Lucky Girl: How I Survived the Sex Industry / Violet Ivy

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Memoir

Approximate word count: 95-100,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Violet Ivy (I’m guessing a pen name or at least working name) is “an international call girl.” This book chronicles her years working in the sex industry.  She also has a book of interviews discussing sexuality with some of the people she’s crossed paths with over the years called Sex and Sexuality: The Interviews – Part One.

Description:

“The intimate autobiography of an international call girl. Scary, funny and bizarre stories recorded for your amusement, edification or simply for interesting dinner conversation.

The sex industry is clouded in mystery. It has to be to some extent or it wouldn’t survive. But in this age of internet porn, buying pubic hair trimmings online and wife swapping parties it’s about time the veils of mystery were taken down.”

Appraisal:

My feelings about Lucky Girl are ambiguous. In it Violet Ivy chronicles how she went from a farm girl in rural Australia to working as a prostitute and call girl both on her own and in brothels in at least three countries. She also attempts to put a positive spin on the industry with thoughts on why it is needed as well as arguing against some of the stereotypes we might have about sex workers. Taken at face value, it was both entertaining and thought provoking.

However, it suffered from an overabundance of typos and other errors not caught in the proofing and copyediting process. I also found that as I was getting close to the end I was questioning the credibility or truthfulness of Ivy’s story. There were two main reasons I was able to identify as contributors to that feeling. One was a story about a man named Bruce who Ivy got involved with on a personal level which seemed to contradict earlier stories where she talked about her “one real love” and also the difficulty in having a regular relationship while working in her industry. To be fair, she might not have contradicted herself and I read more into one of the stories than was intended. However, my second concern was when she argued against the media stereotype of a sex worker being addicted to hard drugs and guilty of theft and other mayhem, saying it was done with the “aim to sensationalize” and claimed that this “archetypical hooker is the exception rather than the rule.” Possibly it is the exception, yet there were multiple stories earlier in the book that involved her peers stealing from her or someone else and the point was made that this wasn’t an uncommon problem. At least in my experience working in other industries, theft of personal items by my coworkers hasn’t been an issue I’ve had to worry about. Maybe the stereotype isn’t the rule, but it didn’t seem to be so uncommon as to paint it as rare either.

If you’re willing to wade past a few typos, I’d be interested in your thoughts.

FYI:

Adult subjects and language.

Format/Typo Issues:

A moderate number of typos and other proofing and copyediting misses.

Rating: *** Three Stars