Customer Reviews

Some Girls: My Life in a Harem

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This story bills itself as about one girl's life in a modern day harem.

It is, tangentially, about that.

More than that it is a story about a troubled young woman, who was on drugs, who became a prostitute, who had a falling out with her parents and ran away to become an "actress". But she was a terrible actress so she stayed a prostitute.

The first quarter of the book is that story.

Suddenly, a mysterious person promises this girl a lot of money if she is willing to "work" abroad. She takes the job.

She ends up in the "harem" - if you want to call it that - with a number of other prostitutes.

The story discusses the politics of life in a harem, how other women are not your friend, how they stab you in the back when you're not looking, etc. etc. The story also discusses in detail how absolutely dull it is to live in a harem. The prince they are waiting on features very minimally in this story.

The end of the story is the young woman's redemption, how she sees that she has moved past the harem, and now has a family of her own and is happy and normal, etc. etc. If that seems abrupt, it is. The "normalization" of the drug addicted prostitute is not discussed - it is simply a "and five years later, she was sitting in her living room with her children and her husband, and she saw a news report about her prince, and she wondered..." Lame.

The story wasn't particularly well written, especially in the beginning, and that seemed to be on purpose - to highlight the transition from the stupid young prostitute to the smug world weary married woman. I don't feel that this technique was effective.

This writer has no ability to paint you a picture and show you what her experience was like, what the palace she stayed at was like, what the prince was like, what the other girls were like. She gets bogged down in physical descriptions (like "blond", "thin", "wearing designer clothes") and misses the more helpful character attributes.

The author would have done much better fictionalizing the account and writing a romance novel or adding some interesting facts about life in a harem. Sensationalizing her experience. Instead, it seems she was constrained to write mostly about the petty politics between the ranked harem girls. Which is about as interesting as an episode of Survivor.

I would not recommend purchasing this book, it wasn't to my taste at all, as I don't enjoy stories about redemption that don't discuss how the subject was redeemed. I don't enjoy books about sensational subjects that don't discuss the sensational. All in all, a fast read that isn't really worth the time at all.

Some Girls is the biographical story of Jillian Lauren, a young Jewish-American girl. Jillian is a rebel, embracing at the age of 16 the life of a stripper and a sex worker. Molested several times, and with a poor self image, and suffering bouts of depression and anorexia, Jillian struggles to be an actress, before finally deciding to travel to Brunei to work as a harem girl.

I found Lauren's `voice' to be intriguing, but I had difficulty relating to some of her decisions and choices. She seemed lost half the time, and many of the things Lauren felt were cool or intriguing seemed sad and disturbing. She lies to those who love and care for her, including her boyfriend and family, does drugs, and has unprotected sex and lies to her boyfriend. There weren't a lot of upbeat bits to make this story go down well, nor was life in the harem really anything worth writing about. Just a bunch of catty mean women vying for the attentions of a predator.

This was an ok read, but not something I felt really gripped me or anything I felt uplifted by. By the end of the story I was rather glad to put it down, since I felt after reading it, that Lauren's life was neither glamorous nor intriguing, just so much wasted potential. The story left me with a sad feeling.

When I saw this book, SOME GIRLS: MY LIFE IN A HAREM by Jillian Lauren, I have to admit that it intrigued me..at a glance, one can't help but wonder if she was 'given' to a king or prince to join his harem? Was she abducted and forced to stay? Did she go willingly? Why and how did she end up there and how is it that she left that she came to write a book about it? Did she escape? Is this REALLY a true story?

It turns out that it is a true (and believable I might add) story about a young aspiring actress who answered to a casting call that ended up being a 'casting call' for fresh new girls to join a harem belonging to a prince of Brunei. As dramatic as it sounds, I could see how easily an eager, young, naive girl who was struggling financially could lose her morals and judgement to keep her self safe could get involved in something like this. Think of all of the young girls flocking to Hollywood or attending some audition or photo shoot by some sleazy creep with alterior motives? Lucky for Jillian, she went willingly, wasn't abused and was allowed to leave (the harem) willingly - when her time was up that is. Regardless of being paid hoards of money and receiving expensive gifts of jewelry and designer clothing shopping sprees, she WAS expected to stay within the palace compound and at times, even in a particular room and expected to be available whenever the prince 'wanted' her OR when he wanted his brother, the Saultan to have her as a gift for an afternoon.

As interesting as the basis of her book, I felt her whole experience and sharing her story with us was wasted on mediocre writing talent...granted, I'm no author myself but it got under my skin to the point where I had to put the book down or skim over areas where she goes on and on about the minor details of what someone is wearing, how they wore their hair that night but yet skipped over gaping holes such as to effectively express how she was feeling at the time or emotional details about the prince. Although she described physical characterists about various characters, I feel like I never got a chance to 'know' them. Being that it was based in Brunei, I felt that she overlooked describing more of their culture and customs in detail as well.

All in all, I guess I'm glad that I read it but then I feel cheated...I feel that 1/3 of the story is missing. Sure she's covered the surface issues but it's missing the heart of the story, the real meat of her experience and of all of the characters in the book. The last chapters in particular were very choppy...like she was rushed to have to meet a deadline or was simply ready for the book to be over with. I'm sure it was much longer but in my head, it 'feels' like she blazed through the ending so fast that she was in one place one day, then woke up tattooed another day, then married with a child the next. Perhaps she didn't want to go into THAT much detail but I can't recall reading how her husband feels about her past....what kind of person is he? How did he take it when she explained his past and further more, how he reacted when she decided to pen this memoir? In the end, she feels to me, a person who is devoid of emotion...perhaps she is emotionally distant and that's why her book is missing so much 'substance'? She feels to me, a person who holds a lot in yet maybe doesn't even realize that she does. In my opinion, in every day life, that's OK if that is how you want to carry yourself but if you are going to write a book about some very personal experiences, you HAVE to open up and let us in, you HAVE to show us more inside of your thoughts, emotions and the thoughts and feeling of those around you. If she was in fact rushed in the end, perhaps her story would have appeared to be more in depth if she had someone else helped her write it?

I give it a solid 3 stars although I WISHED it had been a 5 star book...

Instead of providing an interesting look into "life in a harem," the book is a self-indulgent/meandering attempt at a memoir. In short, it's extremely boring. The author just repeats the same observations about the "harem" - few of which are interesting - and fails to provide a real picture/understanding of what it was like.

Most of the book seems dedicated to explaining away her wrong decisions in life without ever accepting that they were wrong. Many of her childhood stories seem far-fetched and unrealistic. All in all - she comes off as an ungrateful/selfish brat who cannot be trusted.

The book is also sprinkled with random tid-bits about literature, etc. and amateur attempts at psychoanalysis that seem like pained attempts by the author to prove that she is smart, worldly, or something, and are very bothersome to read.

The only touching part of the book is when she describes an abortion that she seemed to have felt "forced" to have and the painful aftermath. However, even with this story, she never actually expresses regret.

Difficult to put this book down. How an adopted girl from a Jewish background became a stripper and an escort, and as if that were not enough- a harem girl of a prince! Lauren is a gifted writer, and this story is so amazing, it is truly a jaw-dropper. Lauren dared to tread- at quite a young age- where most of us would not even think about going! And the reality of life as a harem girl is so different than what I had thought it might be. If you love clothes and jewelry, you have to read about some of the harem girls shopping sprees and gifts! In exchange though, the girls were virtually prisoners, with little freedom, and the 24/7 surveillance of them would have unnerved anyone. The girls are pitted against each other to gain the favor of the prince. Lauren showed she had true courage throughout the book, and thankfully managed to escape the direction her life was heading. This was one of the most entertaining and riveting books I have read in the past few years!

The book is not intended to read like an erotic romance novel, and thankfully doesn't. Instead it offers a rather analytical view of why she was such a wild teenager, with problems ranging from substance abuse and eating disorders. Her issues with her volatile father and him cutting her off financially led to her becoming a stripper, which led to other things. She was in the harem for quite a while before it dawned on her that it was even a harem- they had been told they would be paid to party. I suspect she waited to tell the story due to the piles of unreported cash she earned. I would have liked more details- I don't think she ever said exactly how long she was there the first time, or how much money she made. If you have teenage girls, you really should read this!

Some people earn the right to write about something just because they were there, where the action took place. Imagine a book from a Chilean miner who was trapped in the mine pit. I would buy it.
But it takes at least some talent and honesty in order to tell a good story, even if you are a first hand witness. Lauren has neither.

First of all, maybe 30% of the book is about the "harem". The rest is about a vain, self-absorbed, pretentious girl trying to convince us that she is great because of her inner qualities (not true), and not because she is pretty and guys want to have sex with her (true).

We don't need a spoilers alert, because nothing happens. The Prince has a compound with a mansion and several cottages (small houses) around a swimming pool. He uses an agent who enrolls prostitutes to live there for some months at a time and leave with a lot of money. The only thing they do is to have a sort of karaoke party every night at the mansion. The Prince comes and stays for half an hour, picks up a girl and leaves. That's all. Day after day is the same routine. They never leave the compound, they never get to know the country, they practically don't talk to the prince. If you are expecting adventure, romance, exotism, you won't find it in this book. There is more action in the bar in the corner of your street than in this so-called harem.

Lauren is so insignificant to the Prince that the only time she leaves the compound to see him at his office, they leave her waiting for four hours locked in an office without a bathroom, waiting for his arrival. When she is taken to see the Sultan (the Prince's brother) he doesn't even care to sleep with her, only asking for oral sex. His dogs probably get more consideration. All the while, Lauren thinks she is special and romanticizes the whole sordid thing. When Penthouse playmates arrive at the compound, she tries to convince us that she is so much better than they are. (why?)

But what is worst in the book is the inability of Lauren as an author to describe the personalities and the environment. That's what makes a good book, especially a good travelogue. People are like wax dolls, without real souls. She only talks about the color of their hair, their clothes, but she never tries to go deeper in understanding the personalities of the other girls. Her stay there reminds me of people who travel to Europe but only eat at McDonald's. Unfortunately, Lauren threw away a great opportunity, because the Asian girls there came from very interesting and diverse backgrounds, and must have had great stories to tell.

The other 70% of the book is all about her glorification of herself. What we see are ramblings about a girl who learns to take advantage of men and her looks when she is 14, by having sex with a stranger after losing her ride off a rock concert, just to have a place to spend the night. She is a person who cruises through life by using sex to get what she wants, but she wants us to believe that she is a natural artist. Of course, she meets weak guys (betas) who drool after her and support her delusions. She would be a great dancer if only she practiced enough, she would be a great actress if only she had more luck. Her boyfriend who works hard is a sad "workaholic". She is not a prostitute, she is the sister of all courtesans in history. What she can't face is that she wouldn't even be around her hipster friends were not for her sexual attractiveness (and availability). She needs to build some excuse to hide the fact that everything she received in life was because of her looks. Unfortunately, it seems she is still milking the same cow, since she is publishing another book on the tail of the success of this one, even though she can't write at all.

Maybe if Lauren was born a Plain Jane, she would be more humble and have invest in true human qualities and be a better person. For some girls, beauty is a curse.

This was an interesting book, enough so that I finished it on a single plane ride. And I was interested in the premise of the book, and wanted to see what kind of life path would take a young American girl into and out of a modern day, tightl controlled harem in Southeast Asia. I had previously read and enjoyed the book "Brothel" by Alexa Albert, which goes into the lives of women working in the also tightly controlled brothels of legalized prostitution in Nevada. So I picked this book up, looking forward to a more personal account - since it was memoir rather than ethnography - and a look at a different cultural context as well.

That wasn't my experience reading this book, however. While the author shared a lot if personal details (albeit more so about other people than herself), the writing itself seemed really detached in an uneven way. What was a bigger issue for me, though, was that it seemed like I was reading several different books, jumping back and forth between them. So while the title and marketing push is about the harem, this book is just as much about life with an abusive and chronically ill father, and about a search for a birthmother, and about relationship struggles, and growing up as a troubled teenager. While I'm sure it would have been possible to weave all those threads into a cohesive story, that's not what seemed to have happened here.

This is an interesting topic and the book was worth reading to get a glimpse of this lifestyle. The fact that it doesn't really dish the dirt or reveal the sordid details doesn't bother me; my curiosity was mild and satisfied with this mildly revealing tale. More important was who and what would make an American girl willingly put herself at risk in so many ways over and over again. Unlike the Asian girls sold into the life, these girls had a choice. Never once did it seem to occur to her or the other "girls" that they were disposable toys. Yeah, they expected to be paid off in money and material treasures but what was to stop the so called "royals" from simply dumping their bodies in some desert landfill. A prostitute by any other name is still a prostitute and if a culture like ours, that supposedly respects the rights of women can be casual about the death and demise of prostitutes, then a culture like that of the Middle East, where there are no women's rights would surely have no compunction about harem "stock" being dumped when they were no longer pleasing. That's a question I never did find answered. Jillian write in a detached, almost third person voice. She gives you the unvarnished facts about who she was and what she did during the period in her life when she sold her body to a Middle Eastern billionaire. I think there was a lot she chose to ignore. It almost comes off as if she were an undercover reporter - albeit one who succumbs to the power of the "prince" and maintains his privacy even as she sheds hers to tell the tale. The main idea I came away with in this book is that Jillian was (is?) a sex worker, and sex workers are just regular people like the rest of us, just maybe prettier. Since this is a first attempt, I give this book three stars for an effort at honesty.

This book was ok, it was a quick read which made it easier to finish when the story became disappointing. I was disappointed with this book I thought I was going to find out more about the secret life of a harem, but instead I got conformation about my pre conceived notions about life in a harem. The veil on this secret society/way of life wasn't really lifted as the back cover says, nothing all that shocking was revealed. Instead the majority of the book was about her own self discovery and growth, from finding her birth mother to finally settling down. A book about her own self discovery is fine but don't mislead readers and call it my life in a harem when you (the author) only talks about harem life very vaguely and for a couple of chapters, and expect the reader to be satisfied. The ending to the story is also disappointing, as I read the end I felt that I was ripped off I was left wanting/expecting more.

All in all it was an OK first book for the author. You got to know her and she gave a brief and very tame description of what got her to the harem and back. In fact when you get to the end you can tell she lost interest in the book and stories got even shorter and to the point.

No orgies, no detailed sexual encounters, no character development other their her own. I enjoyed the idea of the book more than the book itself. She did not give the reader what they wanted. You don't read a book like this to glaze over important details.

In the end I became very upset that I got nothing interesting out of it. It was obvious she didn't want to say too much to make her look bad considering her husband and child would read it.

She seems very detached in the book.