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The Sunset Strip Diaries (2000)

by Amy Asbury(Favorite Author)

3.5 of 5 Votes: 3

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English

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review 1: This book chronicles the life of a confused teenage girl trying to find her way in life, and desperately wanting to become a part of the party scene on the Sunset Strip. She succeeds, and the stories of her three wild years being a popular staple on the Strip are shocking, somewhat depressing, and at some points even a little bit horrifying.Amy’s childhood was anything but normal; her mother has completely turned her back on her and acts like she doesn’t exist and she is coping with the realization that her father may have sexually molested her when she was just twelve-years-old. She does however show off her humor to lighten up the book in some situations, whether it’s from her dousing herself in knockoff perfume (where she says “I’m sure I smelled like an old l... moready’s crotch), to trying to teach herself about sex by listening to the Beastie Boys album, Licensed to Ill, to finally describing herself as “a giant heaving bowl of crazy with sprinkles on top.” Even through the humor, it was easy to see this was a troubled girl. By the age of fifteen, she had been date raped, videotaped, blackmailed, contracted VD, was bulimic, suicidal and failing school. By the age of sixteen, she had been put in a psych ward twice. That just sounds like the definition of path of destruction.Her stories while on the Sunset Strip are just outrageous…that’s really the only way I can describe it. She tells of her relationships with glam rockers from various bands like Swingin’ Things, Alleycat Scratch, Glamour Punks, and Big Bang Babies, befriending various strippers (and as she finds out, one hooker), and details partying and frequently blacking out at hot spots on the Strip; The Rainbow, The Roxy, Whisky, El Compadre, and Gazzarri’s were a few of her most frequent hangouts. She rarely worked, never had any money, and relied solely on her looks and mooching off of her friends to support her Hollywood lifestyle. She’s determined to make it to the top no matter what the consequences. She eventually does become a hot commodity on the Sunset Strip, and then the Grunge movement takes over and she soon realizes the whole scene that has been her life for the past three years is in serious decline, if not already dead.I won’t lie; some parts of this memoir are actually rather disturbing. The number of times she gets raped is shocking, and her complete disregard for everyone is just sad. Overall, it was an easy read, and her writing style coupled with frequent diary excerpts makes you feel like you are right there partying on the Sunset Strip with her. You get an inside view of the crazy, glitter-covered Sunset Strip in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and I can’t wait to read the sequel to see just what became of Amy after the death of glam rock.
review 2: Not for the easily offended. If you are a mom who has just read Eat Pray Love or The Help, this might be a little much for you unless you are completely non-judgmental and, well, brave. This is a true story of a girl who had a painful life and went in search of a crowd who would accept her: The Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California. As the other reviewers have said on the Nook version, there are a lot of funny pop culture references and lots of self-deprecating humor amongst some pretty vividly violent and terrible situations (sexual assaults, abuse situations.) A lot of time, I was yelling at the girl in this book- I did not like her. But I was happy to read such a truthful book about someone's life- it was very interesting, different, and fascinating at times. Aside from all of that, there are tons of very colorful characters- Glam rockers, strippers and druggies (I googled a bunch of the band guys to see their pictures). Liked it a lot- and there is a great sequel too (Confetti Covered Quicksand) less

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