The title is a misnomer—the author spent several months in a contemporary harem, but not her life. This is not a memoir about social justice or women’s rights, so although the author mentions the Asian women who may not have the option to leave, it is only in passing and without analysis.Lauren is definitely a handful, and though her parents are not portrayed as stellar, neither does she seem particularly easy to have a relationship with. This is her self-report, but there was not enough emotional depth for me to tell whether the tone is intended to be matter of fact, proud, repentant, or something else. I experienced two commingling impressions throughout this fairly psychologically superficial book: First, that there were even more drugs involved than the narrative names; and second, that fairly early on, the author saw herself as writing a contemporary version of The Happy Hooker. Although there is a fair amount of detail, the “plot” of the story isn’t very compelling.