How to Make Love Like a Porn Star - book discontinued by Regan Books - review by Tori Rebel

First off, this book is beautiful. It is large, sturdy, covered in an embossed dust jacket adorned with a beautiful photo of Jenna Jameson, and full of her personal diary entries, childhood, and adult photos, and even quite a few full color glossy photos. It is nearly 600 pages of well written, in-depth accounts from her personal and professional life, detailing her experiences in the adult industry and what led her there.

What there is not, however, is much information at all pertaining to how to make love like a porn star. This is an autobiography with a few quippy lists of do's and don't's for sex, but not much more. There is what I would consider some very helpful advice and first hand experiences on how to enter and succeed in the adult films. For those looking to do so, this would probably be one of the people whose input to seriously consider.

To keep the reader interested - which totally worked in my case - the storyline is broken up with small comics on 'suitcase pimps', interviews with her father and brother, and entries from her personal diary growing up. It makes such a long book read much faster than you'd expect. The few sections of color glossy photos are really amazingly done and I'm glad I got to see them, but what I found more interesting were the hundreds of black and white photos placed throughout the book of Jenna as a child with her family, as a teenager, a model, and early modeling and publicity shots. She includes several personal accounts of knowing, working with, and 'working' with (wink-wink) several stars of the adult entertainment industry, and the entertainment industry in general.

The downside of this book is, unfortunately, the storyline. It is the most depressing book I have ever read. Jenna Jameson was certainly dealt a bad hand from day one and then, excluding some good professional choices, made every poor decision she possibly could, making for a very painful and traumatic life.

In a nutshell, she was raised by a single father who worked constantly and moved her and her brother around more times that I could keep track of in the book. She was let to run around wild getting into all sorts of trouble when she was young and it only gets worse when she's older. She then picked all wrong men (which I'm not criticizing - I've made this mistake more times than I care to admit) to be with, who put her in situations where she was raped and abused, addicted and abandoned over and over again. There are high points for her in the book, mainly professional but a very few personal. In this case, the negative experiences heavily outweigh the good. It also describes the conditions under which she began stripping, modeling, and transcending into pornography - first in the worst way possible, then through a more positive method later. She's been addicted to drugs, had her heart and mind broken repeatedly, and I walked away from the book with a feeling of pity, despite her successful career.

If you're OK with the depressing portions (the majority of the book), then go for it. It's definitely an interesting read. It could also be useful for those looking to go into that line of work, as you could learn from the mistakes she made early on in her career, in addition to using the advice she provides to not only get into the industry, but to rise up as she has. In addition, if you have a general interest in how the adult industry works, this book does tell quite a big about the behind-the-scenes people and dealings that make this multi-billion industry tick.

My 3/5 star rating is based on the fantastic writing of Jenna Jameson and the co-writer, and Neil Strauss. It is interesting, from the details of what drove her to become what she is today, to her encounters with popular celebrities, to the way the movies you watch when you're home alone are really created. It is a high quality book and the color photo sections are gorgeous. Unfortunately, the book is first and foremost, depressing. Things like this that effect most people normally don't bother me and this book had me so bummed out for days. It also, if you don't read the description before you buy it, can be rather misleading as there are just little snippets here and there about personal (as opposed to on-camera) sex, dating, and relationships. I was aware it was a biography because I had done some research before starting it, but that was just a fluke and I could have very easily gone into it expecting something else based on the title, cover, and author.

This book really bummed me out. That was the first, hardest, and longest-lasting impression I was left with. But when I manage to look through that, I did learn a lot about the adult industry, and found the only inspirational aspect of Jenna Jameson's life to be her determination and willpower in becoming the biggest name in porn. The photos and tips were interesting but nothing in the book overshadows the points of despair and desperation in her life.

The book is well written and beautifully published and looks great on the shelf, but just the thought of it is still so depressing. I've also started to look at Jenna Jameson differently when I see her on film, knowing the torment she's been through to get where she is, and all the poor decisions she made along the way.