Dirty Thirty: A Memoir

Forewarning to those thinking about reading this: Asa is VERY candid in her descriptions of her life. Considering that she's a long time porn star, I shouldn't have to explain myself too much. Let's just say that the reader shouldn't expect many euphemisms here. I will not comment much on the choice of words but the writing itself.

This book calls itself a memoir. The description says it's a book of essays. Why? I'm not really sure as neither is true. Call it a collection of random writings.

Having said that, this book is all over the place. There are random musings, a bunch of diary entries, some haikus, a seemingly autobiographical screenplay, etc. One thing that really stuck out to me in her writings was the humor involved. It's easy to tell that, while Asa takes her professionalism very seriously, she's not afraid of laughing at herself or the situations she's been in. She's also really good at letting her heart out regarding heavy moments. I think there was a very good mix of those things.

On the negative side, and I'll admit it's probably super hard to stray from this in this type of book, is that there were times that seemed very self-serving and maybe a tad narcissistic. Now, going back to what I said before: she's very candid. Sometimes that can be a strength and a weakness. For example, the chapter on marital advice seemed ill-advised. In hindsight, her marriage ended the year after the book was released. Another downer was that it didn't seemed like she learned much from her comments on teachers/students. The screenplay chapter also seemed very tacked on in addition to being self-indulgent.

One final thing: Having said what I did about the candid language used, I just want to add that the woman who read the audiobook deserves all the praise in the world. Kudos to you.