Anka Steps Out

The Snide Sex Goddess Of 'Details' Magazine Has Her Own Book

By James DiGiovanna

Books ANKA RADAKOVICH IS responsible for much of the ease with which Details magazine has been parodied in recent years. Her slut-chic persona and shallow-sex posturing are often funny in spite of her lame attempts at humor, and by now there are probably computer programs with very few variables that can spit out a "Mistress Anka" column that would be hard to tell apart from an original Radakovich. Nonetheless, taken as pure trash, there's something fun about this collection of essays, as Anka tries so hard to be snide while hanging out with swingers, perverts, nudists and her parents. There's even a fairly touching tale about the winner of the "Win a Date With Anka" contest, who initially seemed like an ideal love-god, and then started asking Anka for the phone numbers of her available friends.

Perhaps the most telling section is Anka's trip to the nudist colony; it contrasts nicely with the essay on the same subject by NPR mainstay David Sedaris. Whereas Sedaris expected to find a hotbed of licentiousness and instead saw only extremely unattractive naked people with no interest in wildly rutting with him, Anka was surrounded by ogling men whose conversation did little to hide their erections. I guess a party is only as good as the chips and salsa you bring to it.

While Radakovich's prose and insights are a bit wan, some of the experiences she sought out for these essays would make for a good read even in the hands of freshman writing majors. The swingers' parties and clubs are full of amusing anecdotes, and Anka's vague attempts at ironic distancing in her recounting of these events does little to detract from their pathetic and amusing nature.

I imagine there's a limited amount of time in which Anka's persona can keep up with her narrow range of topics, so we'll probably be spared too much more of this. But in the meantime, it makes decent reading while you're waiting at the dentist's office for the anesthetic to wear off. TW


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