Pamela Des Barres

 

In the many years that I’ve been editing book reviews, I’ve never been pitched so hard on a title as I was for Roxana Shirazi’s The Last Living Slut: Born In Iran, Bred Backstage. The book’s PR trumpeted that it "is sure to be one of the most-talked-about and controversial books of the year…the rock and roll version of The Satanic Verses." Weekly e-mails and phone calls alerted me to the "unapologetic, feminist book" and its "passionate, heartfelt tale of jilted love," urged me to interview the author, and—with that Rushdie reference—suggested that Shirazi’s tale of cock-rock conquest could easily be grounds for a fatwa.

After actually reading it, though, I’m thinking that if The Last Living Slut does turn out to be one of the most talked-about books of the year, it’ll be mainly because those publicists can’t stop fulminating about how controversial it is.

I close the "Tuning In" series with my thoughts about Zooey Deschanel's attempt to adapt Pamela Des Barres's I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie for HBO.