 
|
|
Paperback
Publisher: Running Press
For the first time, porn legend Aiden Shaw takes fans behind-the-scenes to the gay adult film world that made him a star. My Undoing ventures from locales such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and London, to the sets of premiere studios like Falcon, Catalina, and Studio 200. Yet, this is not the typical adult film memoir, where stars drop names and titillate readers with explicit moments. Although My Undoing shares in unsparing detail all the hot stories about the sex and drugs that fueled Aiden's life, it more profoundly follows him through a course of rocky and unfulfilling relationships. As Aiden eloquently and often humorously points out, the romantic life of an adult film superstar is sometimes lonely and lacking in love. But not love only in the form of a relationship, rather also love from within himself. The book is equally moving for his revelations about his Irish Catholic family, his Positive HIV status in the sex industry, and his recovery from a near fatal car accident that left him temporarily paralyzed.
| Customer Reviews: |
|
| |
| Life as a Mosaic |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
 |
|
Gay adult film legend Aiden Shaw's memoir My Undoing is not the book you would expect. There are very few behind the scenes of the XXX biz tales and in many of the juciest the names have been changed to protect the not so innocent. Through a haze of sex and drugs - lots and lots of drugs - much of the book concerns his obsession with former costar/lover "Luke", his recovery from a horrifying auto accident, a sometimes overwhelming sadness, and his travels and travails with his band Whatever. Though fragmented, I found the book very readable. On the down side it could be awfully repetitive when capturing the mundanity of sex and drug filled evenings looking for love -on the other hand Shaw sometimes hit a periodic bullseye with his insights about the human spirit and relationships. Shaw is a talented writer, and is insightful to the core when discussing his most popular topics - love and himself. However, in My Undoing he could have benefitted from a more aggressive editor to push him in some new directions and pull him away from trodding some of the well-worn others. All in all My Undoing is a solid sort of existential journey from self-obliteration to at least semi-wholeness.
|
| A Review of "My Undoing" |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
 |
|
Let's be honest; looking at the cover makes you want to buy and love this autobiography. After 308 pages though, I felt there was more life and punch in the cover than the prose. This book isn't all bad; I found the first half the book to be rather good and insightful. Aiden Shaw managed to take his life in porn and turn it into something rather relatable for all. I found the earliest chapters, of him dealing with love, of falling out of love, the heart ache and how lonely the porn star/sex symbol status could be to translate into a rather romantic tale of longing and yearning that made for good reading. It's the chapters about his accident where the mood of the plot and book change and declines into mindless dribble about partying, sex, drugs that lacked the life and spark contained in the earliest pages of the book.
You'll enjoy the human emotion and soap opera-like quality in the first half of the book. The sex/drugs and pornography seem to take a back seat as he really reveals himself and his emotions and what holds him back. You won't enjoy the later half of the book where the feeling or objective seems to focus on playing on stereotypes, speaking of simple hook-ups, getting back into porn and events that really aren't worth the price of this book or the time it takes to get through it. Buy at your own risk but don't judge a book by its cover; buy it used or borrow a copy, don't waste your money on it.
|
| He can do better than this. |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
 |
|
No doubt, Mr. Shaw is one of the last legendary gay porn stars, although I'm not much interested in his video performances.
But prefer his novels, poetry, and some of his music.
I must admit that this new book is not my favourite.
He can do better than this.
It is said to be his autobiographical story, but in fact, only about several years of his career. He honestly writes about drugs, porn industry, club, accident and his unrequited love. It was refreshing that unlike some insider stories, he did not go deep into gossip materials. Something I found interesting was that although (from his novels) it is clear that he knows how to write fiction, he did not try to write fictitious stories to satisfy readers excitement, but just told as it was.
I hoped he'd write more about how he survived after the fatal accident, and more about his family. When he dose, it is probably the most interesting and touching parts of his book. Maybe this is because he is well aware of his readership. I hope this changes him, so he can write about things that aren't necessarily related to sex and drugs.
I have read some of his short stories in the magazines.
They were so well written. I wish he would publish his short stories and unpublished poetry (they were once in his web-site).
|
| are memoirs allowed to be boring? |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
 |
|
Ok, I'm not one of those people who go crazy or rave about a gay porn star, especially if they're well-endowed. Ask me who is Tom Chase or Chad Hunt and I'll be blinking my clueless eyes.
Anyways, what led me to buy this memoir of Aidan Shaw and waste my time, I have no idea and I don't think I'll get those wasted hours back. I think I got this book because I had read Shaw's books before. So, I thought that his memoir would be interesting.
You know how some people complain how some books contained expletives in every other words? Well, in Shaw's memoir, every other word was a name of a drug or a sex act. In other words, boring!
The only good part about this book (and I'm being nice) was his experience in the hospital/rehab after he was ran over by a car which left him semi-paralyzed. How he positioned himself prior to the runover...that's another story for readers and fans to debate.
Otherwise, unless you truly enjoy knowing one's active drug usage and frequent sex escapades, this is just one redundant memoir. I mean, really! He flies back and forth from England to the United States for more drugs and more sex. If porn stars are like Shaw, then life as a porn star is one sad life.
|
| Lavern |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
|
|
Because this book is a personal memoir, I will review it in a "personal" way.
I am "Lavern" in this memoir. Lavern is my middle name. I was a friend of Aiden Shaw's (real name Aiden Brady) for 7 years and experienced most of the events in this book. Aiden is an existential amoral nihilistic hedonist. "do unto others as you would have others do unto you" carries no meaning to him. Self-centered narcissism is the rule of the day. I have never met someone with such incredible amounts of true charisma. It is other-worldly, probably developed in a previous life. His "accident" was not an accident at all but intentional, due to his frustrating struggle with his impossible idealistic fantasy of "love" and his inability to acheive the idealism. His refusal to "learn" anything from his experiences and manifest change is a self-serving exercise for his hedonism. This book is a replay of his first book "Brutal" (fantastic!) and not written nearly as well. There are glimmers of his unique insight from "Brutal". Aiden IS incredibly observant of others and equally judgemental. His roomate in 1994 once told me that Aiden even observed how he turned a doorknob. His phenomenal construction of "Aiden Shaw", having just previously been a "tranny" ( as Aiden confided) is a masterful acheivement. Maybe he has realized a more real idea of what constitutes a love relationship, specifically with David Michael, aka David Logan ( his longtime "baby" as he always called him).
I observed and tolerated Aiden's tragic abusive treatment of others for a long time because I was learning so much I could apply to my own life in a positive way. When his abusive behaviour turned on me, I set out to teach him a lessen, instead of crawling away and licking my wounds like hundreds of others, letting him get away with it yet one more time. Plus, I was sure it would give him plenty of juicy matterial for his next book, (prediction fullfilled).
In the end, Aiden writes non-fiction far better than the boring "novels" he aspired to pen.
Lavern, San Francisco. (ps) I don't look like ANYTHING he described.
|
|
