I actually pre-ordered Holly Madison's book Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny from Amazon. Yes, it is a transparent marketing tool; but I cannot resist the promise of juicy secrets revealed! I watched the first few seasons of The Girls Next Door. I'm not naive enough to believe they portrayed life at the mansion accurately, or in its entirety. Over the years I have read a lot about Hef and his girls and his life and am continuously led to the same conclusion. The whole situation is equally horrifying, romanticized, and ridiculous.
Back in 2006 I got an advanced online-copy of Bunny Tales: Behind Closed Doors at the Playboy Mansion* by Izabella St. James. I read the entire 272 pages (and looked at all the pictures) in one afternoon. The bunny who wrote this book was clearly bitter because she had never attained the status she thought she deserved, so I considered her a slightly unreliable author. I use the word author loosely. She also complained a lot and came across as an insecure gold-digger as she rationalized her decisions and actions. Shocking. However, she went into great detail about the process of becoming a girlfriend and what you had to do to stay a girlfriend, which I found interesting and believable.
I also found her version of Hef believable. I don't think he is a horrible person. Back in 1952, Hugh M. Hefner was a writer and a cartoonist who planned on being a part of the publishing world. It was when he found that infamous picture of Marylin Monroe that he decided his magazine for men would include beautiful (naked) women. That's also when he realized what being a Playboy really meant. It was a lifestyle choice. Sure, it's misguided at best, but it sounds like he is pretty straight forward with his expectations. I think it's clear that someone who adopts this Playboy Bunny/Girlfriend lifestyle is mostly likely already battling their own demons that are going to rear up eventually. Since I can only sort-of-imagine what this must be like, I neeeeeeed to read Holly's book. It's as close as I'll get to seeing-it-to-believe-it. I know she might lie, although at this point she's got no reason to do so.
It doesn't matter if Holly's book isn't well-written. It would be nice if it were, but I expect there will be cliches and poor grammar and bad sentence structure. In college I was told a book should be considered well done if the reader, 1. understands the writer's purpose in writing the book and 2. feels the writer has achieved that purpose. Revealing mansion secrets won't bring you on a world-expanding literary journey. But that isn't the point. If Holly Madison wants to tell her story and capitalize on it, she has a right to do so. Plenty of people will read it out of curiosity. Plenty of people will read it because we've somehow made entertainment out of celebrity falls. The steeper the better. Luckily for Holly, it seems she's made it out relatively unscathed.
So no, I am not ashamed that I was super excited to see Down the Rabbit Hole will be out on June 23rd. I will be using it as vacation reading and it will sit on my bookshelf afterwards. I'll probably lend it to my sister. We'll discuss. Reading doesn't have to always be a super-intellectual endeavor.
*Really, with the bunny puns and long titles?
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