Rating: 
Summary: Boringville
Review: This is not so much a stripper's farewell journey across America as it is the scattered culling of a few years during which the author chose to dabble in stripping. And the enormous personal melodrama she manufactures around it. It's excruciatingly self-absorbed. There are also a few interviews with old showgirls thrown in for filler. Dry, unfocused, inauthentic.
Rating: 
Summary: Stripper Bares All
Review: Lily Burana had a problem. She was approaching marriage, and she knew that for guys, the accepted ritual was to have an anticipatory bachelor party, quite possibly including entertainment by a dancer or a stripper. "It's a time-honored way of saying, 'Goodbye to all that.'" That's all fine for the soon-to-be-former bachelor. Burana's quandary: "But what does a former stripper do when _she's_ about to get married?" There may be no set answer for this one, but for Burana, the answer was, start stripping again, do it everywhere you can, and write your heart out about it. A wonderful book has resulted, _Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America_ (Talk Miramax Books), a close examination of her life in spandex, thigh-highs, and feathers, and a thoughtful look at what strippers do and what it means in current America.Burana gives us the stripping history of her life, taking off her clothes for pay first as a rebellious adolescent who simply needed money. She was a punk-Goth kid from a nice New Jersey family. She started up in Times Square, long before the clean-up, in a sleazy club called Peepland. She moved up in stripping clubs, but also became a respected writer, and she here gives close access to her interior life. She also became engaged to a great guy who didn't mind her past or her current quest. She takes us to a strippers' school, on a shopping spree for costumes, and to The Exotic World Burlesque Museum. She tells us how her family reacts to her work. She gives us personal insights about what the attraction is for her. Grabbing an on-stage pole, just like she learned at stripper school, at Cheetah's in Los Angeles, she gets into an ecstatic state. "When it feels just right. Righteous. At times like this, I can believe that I have all the hearts in the room gathered into the palm of my hand. I will never get old. I will never know harm. As long as I stay on this stage under the benevolent auspices of darkness, everything will be okay." Combining sex, money, and power is dangerous. "Hunger isn't humane, sex will never be totally safe, and commerce isn't always kind," she writes, and by the end of the book, she has given an ambivalent but permanent farewell to a big chunk of her life, and she has given her costumes away to an aspiring ecdysiast. This is a riveting book about what is an essential and unchangeable aspect of American life, and it is filled with details about a world few people know intimately. For instance, in what other memoir are you going to learn how to perform the stunt of lighting your nipples on fire?
Rating: 
Summary: falling short
Review: Overall Strip City fell short of my expectations. As an X-stripper myself I was hoping to read a story that had more guts than Liliy's account. Personally I was looking to connect in hopes of having my own questions answered without having to write my own book. Strip City was too tame in comparison and I was left unsatisfied. However, there were some moments of great writing and wished I had underlined in high lighter a few of my favorite passages. At times she writes magically intertwining words into thought provoking melodies and other times her voice is flat. For instance the Pillow chapter was a bore or maybe it was the dancer herself. Then again perhaps in retrospect stripping and strippers truly aren't so spectacular as I once thought or as they are glamorized about. And the reality is unless you are MGM or Universal the strippers life is like most middle america, DULL and no fancy smancy writing is going to turn the truth into exciting not even Lily Burana's. I give this book a 3 out of 5 because it was engaging enough to keep reading although it fizzles out quiet rapidly, as for Lily Burana for her first book I think she did amazing and look forward to reading her next to see if she is truly gifted or if she is pulling our leg. Thanx Duchess
Rating: 
Summary: Story of Lily Burana and her life as Barbie Faust..
Review: I believe that Lily Burana had good intentions in writing this book but I as the reader sure didn't get it. I find her life to be fascinating yet so many details were missing. I think she had a good story idea and then along the way it seemed that she lost her focus.
Her life in the dancing industry began at Peeplands in NYC which she reverts back to many times in the story about being ashamed of the types of things she did but never reveals the full story. Her true intention of her mission is to achieve closure before starting her new life, marrying her love Randy. Her story is too long and drawn out. Many details and explanations are left out. While I appreciate her efforts and the insights into this kind of life, I was unsatsified with her tale.
Rating:
Summary: cute!
Review: An interesting read. Fairly well written. Some good satire about the business, but I liked "The Stripper Diaries" much better.
Rating: 
Summary: Great, Candid Read
Review: I picked this book up after reading an excerpt in a magazine and was greatly surprised. Burana takes the reader on a tour of both her personal venture, a last chance stripping tour of the states, as well as provides an insight into the world of stripping. The descriptions were well written, allowing you to see and feel what she experienced. I didn't find the storyline to drag at all, in fact I wanted to read it again and again.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome book!!!
Review: I have to join many of the other exotic dancers and former exotic dancers who have posted reviews here applauding Strip City. Lily Burana really captures the experience of being an American stripper. Over the past few years I have read Strip City several times and will undoubtedly read it a few more. It is extremely well-written and profoundly insightful. Some of the negative reviews here surprised me at first because they were so mean-spirited, but they actually do reflect the types of attitudes I've become accustomed to in my years of dancing. It seems very important for some people to cling to the notion that all dancers are stupid, narcissistic, and unable to do anything besides take their clothes off. Even worse, dancers are accused of demeaning themselves and allowing themselves to be exploited. Dancing is a great way to make some money, but every stripper has to learn to disregard a large amount of unneccessary, untrue, and insulting remarks such as those. Most customers in strip clubs are respectful and appreciative, even if there is often a vocal minority of patrons who feel compelled to denigrate the performers. Exotic dance can be one of the most beautiful forms of artistry possible, but unfortunately many people seem to be threatened by women who are confident about their bodies and comfortable expressing their sexuality. Their negativity is draining at times because it seems so foolish that these people still attribute moral significance to the removal of clothing. I've danced for close to 10 years and consider erotic titillation to be healthy and enjoyable whether I'm performing or watching other dancers. It is extremely gratifying to see more and more women, like Lily Burana, who are speaking out and describing the exotic dance profession as it really is. It is an industry populated by many intelligent, thoughtful women who are capable of pursuing any type of career, and who have chosen to spend some portion of their lives on stage. Although there are some unpleasant aspects to the business the reality inside most strip clubs is that the majority of customers, staff, and performers are all just normal folks who are drawn to the allure of the dance.
Rating:
Summary: Not Very In Depth
Review: Ms. Burana does seem to skip away from any explanations for her "career", but obviously she enjoyed it or she wouldn't have done it, and wouldn't have gone to see strippers herself on her Retin A finding mission in Mexico. She treats her subject matter rather superficially, and if you really want to know what exactly what it was she did at Peepland or how she felt while degrading herself, you won't find out from this book. Maybe she just can't face it herself yet.
Rating:
Summary: recovering stripper death therapy!
Review: Strip City is a highly recommended book for anyone whose been on the analytical side of strip club stripping or would like to be. It's great for those of us who have danced around wearing a slingshot and even for those who haven't. I commend her on making such a comprehensive presentation on a complex issue, she covers everything from feminism to illegal stage fees to the history of burlesque! I have been everywhere Lily has been and it was great to read about it! I was reading it on the plane coming home from Miami where I had an "unsuccessful" attempt to take up this romantic notion of farewell stripclub touring. It was great therapy for me. Words to let me know that you are not alone, and that this job is anything but easy. This book is clearly written from a heterosexual white woman's perspective but it is broad based enough so everyone who has stripped reads it and laughs and cries. The first scene begins in a tanning booth and I almost threw it in the garbage at that point, but gave it a benefit of the doubt and was grateful that I did!
Rating:
Summary: Stripping From The Inside
Review: Lily has written an insightful book; she's "been there and done that". A must-read for anyone interested in the answers to "How can they do that?" and "Why do they do that?". If you've been a lady on-stage (or thought about it) or a gentleman in the audience, run and buy this book. It's not a glorification, but she tells it like it is.
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