cover image Nine Lives: From Stripper to Schoolteacher: My Year-Long Odyssey in the Workplace

Nine Lives: From Stripper to Schoolteacher: My Year-Long Odyssey in the Workplace

Lynn Snowden. W. W. Norton & Company, $22 (287pp) ISBN 978-0-393-03673-2

Freelance magazine journalist Snowden follows through on an interesting idea here: she selects occupations that have ``very strong stereotypical images'' and reports back from inside. Her stories are engaging and often amusing. Working as a roadie for the heavy metal band, Skid Row, she daringly ``stage dives'' with singer Sebastian Bach and observes the fanatic, pathetic world of groupies. As a substitute teacher, she improvises new classroom rules and is dubbed ``the cool substitute''; her skills serve her well as a Hollywood publicist. Serving as a Las Vegas cocktail waitress is tiring and demeaning, but stripping in New Orleans turns out to be lucrative and in some ways empowering. While Snowden's spell as a rape-crisis counselor prompts her to reflect on her ``low-grade level of personal dread,'' she is too infrequently self-revelatory. Also, her stints as an ad copywriter, housewife and (chocolate) factory worker are forgettable. Still, Snowden has moxie, and her book is a breezy read and a good conversation piece. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)