Traci Lords: Underneath It All

Traci Lords: Underneath It All
by Traci Lords

Traci Lords: Underneath It All
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Book Summary Information

Author: Traci Lords
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-06-29
ISBN: 0060508213
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: It Books

Book Reviews of Traci Lords: Underneath It All

Book Review: Traci, I Love You
Summary: 5 Stars

I'll start off by saying this book isn't a literary masterpiece in the sense that it's incredibly well-written. But, that doesn't make it a bad thing. Traci's autobiography may at times feel weak, but it's honest, and that's what draws me to it. Lords could have easily hired a ghostwriter or like Jenna Jameson, received help from another established author, but instead she did it all on her own - and that's what makes her novel stand out. It's personal, at times reading like the pages from a diary.

To me, Traci Lords is one of the most fascinating celebrities in modern time - a woman who in the 80's caused national news and controversy when it was discovered that Lords was underage when she had filmed well over what are now 100 titles. Her notoriety has stuck, and will remain so in future pop culture. I'll admit that I initially had no real interest in Traci, only knowing her by her reputation, but after reading Jameson's memoir, I sort of developed an interest in the grittiness of the porn industry, and what it's really like for these actors behind the scenes. And I'm glad I picked this novel up, now developing a new-found respect and admiration for Traci. In her book, Traci talks about life as an abused child, who later experiences rape, molestation, neglect, pregnancy, a drug addiction and a stint in porn, all before she turned 18 years old. It's a great read, often a heart wrenching tale, but one with a fairy tale ending, as Lords has overcome her struggles and obstacles in life, proving all those around her who during the time she caused headlines, went on to say Traci would never amount to anything other than her 15 minutes of a being a "porn lolita". Less than a year after her 18th birthday, Traci would go on to star in arcs on numerous popular television programs such as Melrose Place, Roseanne, Married with Children, and Tales from the Crypt, launch a music career with a #1 dance album, and a moderately successful mainstream career in movies, starring in Cry-Baby, Blade, and The Tommyknockers.

If you want to read an honest, inside look at the incredible life of a young woman, make sure to pick up this title.

Summary of Traci Lords: Underneath It All

The moving, gripping, and tell?all autobiography of Traci Elizabeth Lords, a former child porn queen, electronica maven, and cult movie and TV star.

At 14, Nora Kuzma ran away from home and ended up on the dirty streets of Hollywood. She fell in with a fast crowd, and her dreams of modelling soon landed her a spectacular centrefold in Penthouse Magazine, where at 15 she became internationally known as TRACI LORDS. From there she appeared in numerous adult films and magazines, denying her past and battling a deep addiction to cocaine and men. Three years later she got out. This is her memoir?a tale of loss, redemption, and ultimate survival as Traci Elizabeth Lords takes you into her secretive past, faces her demons, and shares her extraordinary journey of personal growth.


Nora Kuzma was a troubled teenager from Steubenville, Ohio; Traci Lords was the underage skin mag/porn queen who became the centerpiece of the adult video industry's greatest scandal. In reality, they were one and the same, the subject of this slick, if thin autobiography. But what's striking here is not the familiar storyline--confused, sexually abused teen falls in with drugs and the wrong Southern California crowd, forges fake IDs to become Penthouse Pet of the Month at 16 and the '80s hottest adult star, then arrested as focus of the Reagan administration's crackdown on porn, only to become reborn as cleaned-up, psychoanalyzed/rehabed purveyor of legitimate film, TV, and music career. Rather, what's striking is Lords's capacity for denial, compartmentalization, and myopia when it serves her ends.

Her scandalous tenure in the skin trade--undeniably the sole basis for her infamy and subsequent legitimate career--is glossed over here in a few score pages, with more attention paid to the heavy-metal musicians that dotted her life than the motivations and machinations of the Feds who literally changed her life; Slash's snake gets more ink here than Attorney General Ed Meese. Quick to ladle generous sympathy on her own plight, she heaps little but scorn upon those from the seedy past of her porn-star alter-ego, yet seems to have had few qualms about formally adopting that moniker as her legal name. --Jerry McCulley

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