GENRE: Nonfiction/Memoir
ORIGINAL PUB: 1980, ISBN 0517427915
MY GRADE: B
FROM PUBLISHER: Linda Lovelace became a household name in 1972, when Deep Throat--a film made for only $25,000--became the first pornographic movie ever to cross over to mainstream audiences, to the tune of $600 million and counting. Despite being the face that launched the film's phenomenal success, behind the scenes Linda was suffering unspeakable torture and abuse at the hands of her husband, Chuck Traynor, and she never earned a dollar from the film's huge success. A harrowing tale of the pursuit of happiness and the will to survive amid years of horrific abuse, Ordeal reveals the dark reality behind Deep Throat, and its star's tragic, yet ultimately triumphant, life.
MY THOUGHTS: I can tell you that this is the darkest, most disturbing book, fiction or nonfiction, that I’ve ever read. It’s downright disgusting and sexually graphic from start to finish. Linda is brutally honest and graphic. There is no fluff to be found here. The tone of this memoir is very serious. No joking around here.
Linda Boreman was born in New York to an abusive mother and a disinterested father. When she was twenty-one she met her future husband, Chuck Traynor. That’s when her downward spiral began. He set her up to be raped in a hotel by five men. He told her they were going there on business. When they got there he took her into another room, showed her a gun and told her she was going to go out there and have sex with them. So she did. I believe that was the only time she was actually forced to do anything. She chose to stay with him and be beaten by him for a couple of years until she finally got away. Once she even ran away to her parents and told them of the abuse. They showed no interest whatsoever.
The most interesting part of the memoir is the updated forward. It tells us that Linda had both breasts removed because of problems caused by silicone injections she’d had when she was 21/22. Then we learn of her death after being taken off life support after she was in a car accident in 2002.
Before you start to feel sorry for her or have any sympathy for her at all, remember that this woman had sex with a dog on film…and attempted to twice more, according to her. I learned that Hugh Hefner had a like of beastiality films and had quite a collection of them at the Playboy mansion. He even discussed them with Linda’s husband, Chuck. Linda once had sex with Hugh and claims that Sammy Davis Jr. fell in love with her while having a sexual relationship with him. She also watched Sammy perform oral sex on Chuck.
The memoir concludes with her telling us she’s married, on welfare and has a three year old son.
I don’t have anything good to say about this woman. She’s homophobic (based on her ‘fag’ comment) and unable to accept responsibility for anything that she’s done. Everyone else is to blame for her actions.
This book is disgusting but it’s worth reading if you have any interest in the porn industry. You will not believe the perversions that men and women are into. I give this book 4 stars/B. I sort of wish I hadn’t read it.
Lots of information about her can be found at Wikipedia. There's a sequel to this, Out of Bondage, ISBN 0818403861.
I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
