- Paperback: 118 pages
- Publisher: ReganBooks (20 Feb 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060884053
- ISBN-13: 978-0060884055
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.2 x 1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 80,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"This is it: The best graphic novel of 2006....scathing, profoundly honest...An instant, post-modern classic."--Todd David Schwartz, CBSTodd David Schwartz, CBSTodd David Schwartz, CBS
Product Description
Claudia Corvette. From her tousled bedroom hair to her name - all the porn stars in this world take their names from supermodels and sports cars - she is adult entertainment's prototypical femme fatale. Her life is the collision of countless troubled - childhood cliches and grown-up wet dreams, projected onto her as surely as her videos project their blue light onto lonely men around the world. From its first panel, "How to Make Money Like a Porn Star" draws the reader into the dark world of girls like Claudia, the men who fantasizes about them, and the monsters who control them. In the hands of "Rolling Stones" writer Neil Strauss and illustrator Bernard Chang, this adult graphic novel weaves together black humour and blacker reality. Like all great American stories, it features humble beginnings, life-changing tragedy, stripping, abuse, implants, fame, addiction, bigger implants, abduction, gunplay, downfall, and even bigger implants. Not to mention a thousand shades of latex and L'Oreal. Part parody, part morality tale, here is the truth about the porn life, its outsized visual splendour captured in a comic parade of doe-eyed centrefolds, its essence distilled in a story that will haunt every reader who has ever wondered where his next fantasy is coming from.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Most of the story consists of eminently believable life experiences of an increasingly strung out and past it L.A. porn actress, highlighting well publicised but none the less brutal themes of abuse and control in the industry. A fantastical sub-plot that is the sort of narrative one would conceive of for a high-budget porn film provides welcome light relief and allows for an eventual, err, satisfying climax.
The highlight of the book is the use of the graphic medium: beautifully realistic art interleaves with newspaper-style cartoons and a stylised retelling of the heroine's past that draws on Krazy Kat and manga influences.
Yes, plenty of flesh is on display but much of that is from 20-stone balding middle-aged men. If you want graphic erotica then try most things by Guido Crepax, e.g.: Justine (Evergreen Series)
An interesting and entertaining book, definitely not one for a right-handed read and (if needed) yet another nail in the "comics are for kids" argument's coffin. Perfect for the sixteen-year old in your house.
The highlight of the book is the use of the graphic medium: beautifully realistic art interleaves with newspaper-style cartoons and a stylised retelling of the heroine's past that draws on Krazy Kat and manga influences.
Yes, plenty of flesh is on display but much of that is from 20-stone balding middle-aged men. If you want graphic erotica then try most things by Guido Crepax, e.g.: Justine (Evergreen Series)
An interesting and entertaining book, definitely not one for a right-handed read and (if needed) yet another nail in the "comics are for kids" argument's coffin. Perfect for the sixteen-year old in your house.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
15 reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
How Not to Write a Graphic Novel
6 Aug 2007
Format:Paperback
After reading Strauss's riveting Jenna Jameson autobiography (How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale), I thought that I'd find something of value in this companion graphic novel. Not the case, unfortunately. The "plot" here is barely cohesive and, quite frankly, disgusting (the main character, a gun-wielding porn star, is kidnapped and raped by her own brother...). Some reviewers have called this book "laugh outloud funny." Maybe if you're in junior high, all of the naked boobies will make you giggle? While I give Strauss's Jameson autobiography my highest marks, this book is at the other end of the spectrum.
27 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Quite a Departure from The Game..
27 Sep 2006
Format:Paperback
I had a chance to sneak peek some of the contents of the book before its release (he released various portions on some private BBs), and was quite surprised at the departure in content from previous material he's released.
Though in a way, I guess I shouldn't be.
Strauss has a writing style/persona that gives him the best of both worlds - to roam among the world he observes and writes of while never quite being OF it himself - able to distance himself from the subject matter, stay above the fray, to remain professionally unscathed.
It worked, to a point, in his last book, The Game. Though strange to some observers - the undertone of that book read like a morality play, and yet he went on to teach and discuss pickup techniques in mainstream media outlets.
I'm not sure he will remain as unscathed with this release. Already the book's subject matter - juvenille at best, (a graphic novel with the artwork done by Bernard Chang, who's work added visual affect in The Game), a patronizing insult at worst - his bifurcation simply doesn't hold up this time around.
Like Pete Townsend's lame claim that he posessed child pornography 'for research purposes,' trying to convince us that this is a high-minded expose squeezed in between silly, obnoxious artwork and titilating characters simply doesn't wash.
Reminds me of those cheesy late night programs on cable TV, showcasing rude/crude sex acts in the form of a documentary. Be a man; pick your path.
Most should see right through it. Save your money and pass.
Though in a way, I guess I shouldn't be.
Strauss has a writing style/persona that gives him the best of both worlds - to roam among the world he observes and writes of while never quite being OF it himself - able to distance himself from the subject matter, stay above the fray, to remain professionally unscathed.
It worked, to a point, in his last book, The Game. Though strange to some observers - the undertone of that book read like a morality play, and yet he went on to teach and discuss pickup techniques in mainstream media outlets.
I'm not sure he will remain as unscathed with this release. Already the book's subject matter - juvenille at best, (a graphic novel with the artwork done by Bernard Chang, who's work added visual affect in The Game), a patronizing insult at worst - his bifurcation simply doesn't hold up this time around.
Like Pete Townsend's lame claim that he posessed child pornography 'for research purposes,' trying to convince us that this is a high-minded expose squeezed in between silly, obnoxious artwork and titilating characters simply doesn't wash.
Reminds me of those cheesy late night programs on cable TV, showcasing rude/crude sex acts in the form of a documentary. Be a man; pick your path.
Most should see right through it. Save your money and pass.
15 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Somebody's Going to Make Money from This, but it's Not You
28 Oct 2006
Format:Paperback
"How to Make Money Like a Porn Star" is a rich concept, but poorly executed. The origin of this idea comes from Neil Strauss' interactions with porn stars from his Jameson project, who all shared their heart-wrenching stories to him as how they came into the idustry. Apparently, he rolled them all into one character, Claudia Corvette. The trouble is the Corvette character becomes more archetypical than fresh--her story (the road to the porn industry, not after) as sad as it may be, is nothing any viewer of "Dateline" (or other journalistic programming) doesn't already know, or can't already guess.
If Strauss set off to show us an unimaginiable underbelly to the pornography industry, he overcompensated with such an over-the-top plot. It is difficult to distinguish between what a porn starlett suffered through, or what is the creation of Strauss' imagination. Would a sultan train women in sexual technique for his harem? Yeah, probably. Could a women crunch a man's penis with her kegel muscles? Maybe. Could there be a "family reunion" as coincidental as this book's ending? I don't know. And what about Corvette's mother planting a butcher knife in a 3rd grader? I would place my money on this actually being fiction, so why wouldn't we believe the rest is also?
Bernard Chang's artwork and diverse styles shines through here, considering the script he had to work with--too fast-paced, sloppy flashbacks, and confusing backstory (Was the "Body Shop" a strip bar or really an autobody shop?).
Not all is lost though. Strauss' stength comes in the mock advertising inserted between acts. The "Porn Nuts" comic strips in the book are gems, particularly "Dirty Laundry" and "Scarred for Life." I would have preferred a "Porn Nuts" collection instead of "How to Make Money."
This is a work of satire, though the themes and messages in the graphic novel would have benefitted from a realistic approach. This would have meant a longer project, and more characterization (The reader feels distant from the characters). Otherwise, it is what it is--satire and fiction.
If you're a fanboy or a Style-monger, then go ahead and make the purchase. If you're not, borrow a copy for half an hour.
If Strauss set off to show us an unimaginiable underbelly to the pornography industry, he overcompensated with such an over-the-top plot. It is difficult to distinguish between what a porn starlett suffered through, or what is the creation of Strauss' imagination. Would a sultan train women in sexual technique for his harem? Yeah, probably. Could a women crunch a man's penis with her kegel muscles? Maybe. Could there be a "family reunion" as coincidental as this book's ending? I don't know. And what about Corvette's mother planting a butcher knife in a 3rd grader? I would place my money on this actually being fiction, so why wouldn't we believe the rest is also?
Bernard Chang's artwork and diverse styles shines through here, considering the script he had to work with--too fast-paced, sloppy flashbacks, and confusing backstory (Was the "Body Shop" a strip bar or really an autobody shop?).
Not all is lost though. Strauss' stength comes in the mock advertising inserted between acts. The "Porn Nuts" comic strips in the book are gems, particularly "Dirty Laundry" and "Scarred for Life." I would have preferred a "Porn Nuts" collection instead of "How to Make Money."
This is a work of satire, though the themes and messages in the graphic novel would have benefitted from a realistic approach. This would have meant a longer project, and more characterization (The reader feels distant from the characters). Otherwise, it is what it is--satire and fiction.
If you're a fanboy or a Style-monger, then go ahead and make the purchase. If you're not, borrow a copy for half an hour.
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