The Last of the Live Nude Girls one of L Magazine’s Top 10 Books of 2011!
“In “The Last of the Live Nude Girls,” Sheila McClear, who became a stripper in the peep shows after finding herself adrift in New York City, pulls the curtain back on this secretive underworld. The story she tells is not just of her own coming of age, nor is it one of sex and salaciousness. Rather, it is a redemptive narrative of modern life on the fringes of society in New York City.”
Buy The Last of the Live Nude Girls from: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, & Powell’s; e-versions Nook and Kindle.
“Sheila McClear’s sharp, sweetly personal account of New York’s vanished tenderloin asks the question: If such supposedly degrading places are such a blight, why do we remember them with such fondness? A fascinating and honest read.” -Mark Jacobson, author, The Lampshade
“An unforgettable memoir of a young woman fleeing the decaying city of Detroit only to wind up stripping during the waning days of XXX-rated Times Square.” -Charles Kipps, Author, Hell’s Kitchen Homicide and Cop Without a Badge
“I was beginning to think Manhattan was all about food, fashion, shopping and real estate until reading this fascinating memoir. McClear has a voice all her own, and I was thrilled to discover a “history of the peeps” at the end. I can’t decide which is more impressive: the heroic reporting or what she did with it.” -George Gurley, New York Observer columnist and author of George and Hilly: Anatomy of a Relationship
“As Sheila McClear recounts her tangled trip through the infamous 8th Avenue peep shows, she does so with strong, clear prose and a remarkable command of detail and memory. It’s impossible not to feel yourself slipping right along with her into the claustrophobic, bleach-scented booths. -Jennifer Mascia, author of Never Tell Our Business to Strangers
PRESS:
The Last of the Live Nude Girls one of L Magazine’s Top 10 Books of 2011!
- Daily Beast review
- review in The Commercial Dispatch (Mississippi)
- L Magazine review: “The Only Living Peep-Show Girl in New York”
- “Not-So-Private Dancer”: New York Observer profile
- interview on The Awl
- review in The Portland Mercury
- profile on DNAinfo
- “My Life As a Live Nude Girl’ (New York Post)
- Staff pick, the Paris Review Daily
- New York Journal of Books review
- xojane.com: “Thank God My Friend’s Book Doesn’t Suck”
- OUT magazine’s Hot List
- Video from The Alan Colmes Show
- Radio appearances on The Mike & Judy Show, the Jay Thomas Show, and Mancow
- Tour diary, on the Happy Ending Reading Series’ blog
- Thought Catalog interview