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casspro's review
4.0
I think part of why I like this book so much is that I recognize so much of Jillian in myself and the people I work with and the people I went to school with. That girl hungry for the spotlight and desperate to make herself stand out from the crowd. I see that girl yearning to make her mark on the world and of course, be exceeding humble while doing so. I became so invested in the story that when Jillian makes her veiled trip home to look after her father after his "surgery", I wanted to her to turn the plane around. End the story in Brunei, instead of Newark. It was so much more exciting when she was in Brunei. Once she made it back to Jersey, the story took a "let me tell you about the trials and tribulations I endured and how I've profited from going through them" sort of cliché. It became boring and trite. I sincerely enjoyed reading it, despite the fact that I wanted a different sort of ending.
icarussfalls's review
3.0
It was good but definitely not what I was expecting. I had thought that this would be more about her experience in the Harem and less about her time and life in the US as well. I also imagined it to be more tragic.
underwaterlily's review
3.0
Some Girls is a little dry, but one image still sticks with me, nearly ten years after I read the book: Jillian Lauren is forced to wait several hours in a freezing cold room, without a blanket. The girls in the harem are pampered, yes, but they’re also subjected to subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) psychological abuse.
margocandela's review
3.0
I'd been meaning to read Some Girls by Jillian Lauren for some time and picked it up and finished it on the same day. The tone is a bit uneven (she gets very literary then veers into a more conversational tone), but it's a fast, interesting read. She's very honest about her choices and their sometimes sad and destructive repercussions. This a good book to pass along to a young woman who thinks she can make a life on her looks and sexuality alone. Since Lauren has lived that life, her experience might be much more enlightening than a lecture from a concerned parent or friend.
nyarasha's review
3.0
A quick read, but nothing really struck me as profound - there were a few gems of paragraphs, though, which really inspired emotion. I was left a bit unsatisfied at the end, not sure what I was expecting but didn't feel like I really learned much from the read.
juliardye's review
2.0
I was intrigued by the premise of this book, and it started out pretty well, but I was disappointed overall. There were some parts that were interesting, but mostly it was a slow, drawn-out read.
horfhorfhorf's review
1.0
"It rarely takes more than a page to recognize that you're in the presence of someone who can write, but it only takes a sentence to know you're dealing with someone who can't."
I wanted to know her story, but refuse to suffer through a poorly written memoir. Bummer.
I wanted to know her story, but refuse to suffer through a poorly written memoir. Bummer.
donnaadouglas's review
1.0
When I initially picked up this book, I thought it would be the tale of a girl who had had such a difficult life that the only way to escape her dire straits was to sell herself into a royal harem in Brunei. That wasn't the case, this is the tale of a girl who grew up comfortably, allowed to do pretty much whatever she wanted when she grew up, had an internship of a lifetime with the Wooster Group and gave it all up to make a pretty packet by prostituting herself from an early age! I couldn't get over the selfishness and greed of the author and her lack of shame in how she has written about her exploits. Not worth reading at all!
tessisreading2's review
4.0
Enjoyable, highly readable book. Plenty of salacious details about her time in the harem if that's what you're looking for, but Lauren also delves deeply into her own history - her issues, her motivations, her relationships. I think this book really benefited by being written so far after the events it portrays. She looks back on her earlier self with wisdom, empathy, and kindness - but also a clear-eyed assessment of just how messed up she was at the time.