Mandy Reviews - American Gangbang: A Love Story by Sam Benjamin

ISBN #: 978-1-4516-2778-7

Page Count: 312

Copyright: 2011

Publisher: Gallery Books

Book Summary:

(Taken from dust jacket)

In 1999, after four years of studying at Brown University, Sam Benjamin heads to California in a twenty-year-old Volvo, dead set on turning himself into an artist, despite his complete lack of talent. There, stoned, he has an epiphany - he will make progressive porn. And so begins his turbulent journey ...

In whip-smart, lyrical prose, Benjamin traces his three-year immersion into the world of Hollywood's bleak, screen-glow-lit doppelganger: the southern California sex industry. His rapid ascent from the dingy storefront rental of a starving artist to the multimillion-dollar Malibu villa of a full-fledged porn producer confronts him with the uncomfortably alluring realities of America's strangest industry: gun-toting actors, high on terrible, drug-induced potency; giggling actresses battling internal demons in wobbly heels and pink fishnets; the insatiable consumer demands to sink ever lower, more exploitative, nastier. The result is the titillating, dramatic chronicle of a young man who invites the deepest, most troubling parts of himself to rise to the surface in order to get a good look at them - only to find that what he sees makes his world seem suddenly very small.

Mandy's Review:

The cover is absolutely gorgeous. I love black and white photographs. The title is cheeky and daring... which I love as well. When I received the book, I was drawn to these two things right away. Then I began to read the reviews printed on the front and back covers. They, along with the summary on the inside flap, gave me high hopes for this book.

I was seriously let down.

I read half of the book and could not bring myself to finish it. Oh, I flipped through the last half hoping to glance upon some morsel or tidbit of literary genius that would make me want to pick up where I left off ... Didn't happen.

The language of the book, which was extremely vulgar in most places, was something I expected to see given the book's topic. Basically, you have a 20-something North Carolinian male just entering California and becoming involved in the porn industry ... Yeah, the writing's going to get raunchy.

The book even held my attention for the first few chapters when he was describing his initial struggle getting started in porn and then finally telling his parents. After awhile though, the author's story just seemed to repeat itself, except in different settings with different people. It was like watching a bunch of porn at once and getting tired of hearing and seeing the same stuff over and over again.

What I was really hoping for, and which I only got a little bit of, was the backgrounds and histories of the women and men who became porn stars. Now, I realize this is a memoir and, therefore, about the author, but the back-stories could've easily been interspersed throughout the book.

I can congratulate anyone who finds a legitimate way to support themselves. I have just found that I cannot always read their memoir.

Sorry Sam.