Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America (2003) - Plot & Excerpts
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. 174Burana, 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.
First 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.
What do You think about Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America (2003)?
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!
—Emily
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.
—Rose Moore
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.
—Graham
