Getting Off: One Woman’s Journey Through Sex and Porn Addiction

Garza explores her history of sex addiction, its causes, and her attempts to overcome it in her unflinching debut. Readers follow her through her early childhood; her lonely, insecure teenage years; and into adulthood as she moves across the country and around the world, led by one terrible relationship after another. Garza recounts her sexual experiences in evocative detail: she describes her first time masturbating at age 12, recalling “the dried spots of mildew in the corners of the tub and how my own reflection bounced back at me from the metal faucet.” She progresses from there to a series of bad relationships and one-night stands. While living in Hawaii after college, she is convinced by her landlady to sleep with a man older than her father. While Garza provides an honest voice to sufferers of sex addiction, the book often veers into diarylike territory, feeling less like an empowering missive than a public confession of sexual misadventures. Still, Garza’s blunt descriptions of addiction and addictive behavior will interest anyone who has suffered from similar afflictions. (Jan.)