Full Exposure: Lily Burana's "Strip City'

From Anchorage, Alaska, to New Jersey to Tijuana, Mexico, Lily Burana takes her readers inside the glitziest and seediest strip clubs in the nation in Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America. But Burana, who will be at BookPeople on Monday, October 1, at 7pm, is also armed with a good deal of feminist theory, research, and unflinching opinions about the sex-worker trade.

I can't blame anyone who tries to figure out this stripping thing, Lily Burana writes in <i>Strip City</i>. Some maintain that deconstruction is an act of coldness, but I don't think so. I've never considered curiosity cold.  Burana will be at BookPeople on Monday, October 1, at 7pm.
"I can't blame anyone who tries to figure out this stripping thing," Lily Burana writes in Strip City. "Some maintain that deconstruction is an act of coldness, but I don't think so. I've never considered curiosity cold." Burana will be at BookPeople on Monday, October 1, at 7pm.

I always thought my sister had the perfect best friend. Her best friend took my sister along on fancy vacations to Club Med. She shared her family's box seats at Madison Square Garden. They wore each other's clothes. But after reading Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America (Talk Miramax Books, $23.95), by Lily Burana, I know that I was wrong. Burana is a stripper and writer who is both wild and kind, and after reading her memoir, which is filled with both theory and thongs, I have changed my mind. Lily Burana, I realize, is the perfect best friend. And reading Strip City is like taking a road trip with her.

Full Exposure: Lily Burana's Strip City'

Strip City is from the much hullabalooed union between Talk Magazine, Miramax Films, and Hyperion Press. Amazingly, it combines all three mediums. There's the book cover that looks like the splashy front of a magazine with a titillating headline, witty and irreverent writing, and enough fabulous images to fill a movie screen.

But it is the author herself who won me over. Burana, an independent New York journalist, has, at the start of Strip City, fallen in love and become engaged to a man who lives in Cheyenne, Wyo. She has decided to move life and limb to the Wild West, where she will give up stripping for good. But before doing so, Burana has decided to take a yearlong road trip, paid for completely by stripping. From Anchorage, Alaska, to New Jersey to Tijuana, Mexico, the author takes her readers inside the glitziest and seediest strip clubs in the nation.

The author is a fascinating companion. Her bag contains "thongs in fluorescent pink, red, and leopard print," a "baby doll minidress made of insect-print fabric," "silver metallic thigh-high boots," and, of course, the "Day-Glow orange-and-black zebra striped bikini." But Burana is also armed with a good deal of feminist theory, research, and unflinching opinions about the sex-worker trade. Although the author does not plan to continue her "Lycra lifestyle," she admits that "the kicker is that I am one of the success stories. I entered the sex industry at a young age and came out the other side with a decent career, a home, a stable family life, friends, loyal partner, no substance abuse problem. Such as can be done, I did everything right. And this business still kicked my ass sideways."

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

Support the Chronicle  

READ MORE
More by Amanda Eyre Ward
A Journey Through Hell
A Journey Through Hell
Óscar Martínez talks about riding the rails through Mexico to America

Oct. 11, 2013

Uncorking Creativity
Uncorking Creativity
Amanda Eyre Ward doesn't think you should beat yourself up too much

Nov. 27, 2012

KEYWORDS FOR THIS STORY

Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America, Lily Burana

MORE IN THE ARCHIVES
One click gets you all the newsletters listed below

Breaking news, arts coverage, and daily events

Keep up with happenings around town

Kevin Curtin's bimonthly cannabis musings

Austin's queerest news and events

Eric Goodman's Austin FC column, other soccer news

Information is power. Support the free press, so we can support Austin.   Support the Chronicle