It feels slightly ghoulish to rate someone's life as interesting or compelling, especially when it includes a couple of rapes. But then, Ms Jameson wasn't forced to release this book - and is presumably making money off it. So, then, a complelling and interesting tale of Jenna's rise from stripper to glamour model to porn star.
Liberally sprinkled with pictures of the subject (including her as a child... which is just slightly creepy) and featuring asides on the common injuries suffered by strippers, Jenna's 10 commandments for prospective lovers, exactly what the life of a male porn actor is like and how the plots (such as they were) of many of her movies were thought up by her estranged husband as a form of revenge.
Oddly, for a book claiming to be uncensored and about a porn star, those pictures that would show some punani are censored. Even more oddly, some nipples suffer the same black bar - maybe they're from a boob job (Jenna has admitted to two) that has their own distribution deal.
The text on the other hand is no holds barred. The book opens with the apparent suicide of Vanessa, Jenna's best friend and fellow stripper. Jenna believes it was actually murder, and by Vanessa's own father who has raped both Vanessa and Jenna. It is Preacher's rape of the 16-year old Jenna that, unable to tell her father, drives her to run away and set up home with Jack, the 25-year old tattooist who, as nephew of the odious Preacher, was the one who invited her on to Preacher's boat. Yes... things are that fucked up.
With few other skills, Jenna removes her own braces and gets a job stripping at a local club - ironically the one where Preacher's (consenting) girlfriend Opal also strips. A little shy, she gets a kick out of the effect she has on the punters and, her competitive nature to the fore, quickly heads to the top of the earnings. Her only friend is the aforementioned Vanessa whom Preacher kills seemingly when Vanessa confronts him about his actions.
Now almost friendless at the club, Jenna talks to one of the new girls and some hot lesbian action ensues. This is a little odd, because presumably Jenna's been shagging Jack for some time now and this is the first mention of hot sex. But then Jack's no hero in this story and perhaps his lovemaking was nothing to write home about. He does get some action a little later mind you, when Jenna invites a girlfriend home for a threesome. Jack doesn't perform that well though - but since he's probably already kicking himself for letting Jenna get away, I'll stop putting the boot in too.
It's about this point that Jenna gets an intro to glamour modelling and, after going through the phone book to find a suitable name, ends up in front of the camera of celebrated Penthouse photographer Suze Randall. From here her career goes smoothly to the household name she is today... well... no it doesn't, but if I carry on at this rate I'll precis the entire book - and there needs to be something left for you to read.
The story hardly flags, though some of the transcriptions of a family meeting drag a little, moreso perhaps because they're interspersed with clippings from Jenna's diary which cover the same events. Maybe there's something to be said for the dual viewpoint though. A couple of chapters are done comic book style - and that works quite effectively.
The day the book was delivered (the postman only rang once mind you) I read it straight through with only a break for breakfast when I was about three-quarters through. A highly recommended book, even if you haven't seen any of Jenna's ouevre.