Book review

Henry Jones

Diablo Cody may be the ex-stripper-turned-writer It Girl of the moment, but Simone Corday is our local version: a former dancer at the O’Farrell Theatre (with a master’s in English) and the sometime girlfriend of Artie Mitchell, the club’s flamboyant co-owner. Her self-published memoir is unpolished at times, although the prosaic rough patches, coupled with Corday’s deadpan insouciance while relating sensational details of the sex industry, add to its authenticity. In addition to its main tragic element—not Mitchell’s infamous 1991 murder at the hands of his brother, Jim, but Corday’s unwavering love for Mitchell, despite his being a philandering, substance-abusing, all-around asshole—the book offers a wealth of lurid and surreal anecdotes. Shame over wearing a gorilla mask during a threesome? Apprehension about having sex with a dwarf? Check and check; Corday covers it all. Surprisingly, the cameo appearances by Hunter S. Thompson (at one point the club’s “night manager”) prove disappointingly tame. In what other setting could Thompson turn out to be the most levelheaded character? B- (Mill City Press)