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A review by everie
Camgirl by Isa Mazzei
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
Read this after seeing Cam (2019) a few years ago, an incredible thriller/horror movie that Mazzei also wrote--more relevant than ever in the age of deepfakes and more and more sophisticated and unregulated AI tech (but of course, as the memoir notes, people in online sex work have always been at risk of having their images and recordings escape their control and affect their lives).
After reading this memoir, it's definitely obvious how Mazzei pulled from her own experiences in sex work to give the film more weight--but it also feels like the book could have used some more back and forth with an editor before it was published.
Mazzei is a really engaging writer. Each chapter tears along at a breakneck pace, urging the reader along--but the book itself doesn't feel that cohesive. It brings up and drops things when convenient, so something that is a main point of conflict in one chapter (see the comment above about images escaping a sex worker's control) is dropped completely without much reflection. Meanwhile, every chapter ends with a "summing up" or "moral" kind of statement, to really bring it to a close. But Mazzei's struggles with intimacy and self-image are a throughline in the memoir, so those wrap-up statements just feel pat and a little trite. It makes the whole thing feel less even, and could have used more time. Overall, though, a really informative, interesting read! Also go watch Cam!!
After reading this memoir, it's definitely obvious how Mazzei pulled from her own experiences in sex work to give the film more weight--but it also feels like the book could have used some more back and forth with an editor before it was published.
Mazzei is a really engaging writer. Each chapter tears along at a breakneck pace, urging the reader along--but the book itself doesn't feel that cohesive. It brings up and drops things when convenient, so something that is a main point of conflict in one chapter (see the comment above about images escaping a sex worker's control) is dropped completely without much reflection. Meanwhile, every chapter ends with a "summing up" or "moral" kind of statement, to really bring it to a close. But Mazzei's struggles with intimacy and self-image are a throughline in the memoir, so those wrap-up statements just feel pat and a little trite. It makes the whole thing feel less even, and could have used more time. Overall, though, a really informative, interesting read! Also go watch Cam!!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Fatphobia