Traci Lords: Underneath It All | 
| Author: Traci Lords
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Rating:  77 reviews
Sales Rank: 59254
Media: Paperback
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0060508213
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.470973
EAN: 9780060508210
ASIN: 0060508213
Publication Date: July 1, 2004
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Amazon.com Review
Nora Kuzma was a troubled teenager from Steubenville, Ohio; Traci Lords was the underage skin mag/porn queen who became the centerpiece of the adult video industry's greatest scandal. In reality, they were one and the same, the subject of this slick, if thin autobiography. But what's striking here is not the familiar storyline--confused, sexually abused teen falls in with drugs and the wrong Southern California crowd, forges fake IDs to become Penthouse Pet of the Month at 16 and the '80s hottest adult star, then arrested as focus of the Reagan administration's crackdown on porn, only to become reborn as cleaned-up, psychoanalyzed/rehabed purveyor of legitimate film, TV, and music career. Rather, what's striking is Lords's capacity for denial, compartmentalization, and myopia when it serves her ends. Her scandalous tenure in the skin trade--undeniably the sole basis for her infamy and subsequent legitimate career--is glossed over here in a few score pages, with more attention paid to the heavy-metal musicians that dotted her life than the motivations and machinations of the Feds who literally changed her life; Slash's snake gets more ink here than Attorney General Ed Meese. Quick to ladle generous sympathy on her own plight, she heaps little but scorn upon those from the seedy past of her porn-star alter-ego, yet seems to have had few qualms about formally adopting that moniker as her legal name. --Jerry McCulley
Product Description
The moving, gripping, and tell–all autobiography of Traci Elizabeth Lords, a former child porn queen, electronica maven, and cult movie and TV star. At 14, Nora Kuzma ran away from home and ended up on the dirty streets of Hollywood. She fell in with a fast crowd, and her dreams of modelling soon landed her a spectacular centrefold in Penthouse Magazine, where at 15 she became internationally known as TRACI LORDS. From there she appeared in numerous adult films and magazines, denying her past and battling a deep addiction to cocaine and men. Three years later she got out. This is her memoir–a tale of loss, redemption, and ultimate survival as Traci Elizabeth Lords takes you into her secretive past, faces her demons, and shares her extraordinary journey of personal growth.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 72 more reviews...
 She's fooling herself at times April 25, 2009
S. Doty
Traci Lords refers to her porno past as an "obstacle" she had to overcome and claims to have done it with TV roles, minor movie roles, music, etc. But while it may have prevented her from getting a few roles, her porno fame ALLOWED her to get roles and, on balance, worked in her favor. I know people who only saw "Cry-baby," because that "porno girl was in it." Same with her music -- "check out the CD by that porno queen." She parlayed her porno queen status as the ultimate proof that sex sells while pretending porno was an obstacle to her success, a total self-delusion. If not for porno, she would never have gotten the breaks and notoriety she did. But she can't face that fact and claims to "loathe" porno, her springboard. The reader is left with the impression she's trying to take more credit than she deserves for her later mainstream work. She also deflects blame for her sins as the VICTIM of a cloudy rape and fuzzy molestation, but it seems like self-serving exaggeration. No charges were ever brought. And we wonder what the other side of the story was, from her first boyfriend and step-father. Is her credibility no better than the dancer for the Duke lacrosse team? She tries to have it both ways -- playing the victim when it suits her advantage, then stating she isn't a victim when that posture seems to help more. It can flip like a coin. Otherwise, an interesting story. Reads a bit like a work resume at times, though. (I went to high school with one of her boyfriends and was interested to see how she described their relationship.)
 Like Looking Through a Hazy Crystal Ball January 26, 2009
Rod Rambush (Bible Belt, USA)
If you're familiar with the name, it's almost hard to NOT be interested in Traci Lords. Not only was she making porno at age 15, but she became the top porn star of her day - the Jenna Jameson of the early '80s. Really, what was that all about?
Although UNDERNEATH IT ALL may provide a few clues, it really does not provide the answers you're probably looking for. Stretching from Traci's childhood in Ohio to the near present, after achieving some degree of mainstream success, UNDERNEATH IT ALL covers all the relevant time periods. But you cannot help but think that an awful lot is not really being said.
I mean, c'mon, no one is reading this book to learn about Traci's work on Melrose Place. What we want to know, in plain terms, is exactly how does a girl so young fall into, inadvertently or not, the life she got herself into. And in this, the book is really lacking.
Traci, according to what she says in the book, thought she was being booked for some legitimate modeling. At the second shoot, though, things became quite a bit more risque. But here's the thing. Far from writing of how coerced she was at that shoot, or how her tender age prevented her from really putting up a fight with those present, she just went with the flow. I mean her panties came of real, reeaaal easy.
Her time in front of the porno movie camera is likewise glossed over to the point of evasion. Having read of Traci's time in that world from other sources, it would have been interesting to get her solid take on it. Instead we geta very superficial overview.
One gets the impression that writing UNDERNEATH IT ALL was a cathartic experience for Traci, as if she were releasing old demons. Perhaps it was. But as far as letting the rest of us get to know her better, this autobiography is a lot less revealing than Traci herself has been in most of her movies, even those not rated X.
 I LOVE TRACI MORE AFTER READING THAT BOOK November 1, 2008
BLUSHI Enkelejd (Greece,Athens)
If you are a fan of Traci Lords please get that book now
It rocks!!!!
You are going to love it
You are going to admire her
Written easy and simply to be read from anyone
AAAAA++++++
 . . .and, after almost 300 pages, I still know little about her July 18, 2008
The Concise Critic: (New England)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I think--if I met Traci Lords--I would like and admire her.. Unfortunately, I don't get to meet her in her autobiography. Her story should be compelling (but told by herself, isn't); she deserves credit for her talent, her guts, her success (but not for this book). It was almost halfway through the book before I heard her memorable, honest, human voice: "What would my tombstone say? Here lies a cocksucker?" And then that voice went away.
I wasn't obsessed with knowing every detail of every adult film she starred in as an underage teen. (Although I was hoping for an occassional rise.) I became more obsessed--and more disappointed when it was left unexplored--to learn how she could overcome addiction, how she could steel herself to a unhappy past which NO ONE would allow her to forget, how her important therapy worked, how success could seed in her life, how important relationships would continue to fail. . .I wanted to know something about the insides of this valiant, recovered woman. Instead, I learned she had a white cat and an expensive Japanese dinner table. . .
Try again, Ms. Lord; your story remains untold.
Traci Lords is HOT!! May 11, 2008
Todd W. G. Johnson (Kansas City, MO United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I fall into the John Waters movie category of a Traci Lords fan. I had heard about her pornographic past but never paid attention to her until I heard she was in a John Waters film. I have followed Mr Waters' career from the early days. Although pregnant with many a cliche, her story is quite a fascinating one. I don't think that some of the other reviewers have actually read the book when they accuse her of not admitting that she liked & chose to do the porno films. She admitted that she was acting out by being a 'sexual terrorist' which exorcised her personal demons. She does not portray herself as a victim. It is very clear that she voluntarily pursued her various projects. Reading the book is very soothing and relaxing, like listening to a good friend. I found the part about her music fascinating (since I am a musician as well and listen to her CD 1000 Fires.) I bought both the hardback version and the paperback version when I found out it had a new chapter & new photos. This is a book I am proud to have in my collection & would really love to meet her someday. She seems like a really magical person.
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