Customer Reviews

Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Lily Burana had a problem. She was approaching marriage, and she knew that for guys, the accepted ritual was to have an anticipatory bachelor party, quite possibly including entertainment by a dancer or a stripper. "It's a time-honored way of saying, 'Goodbye to all that.'" That's all fine for the soon-to-be-former bachelor. Burana's quandary: "But what does a former stripper do when _she's_ about to get married?" There may be no set answer for this one, but for Burana, the answer was, start stripping again, do it everywhere you can, and write your heart out about it. A wonderful book has resulted, _Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America_ (Talk Miramax Books), a close examination of her life in spandex, thigh-highs, and feathers, and a thoughtful look at what strippers do and what it means in current America.

Burana gives us the stripping history of her life, taking off her clothes for pay first as a rebellious adolescent who simply needed money. She was a punk-Goth kid from a nice New Jersey family. She started up in Times Square, long before the clean-up, in a sleazy club called Peepland. She moved up in stripping clubs, but also became a respected writer, and she here gives close access to her interior life. She also became engaged to a great guy who didn't mind her past or her current quest. She takes us to a strippers' school, on a shopping spree for costumes, and to The Exotic World Burlesque Museum. She tells us how her family reacts to her work. She gives us personal insights about what the attraction is for her. Grabbing an on-stage pole, just like she learned at stripper school, at Cheetah's in Los Angeles, she gets into an ecstatic state. "When it feels just right. Righteous. At times like this, I can believe that I have all the hearts in the room gathered into the palm of my hand. I will never get old. I will never know harm. As long as I stay on this stage under the benevolent auspices of darkness, everything will be okay."

Combining sex, money, and power is dangerous. "Hunger isn't humane, sex will never be totally safe, and commerce isn't always kind," she writes, and by the end of the book, she has given an ambivalent but permanent farewell to a big chunk of her life, and she has given her costumes away to an aspiring ecdysiast. This is a riveting book about what is an essential and unchangeable aspect of American life, and it is filled with details about a world few people know intimately. For instance, in what other memoir are you going to learn how to perform the stunt of lighting your nipples on fire?

I have to join many of the other exotic dancers and former exotic dancers who have posted reviews here applauding Strip City. Lily Burana really captures the experience of being an American stripper. Over the past few years I have read Strip City several times and will undoubtedly read it a few more. It is extremely well-written and profoundly insightful. Some of the negative reviews here surprised me at first because they were so mean-spirited, but they actually do reflect the types of attitudes I've become accustomed to in my years of dancing. It seems very important for some people to cling to the notion that all dancers are stupid, narcissistic, and unable to do anything besides take their clothes off. Even worse, dancers are accused of demeaning themselves and allowing themselves to be exploited. Dancing is a great way to make some money, but every stripper has to learn to disregard a large amount of unneccessary, untrue, and insulting remarks such as those. Most customers in strip clubs are respectful and appreciative, even if there is often a vocal minority of patrons who feel compelled to denigrate the performers. Exotic dance can be one of the most beautiful forms of artistry possible, but unfortunately many people seem to be threatened by women who are confident about their bodies and comfortable expressing their sexuality. Their negativity is draining at times because it seems so foolish that these people still attribute moral significance to the removal of clothing. I've danced for close to 10 years and consider erotic titillation to be healthy and enjoyable whether I'm performing or watching other dancers. It is extremely gratifying to see more and more women, like Lily Burana, who are speaking out and describing the exotic dance profession as it really is. It is an industry populated by many intelligent, thoughtful women who are capable of pursuing any type of career, and who have chosen to spend some portion of their lives on stage. Although there are some unpleasant aspects to the business the reality inside most strip clubs is that the majority of customers, staff, and performers are all just normal folks who are drawn to the allure of the dance.

After becoming engaged to a charming cowboy in Wyoming, New York and San Francisco-based writer and stripper Lily Burana decides to take a last tour of the strip clubs in America, in order to decide what stripping has meant to her. Burana packs her bags (even her inventory of necessaries is fascinating) and heads out into America.
With emotional honesty, a journalistic eye on her own life, and a great deal of humor, Burana narrates the story of her journey while she looks back at the generations of strippers and burlesque queens who preceded her, and at the same time evaluates the years she spent dancing in clubs in New York and San Francisco. Included in her narrative are starkly moving tales of the rebellious teenager she was, the activist she became, and the woman and writer she is.
Burana also describes the world and business of strip clubs with an experienced eye, and allows us to meet the dancers, managers, employees, and club owners. Burana gives us a fascinating look at the backstage world of stripping that is usually hidden from view.
Strip City combines history, expose, and memoir in such a way that the interweaving tales of Burana's past and present, and the story of her trade, make not only a moving and informative story, but an engaging one.

As a dancer, I "get" this book completely. It expresses things about the job that I instantly recognized as my own feelings and reactions. Hate to say it, but this girl beat me to it, as I had wanted to write my own book on stripping life. Strip City rocks, it hurts, and it blows away any other mainstream book on the subject (though the indie "Lusty Lady" by Erica Langley is good, too).

The rush is real, and so is the anger and exhaustion. I saw my stage name on her hilarious list. I have my own tanning addiction, and a nice manicure no matter what! The similarities would be embarrassing if they weren't so funny!

Someone who reads this hoping for a slob's tour of stripping will come up disappointed (can't ya tell in some of the bitter one-star reviews here?). They can go to an actual strip club if that's their wish. This book is about what it feels like to do the job of creating sexual fantasy, not a conintuation of the fantasy itself.

So, now I can't write the book. But I'll recommend this one. And hope for a sequel.

Wow--this is a truly intelligent page-turner! Burana gives a hell of a "show", merging dramatic content with great style. So many illusions about stripping exist: it's super-glamorous; it's totally degrading; it's a path to enlightenment for women; it's a harmless fantasyland for men. Apparently, it's way more complicated that than, as this book aims to show.

STRIP CITY lets you in behind the illusions, combining smart analysis, personal revelation, history, girlie stuff, and respect for good "show-womanship" with a complex, yet accessible narrator's voice. I may not know this world, but I trust the author's voice. I'm not being sold any particular point of view. She just tells it like it is.

STRIP CITY is written with real maturity. No snotty "I'm not a victim!" defensiveness or political sniveling or ditzy exhibitionism. There's no hard-and-fast answers here, and ya know what? That's honest. I've been given a lot to think about, and been told a lot of great stories (see the bit about Montana! Whoa). Check it out.

Although Strip City is very well written, Burana's insights are often frustratingly simplistic. There's no bigger picture here, in terms of both herself and the human condition. I still have no clue as to what truly drives her journey, other than it being a vehicle for her to get a book published.
Strip City has an immature quasi-honest feel to it- most "confessions" coming too easily and predictably.

I finally had to put the book down at the halfway point - I was so irritated. Granted, the second half of the book may have improved enormously, (although I saw no signs of that) but I don't think that makes it worth suffering through the first half. Burana is obviously very bright and articulate, but she needs to dig a lot deeper.

For anyone who has ever wondered what it is like to be a stripper, or how one becomes a stripper--look no further! Lily Burana lays it all out on the table. Her writing is witty and honest, as she discusses issues of body image, sexual politics, the history of stripping, how she became a stripper and how she got out of the business. This book is so engaging, one has the feeling of riding shotgun on this journey as Lily tells her story, and the stories of other women she meets along the way. She doesn't make excuses for, glorify, or denigrate the business of stripping--she just tells it like it is. It is easy to see how she moved into a career in journalism.

Finally, a book that reaches deep into the soul of a normal girl who chose to use her genetic blessing to earn a living. This book educated me on the exotic dance industry. Lily offered a keen insight on the emotional and physical aspects of the business. I felt as if I finally had a voice in society as a woman who has recently began a soul searching journey as an exotic dancer. this book is great! you must read it to understand my review!!

...with her book, Strip City.

As someone with over 10 years in the business, I was pleased to read an account that is so close to my own experience. Burana explains the appeal of dancing better than any other author I've read. When she explains "the zone" she goes into on stage in Texas it was like reading my own thoughts. And the same stands true for her explanation of how she stopped dancing. I think all dancers have experienced that same feeling at some point.

I also enjoyed Burana's interviews with other dancers and the history she gives of stripping and of burlesque. I really think it is great that she took the time to add those things into the book. It gives it something deeper than just her personal experience.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has curiosity about the exotic dancer experience. Lily Burana is a class act!

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 intersting. 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!