WHO COULD RESIST a book with the subtitle “My Life in a Harem”? OK, probably a lot of people. But I’m not one of them.
Jillian Lauren looks like a model, planned to be an actress, is married to a rock star…and along the way, ended up as one of dozens of women spirited out of their “normal” lives to provide companionship, and sex, to the Prince Jefri, the younger brother of the Sultan of Brunei. She also happens to be a witty and compelling storyteller, with a great command of humor and a gift for self-examination that feels authentic, and never forced.
In a memoir that is much more sensitive and introspective than sensationalized, Lauren outlines her journey from rebellious kid to teen stripper to New York City escort and ultimately her recruitment to be one of the group of girls and young women kept to “entertain” the Prince and his friends.
Lauren clearly delights in remembering and recreating the odd, dysfunctional sisterhood that developed among the harem-mates, who run the gamut from manipulative and mean to much-too-young. It all sounds like it would be pretty tawdry, and some of it is, but Lauren’s gift as a writer is making the reader understand the thousand steps that led her to Brunei, without looking for pity or relying upon sentimentality or defiance. When she falls for the Prince, I couldn’t help but empathize with a young girl’s need (she was 19!) to win the prize: in this case, the love, or at least the attention, of the real-life prince. But particularly wrenching is her inability to deal with coming home, a situation that is so challenging that ultimately, she goes back to Brunei for a second tour of duty.
Lauren is smart, her prose is sharp and unsparing of detail. If you’re in New York City, you can hear Lauren read from Some Girls tomorrow night at 8 p.m. as part of the In The Flesh Erotic Reading series. (The venue? It’s called Happy Ending. Who could ask for more?) Admission is free; if you go, be sure to tell us all about it.
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What a wonderful summer read, Paige – thank you for suggesting it. It sounds like a story in which it would be easy to lose time and place and take a mental vacation – something I always need in July. ;)
BTW – I emailed your “contact us” link a few days ago – the RSS feed from The Sister Project is no longer sending out new posts and gives the error ‘no material in this feed’ in a couple different feed readers. You might want to check into it.