Rating: 
Summary: Better than nothing...
Review: I do find this book very interesting. It gives me a good sense of what was happening in the culture during Joey's (Nick's) time. I have owned this since it's release and have read it numerous times just for the sake of a quick mindless read. It takes me back and makes me feel like I was there. I wish I would have been an observer to the industry at that time, it was really fascinating. It is sad that someone could live their life believing they are only good for that type of work. One of Joey's movie was the first "movie" of the kind that I owned, although I wasn't entranced with him, I did find myself wondering what things must have been like for him and this book filled me in. Not to mention, it is better than having no info about him or the people behind (or on top of) him.
Rating:
Summary: Better than nothing...
Review: I do find this book very interesting. It gives me a good sense of what was happening in the culture during Joey's (Nick's) time. I have owned this since it's release and have read it numerous times just for the sake of a quick mindless read. It takes me back and makes me feel like I was there. I wish I would have been an observer to the industry at that time, it was really fascinating. It is sad that someone could live their life believing they are only good for that type of work. One of Joey's movie was the first "movie" of the kind that I owned, although I wasn't entranced with him, I did find myself wondering what things must have been like for him and this book filled me in. Not to mention, it is better than having no info about him or the people behind (or on top of) him.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor Joey knew no real friends
Review: I don't know that I can review the book, so much as the subject of the book. The book is written much like a Hollywood gossip column and bears little resemblence to a real biography, HOWEVER, it does give insight into a line of work that has been glamourized in the gay community. It's a world where flesh is currency and manipulation and lying are the name of the game. It seems that the flesh brokers (the filmmakers and distributors) are the only ones going to the bank with the proceeds of the films. How sad it is that the porn actors seem to be so insecure and uneducated that they don't save for their future or keep away from the drugs. Not a great book - but a great insight into the porn biz. Maybe we should print bumper stickers saying, "Have you hugged your porn star today?"
Rating: 
Summary: Tragic or Pathetic
Review: I expected this book to give insights into the porn industry and its ride to ruin, but I didn't get that. All I came away with was a junkie who sold his body, used dope when people treated him like an object, then died. The author kept a neutral attitude toward the pornographers that was journalistic, to be sure. I don't think I would have been so objective.
Rating: 
Summary: Joey Stefano
Review: I fell in love with Joey Stefano when I first started coming out at 18 and began to let my eyes wander to the "other side" of the adult entertainment section. He was beautiful, yet at the same time, average. His enthusiasm for his trade was apparent in his work, as was his zeal for life.
Charles Isherwood is also very obviously in love with Joey Stefano. Can't blame him for that, but I can blame him for writing a book so clouded and saturated with his adulation for the subject. Isherwood posthumously does what, according to his book, everyone else in Stefano's life did--enabled Stefano to become just another helpless victim who never had a chance. Everything that happened to this guy, as Isherwood describes it, was the fault of everyone and everything but Joey Stefano.
In fact, Stefano's downfall was not the adult entertainment industry, or his "clients" that objectified him (as he did them, incidentally), or that he was living in a straight man's world, or even that his father died while Stefano was so young. Stefano was quite simply a garden variety drug addict. And as tragic as that is, the man either rejected or for whatever reason couldn't accept the dozens, if not hundreds of opportunities he was given to get clean.
Isherwood's portrayal of Stefano as Victim, rather than Human, robs Stefano of the dignity he deserves.
Rating:
Summary: "...a need that could only be satisfied in death..."
Review: I found this book to be a very informative read, even if a little bit melodramatic. Chris Isherwood is definitely a good writer, but not a biographer. Nicolas Iacona's life was made out to be more of a sad boy who always got the raw end of the deal, when really he only had himself to blame. Sure, there were many other people who contributed to his misery, but he still had the power to pull himself out of the rut. Mr. Isherwood does present a likable character, but in too sympathetic of a light. --Sten Witzel, Baltimore, MD
Rating:
Summary: If you like the Food, Stay out of the Kitchen........
Review: I give this book four stars, not because it's so well written (which it isn't), and not because it's so full of facts that I didn't know (which it isn't), but because it was a book that dealt with a person who trusted all the wrong people, made all the wrong choices, and in spite of it all, created an aura of success and absolute joy for his audiences.Nick Iacona was probably one of the hardest working people in the industry, or maybe he was just the most over-used. I can't claim to have seen every film he was in, but every film I've seen made me appreciate him more. It seems unlikely that he could have been so productive, if he was as devastated by drugs and emotional problems as this book suggests. Reading the words of people like Chi Chi "Larry" Larue, who were supposed to have been Nick's friends, made me even more aware of how treacherous business relationships can be. I don't believe much of what I read in general, and this book is full of obvious lies, but I guess that can be expected when the lies are told about someone who is no longer around to defend himself. As I said, it's a story that needed to be told, but I don't think it will ever be told properly. Buy this book as a momento if you like, and take it's contents with a grain of salt. Nick Iacona is gone forever, and with him went the truth about Joey Stefano.
Rating:
Summary: Modern tragedy and the inside scoop on the Porn industry
Review: I haven't yet finished this one (I'm about halfway through), but I'm already haunted. While I don't mind admitting publicly that I'm addicted to porn, I will certainly be looking at the movies differently from now on, especially those starring poor Nick, or Joey as we've come to know him. What has struck me the most about the book is that it strays from the tabloid style that you might expect, considering the subject is a younger gay porn star who died of a drug overdose. The book also tries to avoid placing the blame for Joey's death simply on the industry that made him famous. That would have been the easy way out and perhaps would have sold Joey short. The book does give us a brief glimpse into the way the movies are made (behind the scenes) and the stars themselves, again forcing us to examine our own mindsets when watching our favorite stars frolicking on the screen. While this is hard terrain to traverse, since we know the inevitable conclusion, it's a fascinating ride. I recommend it to anyone who has popped a quarter into a peep show booth and been mesmerized by Joey Stefano. Maybe, you'll be able to see him and his peers as more than just a set of genitalia (as I am now beginning to do)
Rating:
Summary: ummm good book but too many digressions.
Review: i havent read the whole book but it has hurt me. the book couldnt have been all that better from what it is right now because iacona(stefano) was a very taciturn guy. he didnt talk about his personal past life that much. so the author cudnt go taht much into his childhood or even his problems but he did acentuate on the fact that stefano didnt talk about anything so that we know why he degresses. his digressions usually include genreal information about general gay issues or lives or little mini biographies on stefano's associates. i am hurt by stefano's story. although the fact that we've spent a lotta time in the same city(philly) doesnt help me get conected to him. but i was hurt by what i read so far. the authout dilineates all the charcaters in a well organized fashion but gives info on them in profuse amounts which distracted me. anyway, im thinking of writing a screenplay on his biography next summer.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonder Bread and Ecstasy a great read
Review: I loved this book, but I will admit to being a Joey fan. I found the book to be not the best written thing out there, but the story was great and so were the lessons that it taught. I think more than a cautionary tale about porn, it is a warning about not loving yourself enough to do the things that are right for you. Here is a portrait of a man who had great looks, and little else to help him make it through life. But yet there was so much potential there! You wonder what happens to ex-porn stars that don't burn out like Joey did. Where do they go? That would be a great book right there!
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