Absolute Mayhem: Secret Confessions of a Porn Star Paperback – Bargain Price, October 1, 2010

This is a quick read book, great for the beach. The font is big, the spacing is wide, and there are only 237 pages of primary text in 12 chapters, along with a 5-page Prologue and two pages of Acknowledgements. There are sixteen (16) pages of nice color photographs, though only covering her adult film career from 2001-2008. But no Index.Her adult film career--starting in 2000--overlaps with Tera Patrick's and with Stormy Daniels', both in their prime years, and at the end with the comeback of Lisa Ann. All four have written genre autobiographies. Monica's and Lisa Ann's are the most revealing, though Monica's is the quickest and easiest read. And unlike them she was never really a successful "contract star", meaning she spent most of her time freelancing in the trenches, cranking out lots of scenes. She did some big-budget work, but not nearly as much as Tera, for example. And the story of her one personal project--Skin, 2006--ends up so sad because the production company, Platinum Blue, rips her off by releasing a key anal scene, her one & only, in a compilation disc against the terms of the contract, then they go broke (p. 114).The motivation and her mental state when she wrote this in 2009 can be gleaned pretty thoroughly from these three excerpts:- p. 121: "I think I have definitely learned all I needed to learn out of porn. I've seen everything and I've done everything that I've wanted to do. I don't need to do anything more."- p. 162: "Most of the time, drug use is all about needing to anaesthetise yourself from inner pain. I think that's exactly what I've been doing my whole life. I just don't understand why I can't just be sober and be happy with myself."- p. 188: "After more than eight year of this bizarre lifestyle, I need to find something else to do with my life."Ms. Mayhem is essentially burned out and ready to move on, and this book is her final way to monetize her film, modeling, and dancing careers. So BE ADVISED that this feels like it is two different books. The first half, up to page 110, is the adult film star genre "autobiography". Here ending with the death of her estranged alcoholic abusive mother in Nov. 2005. The rest of the book is a bit scattershot, including chapters on her Wiccan spirituality, thoughts on her career & the declining state of the adult entertainment world, her activity on mainstream Hollywood projects, and her failed attempts to make a music career.But she is BRUTAL on herself ("And I, most certainly, have never really felt loved.", p. 152) and the industry. Whether talking about her excessive drug use, her sad failed marriage, the STDs, breast enhancement surgery, or just getting periodically screwed over by other people or companies. And though she does NOT go into great detail about her sex scenes, per se, she does discuss in explicit language the various acts she has performed. Not for the prudish!So you'll read something like this: "I hate one side of my face when I'm being photographed, because of a deviated septum from too much cocaine, but I'm actually too scared to have it fixed." (p. 156) And: "My deviated septum, though, remains a nagging problem. There was one year, 2006, when I was snorting cocaine pretty much every day." (p. 163)Per the Daily Telegraph (10/9/2010) she married an Australian veterinarian surgeon. The story mentions wanting a family in the future. I hope they were successful! Fascinatingly, she never reveals her actual name, which isn't in the book nor found on her IAFD, IMDB, or Wikipedia entries. She discusses on p. 216 an HBO project from 2008 where they would've required her to use her real name; it fell through.Like many works in this genre (e.g., The Secret Lives of Hyapatia Lee, 2000), one wishes there were a future update to see if the outcome is more positive than the life lived in the book.

I bought this on a whim. I really enjoyed Christy Canyon and Traci Lords books and it’s a topic that I’m not very knowledgeable about and that is not often written about. So I took a shot and am glad I did. She adequately described many things without having to get to graphic. In simpler terms she wrote about herself the person instead of herself the porn star. Yes, the porn, business of porn, and some of the graphic things are discussed, but not dwelled on. She wanted to use this to say “I am more than this beautiful woman who has sex for a living” and she succeeded in that. What I do for a living I hear the words “work” and “shoot” a lot. Work meaning your making something fake seem real, trying to portray yourself or what you’re doing as something ofher than it is and shoot meaning it’s real, what you are seeing or hearing is exactly what it is. This book came across as a total shoot in that she didn’t try and make you think she’s anything, saying “this is me, this is who I am, I won’t downgrade it and I won’t glamorize it”.

Entertaining n insight into life before n after stardom

I've always loved the industry and the lives of those that live it. After reading Jenna's biography, I was worried about having to deal with another sensationalized biographic of an entertainer (even though I did enjoy Jenna's book). Monica's, however, is so much more. The simple stating of the facts, describing her feelings, etc. are so easy to read as if they are coming directly from Monica's lips, which they are. Monica doesn't pull any punches, doesn't dramatize anything, and just simply describes her life and her climb to the pinnacle of her career. A very easy read, and almost impossible to put down. Monica simply tells it like it is, describes the ups and downs of being in the industry, and lays her soul on the line. At the same time that she lays it all out there to bare (no pun intended), you can't help but sense the vulnerability she is displaying by revealing so much about herself. While you'd typically expect an actress in her profession to be an extrovert, she reveals herself as an incredibly introspective person that truly needs and enjoys her time alone (and even seems to be tormented by it sometimes). She comes across as a kind soul but willing to say things that most of us won't because of societal norms. I applaud her not only for a well written autobiography, but for putting herself out there and being honest about an industry and career that faces more criticism than any other. Awesome!

There is nothing in here that someone couldn't already assume if they cared enough to think about the industry. She is not a good writer/storyteller and should keep to her porn career instead of trying to be a writer also. I barely made it through this book. She complains about how people in her 'industry' don't get paid as much as they should for what they do. Well that's something you chose to do and if you want to make more money, don't write a crap book, find another career path or lower your living standards. What about people that pay to school themselves and make a living that contributes to society that don't make much money? If you like what you're doing, you shouldn't be complaining about it, just fix it. It seems like she's blaming her choices on the fact that she had a bad parent. Well plenty of people have bad or worse parents and don't end up screwing or sucking for money and turn out just fine. It also seems that she's trying to get pity by complaining about how her pictures and 'scenes' were used in more that one movie or website without her consent, but then she also says that they usually just shoot the scene or pictures without knowing where they will end up. Seems kind of contradictory to me.I've read a few books about from people writing about being in this 'industry' and this is the worst one so far.Don't waste your money unless you want to be bored.