SuicideGirls [Hardcover]

Missy Suicide (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004

Winner of the 2005 Independent Publisher Book Award in Erotica. The punk rock pin-up cultural phenomenon known as suicidegirls.com includes journal entries excerpted from the site and over 200 artful, color photos.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This collection of glossy shots marks the second birthday of the near-legendary eponymous Web site founded by Missy Suicide (borrowing a little hipster terminology from a Chuck Palahnuik novel in the process) to promote her own pin-up photography, and to make a place where women could "be themselves." The large format book is well designed and finely printed, with over 150 full-color photos of Scarlett, Flux, Fractal and the rest of the pierced, tattooed, leather-'n-lace-lovin' gang. The bulk of the book consists of Missy's portraits of the girls, but a section at the back allows the girls to speak for themselves through diary extracts, their own photos and their answers to questions like "How did you hear about SuicideGirls and what made you want to become one?" As 25-year-old Le from San Francisco puts it, exposing herself in various ways on the internet is both "a hobby and an art form." The S-Girls are spirited, sans doute, and you have to applaud Missy for making such a go of something she loves. But after a while, the tattoos and pierced nipples do tend to blur into something of a sub-Courtney Love mush. (And readers of a certain age won't be able to help wondering if any of these bedroom performance artists have boned up on Lora Logic, Poly Styrene and the much less generic-looking fem-punks of a previous generation.) One diary extract gives the flavor of the whole: "Fuckin' ex boyfriend. You suck. Your records suck. Think I'm gonna throw 'em somewhere, in a garbage dump."
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Feral House (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932595031
• ISBN-13: 978-1932595031
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (115 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Arts & Photography > Other Media > Erotic

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A decent first effort, April 29, 2005

By 

Matt (Damnation) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SuicideGirls (Hardcover)

I have to first start out by admonishing the politicking by both sides in the reviews of this book. It's unprofessional, very misleading and ultimately doesn't have any place here. And I'm a member of the site in question which is why I'm equally disappointed by the fellow SG-ers who've taken it upon themselves to throw off the grading curve by unobjectively praising the book when the request that was made by the site was simply to review it, not wax poetic about it.

Anyway, that said I liked the book. But I'd be lying if I said I loved it. The photography was all well and good. Good lighting, etc. But as one reviewer stated before me it was just pictures of naked girls. There was no real visual panache to it. In a way it seemed like somewhat of a self-congratulatory piece. Especially since all the photography was taken by Missy who's actually done some spectacular work that wasn't included here. Not to mention that the site boasts the visual talents of Lithium Picnic. As such this book left a little to be desired. And it may just be a gripe exclusive to me but what is with the postcard size, one image to a page format?

I did however really like the interviews and journal excerpts in the last section of the book. I might have interspersed them throughout the book scrapbook-style, but that's just me.

All told it was a laudable first effort. Improvements could be made, sure. But I think it sets a good precedent that I hope they expand on with additional works in the future.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Join the site instead, January 22, 2007

By 

Anthony Padilla (Ventura, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SuicideGirls (Hardcover)

So why doesn't this book feature big, fat, ugly girls in its photo sets? It's a common criticism of SG, meant to negate its artistic merits. First, the obvious answer: it's erotic photography, meant to entice, arouse, et cetera. Featuring unattractive, unarousing models is obviously defeating the purpose. Sound shallow? It is, but let's not fool ourselves; this is altporn we're talking about. Secondly, anybody who makes this argument has misinterpreted SG's goals. "Redefining beauty" doesn't mean turning ugly ducklings into swans, but rather, to accomodate an alternative market that has been largely ignored up until this point.

Beauty is still beauty.

All that being said, however, this particular book is a rather unremakable collection. Though the website itself is spectacular and features some amazing sets, this book was published before Missy and co. really found their trademark visual style. There's way too many bedroom/domestic shots, rendering the entire collection rather monotonous. Still, it's definitely worth a look, if not neccessarily a must-have.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Let's be honest..., September 3, 2007

By 

Brian Lange (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SuicideGirls (Hardcover)

So. I've never wanted to pay for membership on the SG site, but I've always had an attraction and fascination with the whole punk/goth/indie/alternative type of look. So when this book was released, I jumped on it.

- The photos aren't very artistic. They're simple and straightforward, shot with a standard digital camera.
- It's arranged rather simply, with little or no thought to the placement of the images. (Usually two images side by side per page)
- True, you can probably find a lot of similar images on the internet.
- Some of the girls are absolutely beautiful, but I find some rather unattractive.
- The quality of the pictures is rather poor, since the original intent of SG was purely online. So the change from pixels to print never translates well.
- There's very little about the girls themselves... just short, self-written bio's on some of the girls in the back.
- Let's be honest... you're just buying this for the boobies of cute indie chicks... and that's okay.

After a couple viewings, it doesn't have a lasting effect that the likes of Tony Ward or maybe Richard Kern's work might have. Less art and more taboo. It's an inexpensive book, so if you're into the whole naked chicks with tattoos and piercing, I'd say go for it.