Swimming Underground

Woronov (Wake for the Angels) was a Cornell undergraduate when she was ``discovered'' by Andy Warhol protege Gerard Malanga and suddenly found herself drawn into Warhol's notorious circle of counterculture hipsters. Seduced by the decadent glamour of the scene that revolved around Warhol's famous Factory, a world where ``wanting was better than having, looking was better than being-it was the land of reflections,'' Woronov dropped out of college, appeared in several of Warhol's underground movies, notably Chelsea Girls, and embraced the weird fascinations of New York City's '60s drug culture. Here she weaves a vivid, impressionistic account of her time in Warhol's inner circle, a chapter in her life that came to an end when her addiction to speed got out of hand. Beginning in a tone of youthful excitement and slowly descending into one of frenetic despair, these memoirs are highly compelling and offer insightful portraits of such Factory notables as Lou Reed, Ondine and Nico. Woronov's prose is often dazzling; while she notes that Warhol himself was ``uncomfortable with words,'' she proves herself a wordsmith. Her writing alone makes this an engrossing read. Photos. (Nov.)