cover image Insatiable

Insatiable

Heather Hunter, with Michelle Valentine. . St. Martin's, $21.95 (344pp) ISBN 978-0-312-36884-5

What makes a teen yearn to be a porn star diva? Porn star Hunter answers that question with the full-frontal portrait of Simone Young, a young New Yorker who decides to gain control of her life through selling her body. Simone's introduced to “the life” by Carmen, a former classmate turned prostitute who persuades Simone to get her freak on. Not content with being a hooker, Simone works at a hip-hop club, moves on to a massage parlor, becomes a stripper and, eventually, a porn superstar in L.A. By age 21, she retires, deciding the adult entertainment industry, numerous affairs and substance abuse will never fulfill her. Hunter and Valentine's depiction of Simone's descent into a brittle, hedonistic world leaves little to the imagination, and Simone's transformation in the resolution remains moving if out of left field. Illus. with photos of Hunter. (July)