Lily Burana’s Dual-Exposure Memoir

By Ron Hogan on May 1, 2009 1:13 PM

“I’m not the kind of person who thinks writers are in the business of selling other people out,” Lily Burana told us as she took a break from preparations from the burlesque party she threw at the Slipper Room earlier this week to celebrate the publication of her second memoir, I Love a Man in Uniform. “You can tell painful truths without causing pain to the people you live with.” So when Burana wrote about her relationship with a U.S. Army officer, he didn’t just vet all the technical details about military procedure—he got to sign off on everything she wrote about their turbulent marriage, including their dual cases of post-traumatic stress disorder after he returned from combat in Iraq. “For him to let people get such a close glimpse of our marriage—I thought that was very brave,” she said.

Burana brought six boxes of cupcakes with her for the event—treats she had planned to share at a reading at the West Point campus bookstore, before the Army cancelled the event. “There’s been no rescheduling; I’m not welcome,” she said when asked about the bookstore’s decision. “If you have a question about why, you’d have to ask them. I’d love to know.” The supportive messages she’s received from other army wives across the country, however, “ease the sting.”

In the meantime, well-wishers like Rachel Kramer Bussel were more than happy to enjoy the “leftover” desserts.