Lisa Carver's Rollerderby revolves around Lisa Carver. While such self-obsession can get dull in some zines, Carter is an enthralling '90s version of Hunter S. Thompson in a miniskirt with a penchant for public nudity.
Rollerderby: The Book, an anthology of the first 16 issues, traces Carver's career, starting with her days as punk performer Lisa Suckdog. Putting the femme fatale back into feminism, Carver's curiosity drags readers on an unhinged roller-coaster ride of oddball encounters and ephemeral obsessions. She writes about her experiences as a teenage prostitute, adventures with psychotic fans, the power of green toenail polish, bizarre interactions with white-trash neighbors in postage-stamp-sized Guerneville, California, and her favorite oral sex techniques. Later in the zine's trajectory, other writers wheel into Rollerderby, contributing equally pungent material, including an interview with public TV nudist Jim Spagg.
Weak-stomached sorts should pass on this book, but anyone with verve will find it a fascinating collection. Yeah, it's a sprawling book with the focus of a drunken clown. But an irrepressible joie de vivre courses through it. Carver's next book, Dancing Queen: A Lusty Look at the American Dream, rolls into stores later this fall.
Marc Spiegler
Rollerderby: The Book, by Lisa Carver: US$14.95. Feral House: (800) 778 6246, email feralhouse@aol.com, on the Web at www.buzzcut.com/central/fer alhouse.
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