides of the business, addresses some of the seamier sides and venues of the trade (she started out working as a peepshow booth girl in New York), gives voice to the testimonies of women who worked in the wilder days of the '70s and the moderately more elegant days of the '50s. She attends a stripper pageant of oldsters and youngsters at the cheesy Exotic World Museum in California (and interviews its fascinating old grand dame, a stripper from the Rat Pack era), hits the still-crazy Wild West strip clubs in Montana and Alaska, tries out for Miss Topless Wyoming (and comes in second place), and even becomes mired in a tussle with the Mitchell Brothers in San Francisco over labor and wage issues. And she gets in a dig at Bob Hope (who once pointed to the crotch of a 14-year-old doing a cartwheel at one of his USO shows with an aside to the cheering troops: "Now that's what we're fighting for..."--thus reducing the poor girl to tears), which is always welcome, since it seems almost everyone (including someone I know) has a personal story about what a jerk ol' Bob was.
It's a glorious hotch-potch (yes, she uses that phrase rather than the now more standard "hodgepodge", which earns her extra points from me) of mixed messages, personal memoir, oral history and fascinating archaeological detail that helped me better understand a subculture of which I've never been a part. To date, I have never been to a strip club and really have no strong desire to do so.
In the Eat Pray Love vein, Burana finds her dream man and makes peace with an estranged sister (yes, they pray together), but the book, and Burana, are always self-aware and she never lets the thing become too sappy. Perhaps the stripper side of herself knows how to work the crowd, or at least knows what a savvy reader expects. In any case, this has to be one of the better books on this subject out there.
July 13, 2011
sometimes someone can come along and write an autobiographical book that bends stereotypes in the minds 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.
October 3, 2011
Skip this one and read Candy Girl by Diablo Cody instead. Same stories, better writing, less-self-loathing.
January 9, 2009
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 point, because she claims to have done this daring thing (get engaged and then leave your fiance for a year while you go explore something about your past? wow.) only she really didn't.
From a writer's perspective, I couldn't understand how these quick strip trips would provide much immersion at all, let her spend time really getting to know people enough to flesh them out as characters. After reading through a few dozen pages, which included lots of info about how she met her fiance and her feelings about him and one boring stripping adventure, I decided I was right and put the book down.
From a writer's perspective, I couldn't understand how these quick strip trips would provide much immersion at all, let her spend time really getting to know people enough to flesh them out as characters. After reading through a few dozen pages, which included lots of info about how she met her fiance and her feelings about him and one boring stripping adventure, I decided I was right and put the book down.
May 17, 2012
It was so fascinating to read about Lily's journey around the country, the insider bits about how different strip clubs are run, her motivations for becoming a stripper in the first place, and how the experience affected her. It's a lot more philosophical than I thought it would be; Lily really delves deeply into her own feelings about what she is doing and whether it is damaging to her psyche. She also includes interviews with a couple of older women who were or still are in the business, which adds some historical perspective to her writing. She treats her subject with thought and humanity, instead of salaciousness, which is refreshing. Really a fantastic read!
December 14, 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 a bit confusing, and kind of boring. she also talks about her lawsuit against one of the San Fran clubs which should have been made into a book because its such an awesome story.
its ok, but not the best.
its ok, but not the best.
October 4, 2008
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 have you believe that all women are empowered about choosing this as a line of work all the time. Burana makes it clear that even women who are proud of what they do sometimes have negative feelings about it. It's not a fantastic book but it was a good read.
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 have you believe that all women are empowered about choosing this as a line of work all the time. Burana makes it clear that even women who are proud of what they do sometimes have negative feelings about it. It's not a fantastic book but it was a good read.
September 14, 2008
I can attest to the fact that Lily nails much of what it's like to live as a stripper, from the bravado to the secrecy to the chaos to the empowerment. She leaves out some of the trickier subjects, like the fact that dancers often have sex with each other and are bisexual, and the frequently-made, short leap to prostitution, but we'll forgive her that. A book all strippers can be proud of.
February 14, 2012
Um I am a stripper and I'm so cool and bad ass but wait, I'm not really like those other strippers...I'm smart and stuff and better than them. I'm really unemployed and living in Wyoming with a construction worker but I'm a writer who strips for fun, not really a striiper
Just didn't like her...if you are a stripper just be one. You don't have to judge anyone else.
Just didn't like her...if you are a stripper just be one. You don't have to judge anyone else.
June 29, 2011
“Strip City: A Stripper’s Farewell Journey Across America” is one woman’s compelling quest to find closure before getting married.
Burana, a former stripper, has decided to mount a huge trip stripping her way across the U.S. I really didn’t know that much about the stripping industry before reading the book, so it was really interesting to get an inside look at the business.
The book dealt, not only with her experiences stripping, but her life outside stripping and some of the history behind the profession. Sometimes, I thought the book got bogged down a little by all the history, but it was still interesting nonetheless. I did find myself just wanting her to get back to descriptions of her trip though.
It really didn’t seem too biased, and it was an interesting to see her sort through her feelings about stripping within the confines of the book.
Definitely a recommended read, you’ll find yourself not wanting to put it down.
Burana, a former stripper, has decided to mount a huge trip stripping her way across the U.S. I really didn’t know that much about the stripping industry before reading the book, so it was really interesting to get an inside look at the business.
The book dealt, not only with her experiences stripping, but her life outside stripping and some of the history behind the profession. Sometimes, I thought the book got bogged down a little by all the history, but it was still interesting nonetheless. I did find myself just wanting her to get back to descriptions of her trip though.
It really didn’t seem too biased, and it was an interesting to see her sort through her feelings about stripping within the confines of the book.
Definitely a recommended read, you’ll find yourself not wanting to put it down.
January 9, 2008
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 situation where women supposedly compete against one another for the attention of men.
Read
April 24, 2022First I should say that I’m all for stripping. Mine’s a one-man show but for those girls out there who’d prefer more company, who am I to judge when real choice is involved. A competent writer who comes from a supportive middle class family, stripping is clearly a choice for Ms. Burana.
On a quest for self-fulfilment, Ms. Burana decides to hit the road and go on a year-long nation-wide burlesque tour before settling down to a more acceptable profession. She avoids the victim stigma that can (and sometimes should) be applied to stripping and instead focuses on why it can be so compelling for some women. For anyone whose been in a strip club there’s a difference between women with manicured nails, sculpted thighs and thick flowing hair and those with bruises, dark circles and missing teeth. In many ways stripping is second prize for all those aspiring models that just didn’t cut it but that catwalk also treads a thin line between looking at something pretty and owning it.
Ms. Burana clearly likes to take off her clothes. She sees the hollering, jeering, drooling, ogling and groping from random strangers, flattering. I certainly don’t. A lot of women don’t and the book fails to address the difference. Instead Ms. Burana focuses more on the technical aspects of the job, which was just as interesting. For example, I had no idea strippers have to pay a stage fee.
Persuasive book that could probably be juicer if Ms. Burana were as comfortable baring her life as her clothes. The door is open but only half way. There are a few persisting questions. Pictures would have been nice. Perhaps a few beauty tips like what to do about ingrown hairs. Either way, a compelling read.
On a quest for self-fulfilment, Ms. Burana decides to hit the road and go on a year-long nation-wide burlesque tour before settling down to a more acceptable profession. She avoids the victim stigma that can (and sometimes should) be applied to stripping and instead focuses on why it can be so compelling for some women. For anyone whose been in a strip club there’s a difference between women with manicured nails, sculpted thighs and thick flowing hair and those with bruises, dark circles and missing teeth. In many ways stripping is second prize for all those aspiring models that just didn’t cut it but that catwalk also treads a thin line between looking at something pretty and owning it.
Ms. Burana clearly likes to take off her clothes. She sees the hollering, jeering, drooling, ogling and groping from random strangers, flattering. I certainly don’t. A lot of women don’t and the book fails to address the difference. Instead Ms. Burana focuses more on the technical aspects of the job, which was just as interesting. For example, I had no idea strippers have to pay a stage fee.
Persuasive book that could probably be juicer if Ms. Burana were as comfortable baring her life as her clothes. The door is open but only half way. There are a few persisting questions. Pictures would have been nice. Perhaps a few beauty tips like what to do about ingrown hairs. Either way, a compelling read.
July 11, 2013
If there's a better stripper book out there, somebody please tell me the name of it! This book is intelligent, entertaining, and skillfully written. I read it right around the time I started dancing in 2009, years after it was published during what the 'veterans' tell me was the 'beginning of the end of the golden age' of stripping. I think it fairly portrays the wide variety of girls working in the wide variety of clubs across the country. It also deals with both the inward and outward issues faced by dancers.
One topic I would have liked to have seen addressed more is the overlap between the law-abiding, polished if not clean world of just-dancing and the darker world of prostitution, namely 'extras.' Since Burana traveled to so many clubs in so many localities while writing this book, I think she could have given an informative rundown of where extra's are most prevalent, how much girls are charging in various places, etc. However, I understand why she didn't go there. While I was working in a 'dirty' club, I found that there is something of a code. You know what each girl you work with is willing to do, but you don't call them out on it until they piss you off.
All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an insider's perspective on this hated, glamorized, misunderstood industry. Lily Burana's vast experience and giftedness not just as a writer, but clearly also as a dancer (yes, it isn't easy to get hired at every club and it's even harder to get inside the mentality of each place) allow her to share that perspective as few would be able to.
One topic I would have liked to have seen addressed more is the overlap between the law-abiding, polished if not clean world of just-dancing and the darker world of prostitution, namely 'extras.' Since Burana traveled to so many clubs in so many localities while writing this book, I think she could have given an informative rundown of where extra's are most prevalent, how much girls are charging in various places, etc. However, I understand why she didn't go there. While I was working in a 'dirty' club, I found that there is something of a code. You know what each girl you work with is willing to do, but you don't call them out on it until they piss you off.
All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an insider's perspective on this hated, glamorized, misunderstood industry. Lily Burana's vast experience and giftedness not just as a writer, but clearly also as a dancer (yes, it isn't easy to get hired at every club and it's even harder to get inside the mentality of each place) allow her to share that perspective as few would be able to.
August 9, 2010
Reading some of the other reviews, I'm left wondering if there are two different versions of this book floating around. Lily Burana takes a subject that's been "done" many times, and finds a way to present it in a fresh new way. For starters, she can really write, and she writes well.
She has also managed to avoid the main pitfalls that seem to drag down so many women in the sex trade industry, she didn't have a terrible childhood, she wasn't abused or raped and yet she stripped for years. It's a new perspective, and it's refreshing. When she discovers that her life has totally changed gears, she is know making a living as a writer, she is engaged to be married... she feels the need to re-visit her former lifestyle. What follows is a year spent traveling through the country stripping at different clubs as she comes to terms with her former experiences.
What price did she pay for choosing to take off her clothes to men (and women) in exchange for money? Does she have to have paid any price at all? Can you strip for a living and come out the other side without a scratch? As Lily deals with her mixed emotions, she re-ignites her love of dancing and what started out as a year re-living the past threatens to take over her life.
Strip City is a page turner... it's interesting, funny, thought provoking, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
October 11, 2009
i thought this book was really interesting, not so much in the "oooh, what really happens in the dirty world of stripping" way, but in the way that burana really breaks down her perspective in relation to others' perspectives - plus her intrigue with the history of burlesque. there were a couple surprise elements, mostly in terms of her background and current state; otherwise, the book is pretty straightforward. there is quite a bit of 'navel-gazing,' as i've read other readers complain about, but that is the point of the story: she is trying to come to terms with her history as a stripper. i have a feeling that folks who want to read more about t&a will be disappointed, while those who just ride through her self-analysis and introspection with an open mind will potentially get a kick out of the sprinkling of strip stories that are part of burana's tale.
the story is delivered with a steady seaming of flashback and present narrative, which works very well. the only problem i had was the seemingly drawn out ending. i was ready to be done with the book about 40 pages prior to finishing, but i didn't put it down - i cared enough about burana and her story to finish the journey with her.
the story is delivered with a steady seaming of flashback and present narrative, which works very well. the only problem i had was the seemingly drawn out ending. i was ready to be done with the book about 40 pages prior to finishing, but i didn't put it down - i cared enough about burana and her story to finish the journey with her.
September 24, 2008
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 a bar with stripper poles in it), I was able to relate to someone facing their demons.
Another thing I really enjoyed about this book is that it gave the history of a culture that I wasn't familar with. Even though I was an English major in college, I took a lot of history classes because I found them interesting. I love reading books that are more modern cultural history which is what I would put this book under.
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 a bar with stripper poles in it), I was able to relate to someone facing their demons.
Another thing I really enjoyed about this book is that it gave the history of a culture that I wasn't familar with. Even though I was an English major in college, I took a lot of history classes because I found them interesting. I love reading books that are more modern cultural history which is what I would put this book under.
May 22, 2009
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 that Scarlett provided. Also interesting were the comparison of the clubs found in Texas, Montana, and Las Vegas. I think that this book did more to paint broad pictures of human nature than it did to detail a trip across America. Also, her trip across America wasn't so much a trip as it was a series of jaunts. Oh, well.
All in all, this book was light entertaining reading that held my interest the whole time. I enjoyed Lily's writing style and blutness more than anything else.
I found her forays into the history of the striptease interesting, and particularly enjoyed the anecdotes of Times Square that Scarlett provided. Also interesting were the comparison of the clubs found in Texas, Montana, and Las Vegas. I think that this book did more to paint broad pictures of human nature than it did to detail a trip across America. Also, her trip across America wasn't so much a trip as it was a series of jaunts. Oh, well.
All in all, this book was light entertaining reading that held my interest the whole time. I enjoyed Lily's writing style and blutness more than anything else.
January 10, 2008
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 before she gets married. She goes to a burlesque convention and interviews older strippers about their experiences and includes them in her book. It wasn't the most interesting book I'd ever read, but I enjoyed it. I learned a few things about strip clubs and the history of stripping. Overall I'd recommend it.
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 before she gets married. She goes to a burlesque convention and interviews older strippers about their experiences and includes them in her book. It wasn't the most interesting book I'd ever read, but I enjoyed it. I learned a few things about strip clubs and the history of stripping. Overall I'd recommend it.
December 19, 2014
My absolute favorite in the strip-lit genre! Strip City begins after the author, Lily Burana, has left her life as a stripper far behind her and is getting married. However, she decides that she's not quite achieved closure with her past, and sets off on the ultimate strip-trip, taking in clubs across the US over the next year.
The book cuts between the present and memories of her first time in the industry, with amusing side notes concerning the naming of clubs and girls, the rules, and other ways that she introduces the reader to the industry.
As she travels, she works through the emotions she gathered while dancing, some good and some bad, and as she does so, the reader is treated to some incredible insights.
Absolutely wonderful.
The book cuts between the present and memories of her first time in the industry, with amusing side notes concerning the naming of clubs and girls, the rules, and other ways that she introduces the reader to the industry.
As she travels, she works through the emotions she gathered while dancing, some good and some bad, and as she does so, the reader is treated to some incredible insights.
Absolutely wonderful.
February 1, 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 "Strip Tease," and less self-conscious introspection on what motivated her to start stripping in the first place. Still, not a bad light read and enlightening on the many uses of liquid latex.
March 2, 2017
A memoir written by a woman traveling the US -- something I could relate to! While I have never worked in the sex industry, I still related to her journey and the balance between when she did it on her own and when she had company. Her observational skills of people and bar settings is great. He accounts of her work and chosen career seem honest, not shaming, not glamorizing. She took off her clothes for money and describes what that experience was like, and I respect her for the life she has lived and is now living, putting that chapter behind her and starting a new one. Lots of insights and inspiration for my own work.
July 1, 2008
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 other strippers. All in all, a very good read.
February 17, 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.
June 20, 2012
Ok, so i haven't finished this book yet but for the most part it's a really interesting read. The only down side is that in order to make a complete picture the author desides to dive into her personal realationship taking place at the time of her trip and these sections of the book are slow and seem pointless. However, stick it out for the interesting parts and a whole new view on the adult entertainment world. The author gives a real account from her point of view and others in the industry be it better or worse.
August 29, 2014
This was a really surprising read: cleanly-written, devoid of judgment and free of salaciousness and sensationalism (which would have been the easy way out), Burana’s tale of a stripper’s last hurrah is really a travelogue of small-town USA. Sure, the points of interest are more stripper pole than Grand Canyon, but Burana provides special insight, looking at the folks who work at and patronize strip clubs all over the US (including AK). Burana is a gentle storyteller and genuinely identifies with those she writes about. A very personal, well-told story.
June 27, 2015
I may be bias, being acquainted with Lily Burana, but I felt this book was well written and interesting. I "read" the audio book; I found listening to Angela Dave, however, to be a bit painful. In my opinion her voice sounded like the female equivalent of "welcome to movie phone!" I did muscle through tho, and am glad for it. I definitely felt connected to Lily, being a bit of a New York punk in my heart, and love her description of the people she meets with as many positive adjectives as possible, even if they were someone she didn't like.
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