Some Girls

My Life in a Harem

By: Jillian Lauren

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

A jaw-dropping story of how a girl from the suburbs ends up in a prince's harem, and emerges from the secret Xanadu both richer and wiser.

At 18, Jillian Lauren was an NYU theater school dropout with a tip about an upcoming audition. The "casting director" told her that a rich businessman in Singapore would pay pretty American girls $20,000 if they stayed for two weeks to spice up his parties.

Soon, Jillian was on a plane to Borneo, where she would spend the next 18 months in the harem of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, youngest brother of the Sultan of Brunei, leaving behind her gritty East Village apartment for a palace with rugs laced with gold and trading her band of artist friends for a coterie of backstabbing beauties.

More than just a sexy read set in an exotic land, Some Girls is also the story of how a rebellious teen found herself - and the courage to meet her birth mother and eventually adopt a baby boy.

Click here to listen to expert sex writer and podcaster Susie Bright’s interview with Jillian Lauren.

©2010 Jillian Lauren (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Lauren... is a deft storyteller, imparting equal parts poignant reflection and wisdom into her enlightening book. A gritty, melancholy memoir leavened by the author's amiable, engrossing narrative tenor." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"While the surprising and exotic subject matter is sure to pique interest, Lauren’s graceful, introspective prose lifts her unusual memoir far above the level of mere titillation." ( Booklist)

Big fan!

Beautifully written and beautifully read! What an amazing adventure that most could never even imagine. Can't wait to read again.

Artfully Written

There wasn’t a misplaced word in this memoir. Incredibly vivid, insightful, and artful writing! I gravitated to this after seeing the author on her recent docuseries on Starz and being curious about her background. I was thrilled to find such a brilliant book. Could not put it down.

As she says, she was rented, not owned

This is the autobiography of a young woman (18 for most of the book) who struggled to deal with being adopted, an abusive father, night terrors, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, drug and alcohol usage, and being used sexually by men from an early age. She graduated high school early and became a college student, then dropout, then topless waitress, then stripper, then escort, and then part of the harem of an insanely wealthy prince of Brunei.

Well, for a certain definition of harem - these girls would be flown in from all over the world and would spend anywhere from a few weeks to a few years sitting around and looking pretty and infighting with the other girls, before going home with a boatload of cash.

Fascinating story

This is one of those stories that you would dismiss as fanciful, if it weren't an actual memoir. The performance was spot on. The only thing keeping me from offering a full five star review was the language was pretty rough in some places. If you can get by that, this book is sure to please.

An oddly shaped but pretty little package

Any additional comments?

An oddly shaped but pretty little package left at my doorstep, smart and brutally honest -- what we should all require of autobiographical tales. Lovely to get to know Jillian, a kindred spirit to all of us wondering & wandering souls searching endlessly for something...or searching for something more...real. I think I found an answer in this book, and I like what I found. A moody book that may wake you up a bit, and may even slap you in the face at times, or make you cry, or envy and even, gasp, pity her. In the end it is an oddly shaped gift, sharp at the corners and soft on some edges, that is wrapped so perfectly that you have to read it & then urgently find the perfect place for it on your bookshelf.

Loved this book!

Even though our paths are completely different- I feel a deep connection to this story- as we get lost in our lives and try to find our true selves. I think she is a brilliant author!

Even better story than expected

Every story has flaws, but the author really takes her personal ones on head on. I appreciate her honesty about sex work and family and adoption and how her life went. While her life had glamor, she doesn’t glamorize. Very impressive

Boring, Pretentious Book

Some people earn the right to write about something just because they were there, where the action took place. Imagine a book from a Chilean miner who was trapped in the mine pit. I would buy it.
But it takes at least some talent and honesty in order to tell a good story, even if you are a first hand witness. Lauren has neither.

First of all, maybe 30% of the book is about the "harem". The rest is about a vain, self-absorbed, pretentious girl trying to convince us that she is great because of her inner qualities (not true), and not because she is pretty and guys want to have sex with her (true).

We don't need a spoilers alert, because nothing happens. The Prince has a compound with a mansion and several cottages (small houses) around a swimming pool. He uses an agent who enrolls prostitutes to live there for some months at a time and leave with a lot of money. The only thing they do is to have a sort of karaoke party every night at the mansion. The Prince comes and stays for half an hour, picks up a girl and leaves. That's all. Day after day is the same routine. They never leave the compound, they never get to know the country, they practically don't talk to the prince. If you are expecting adventure, romance, exotism, you won't find it in this book. There is more action in the bar in the corner of your street than in this so-called harem.

Lauren is so insignificant to the Prince that the only time she leaves the compound to see him at his office, they leave her waiting for four hours locked in an office without a bathroom, waiting for his arrival. When she is taken to see the Sultan (the Prince's brother) he doesn't even care to sleep with her, only asking for oral sex. His dogs probably get more consideration. All the while, Lauren thinks she is special and romanticizes the whole sordid thing. When Penthouse playmates arrive at the compound, she tries to convince us that she is so much better than they are. (why?)

Skip this one.

Not as interesting as it sounds

What disappointed you about Some Girls?

The idea sounded interesting but the execution was dull. The story wandered and I am still waiting to figure out what the point of the book was.

Not my cup of tea.

Found it quite boring and skipped through the last 4 chapters.

I couldn't get a picture in my mind of anything. I found myself googling so I could have a mental picture.