18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Lords of the Dance, March 5, 2007
Traci Lords became famous or infamous, it depends how you see her situation, after she and the adult film industry were caught with their pants down. Which's isn't a bad thing in porn unless your under 18 which Traci was for most of her triple X career. So 20 years later it's not surprising that Ms. Lords revisits that dark time in her life.
The first half of the book is compelling. In it she details her young life in Ohio working class towns. It's probably no surprise that she had father issues. Her Dad was abusive and her Mom, making a series of bad decisions, dropped that deadbeat for an even sleazier deadbeat. Traci was also developing at an early age found that her sex not only brought unwanted attention, but often unwanted advances. A move to California and the drug culture combined to make the perfect storm for young Traci. By 15 she was posing as a model and by 17 she was an established porn star. After a late night FBI raid Traci and the adult industry was busted. Traci would leave the triple X fare behind and strike out as a "legitimate" actress with moderate success.
This is where the rest of the book, which chronicles her mainstream career, falters. It reads more like a resume then an autobiography. No real insights are offered after her porn career and to be honest few insights are shared before and during her porn career. Because Lords avoids many details and offers little insight into her self, we're left with a pretty non-descript depiction of her life. The first half of the books works better because the story is so compelling, but Traci makes few attempts to look inside herself and the result is stunting.
The book is also very non-sexual. This is neither good nor bad, but those looking for an erotic read will be disappointed.
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27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
She Deserves a Better Writer than Herself, October 13, 2003
I so much wanted to like this book better than I did. Clearly, Ms. Lords has led a tragic life of neglect and abuse and, more importantly, has managed to triumph over it. She seems to have reached a place in her life and career where happiness is coming to her. And she deserves it. And I wanted to cheer for her.
The problem is, her writing is just not very good. At times overwrought and flowery and at others vague to the point where I wasn't sure what was happening, her prose just wasn't equal to her own story. Her writing didn't allow me to feel the things I wanted to feel--I couldn't share her rage at the people who had done her wrong or her joys at her successes. At times, I couldn't even feel sympathy for her or interest in what was happening.
Normally, I believe strongly in people telling their own story. In this case, however, Ms. Lords might have been better served by a ghostwriter. She at least deserved a better editor who could have helped her control some of her poorer tendencies as a writer. The book does improve as it goes on but I'm afraid most people won't make it that far. That's too bad because there is a life here worth reading about.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Little girl lost and found, October 9, 2005
Traci Lords' autobiography leaves out some information which would be of interest, but what is there is clear.
First, it's obvious she wrote the book herself, most likely from scattered bits of diary notes, and credit must be given because almost anyone else in her position would have had this thin thing ghosted. I say "obvious" because while the writing can at times be raw and *seemingly* honest, frank and revealing, it's also often cliche-ridden and downright grimace-inducing. Take for example, her 2-year relationship with John Enos. Enos was "the kind of guy my mother should have warned me about...an appetite for destruction...proceed at your own risk...bull in a china shop, a walk on the wild side...drank Jack and Cokes like water...life in the fast late...had seen it all" I mean, C'MON! That's all in two paragraphs of sloppy writing. Most of the book is better than THAT, but it's not literature by any means.
Second, it's clear the lady is stunningly beautiful and undeniably has drive. The book is positively filled with color and b&w photos of Traci and since we're not going to learn too much we don't already know from the text, this is one way of making up for it. As regards ambition, clearly the most obvious thing to emerge from her porn/drugs/alcohol/abuse anguish and subsequent therapy was a powerful desire to prove herself as an actress, model, singer and a worthy person, and to her credit, over the years she has built up an enviable career. It could not have been easy.
What is missing from the book however, despite the years of therapy she describes, is a connection between the porn star past and her present. Lords writes often that some in Hollywood wanted nothing to do with her professionally after her bust, but she misses the point that some DID, using her notoriety to help sell movies or lingerie or clothes. To this day, having decided to use her "Traci Lords" name personally and professionally, she is benefitting and capitalizing on the sizzle that goes with it. Nothing wrong with that - this is show business, and she's not the only one selling associations with sex - but it's the fact. As Traci she has gotten a good deal further than she could have as Nora.
Additionally, while no doubt the whole porn time took place in a drug-feuled haze and much of interest might have been lost down the memory-hole, there are plenty of loose ends that ought to have been wrapped up, but aren't. Aside from death threats from some (who?) in the porn industry in the wake of the bust, was she or anyone else actually charged with anything? Anyone sentenced at all? Did her mother's appearance at all these trials make any difference to anyone? How about some kind of look back?
The book is definitely not a tell-all about the porn industry - read Jerry Butler's book for that. It is the here's-my-life-so-far story of a messed up girl from a messed up family from Steubenville (also home of Dean Martin, who likewise did reasonably well in Hollywood), trying hard to show us that she's gonna make it after all.
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