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The Stripper Diaries Book Review |
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Book Reviews -
Women's Fiction
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Written by Jennifer Thompson
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The Stripper Diaries: A Novel About Passion, by N. Kathryn Howard
For anyone who has ever wondered what on earth they were doing with their lives, stuck in dull jobs doing work that was uninspiring, there is Alex Parker. Educated and professional, working as a paralegal and feeling like there ought to be more to her life, she gives it all up to pursue her dream of being an actress. Swearing off dating at the same time, after finding her supposed boyfriend in a most compromising position with another woman, Alex heads to Hollywood, determined to fulfill her career aspirations.
Practical and industrious, Alex knows she is going to have to work hard, take rejection and keep on plugging away until she gets that break she'll need. She alsoo knows that she'll need money and free time, and some sort of job that will give her both. With this in mind, she lands herself a job in a strip club, thinking she was merely applying for just another bartending job. One thing leads to another, and soon Alex is dancing herself. We follow her to Las Vegas with Liza, where we meet "V" and get a glimpse into the big money world of stripping and dancing in Vegas.
Through the course of The Stripper Diaries we get to know a few of the
regular customers and Alex tries to figure out what it is that men are
looking for when they frequent strip clubs. More than once she gives
them a sympathetic ear - and of course, a lap dance as well - and tries
to give each man whatever it is he seems to need.
In the end, all works out happily, or at least hopefully, for Alex.
She gets her break in the television industry, working on (but not in)
a sitcom that centers around a strip club. The Stripper Diaries
manages to show some of the dancers in a positive light: hardworking
girls doing what they need to do in a matter-of-fact way to earn money
for their real dreams. They are students, mothers, and actresses.
They are self-assured and self-confident. While not all are described
in such honorable terms, one gets the feeling that Howard is
sympathetic to the plight of the industrious and misunderstood dancer.
This book isn't full of gratuitous descriptions of dancing around a
pole or grinding on someone's groin; it is about the reasons people are
drawn to the clubs in the first place, men and women alike. This is chick lit with a twist! |
