Sarah: A Novel by J. T. LeRoy
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Book Reviews of Sarah: A Novel
Book Review: Today's Tom Sawyer
Summary: 4 Stars
J. T. Leroy's fictional world is strangely out of joint. There is a wild west quality to both "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things" and "Sarah," both apparently set in the Appalachia of the last decade, that places them on the outskirts of time. Cel phones and beepers, the staples of pimps and prostitutes, are nowhere in evidence, and would seem anachronistic if they were. The novels might just as easily have been set in the 1970s as in the 1990s. Having said that, Leroy's fictive world of horny CB'ers and the lot lizards who love them (for a price) is perfectly believable, even if it never, in fact, existed, and "Sarah," the novel under consideration, is a near-masterpiece of its type. Part Hugh Selby, part "Huckleberry Finn," and part "Prscilla, Queen of the Desert," "Sarah" nonetheless manages to defy categorization. Its most obvious parallel is to Patrick McCabe's "Breakfast on Pluto," which was criminally neglected in America; McCabe's novel tells the story of "Pussy," an Irish teenager who sets out to reinvent himself as his mother and comes up with an amalgam of Dusty Springfield's beehived stage persona and Scott Walker's "Big Louise." Set against a backdrop of politics and violence in 1970s Britain, it is perhaps a more complex novel than "Sarah," but a worthy companion to it. Of the two works by Leroy, "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things" tells the more affecting story, while "Sarah" is the more perfect construct. There is an almost Tom Sawyer (or is it Nancy Drew?)-like quality to Cherry Vanilla's cumpulsion to dress up in his mother's leather skirts and lipstick and to best her at her own game: prostitution. As a truck parking-lot lizard, Cherry leaves the maternal arms of one pimp to become the saint of another, who is deceived as to C. V.'s gender and who ends up exhibiting him as the reincarnation of Abraham's wife, Sarah, at a truckstop sideshow reminiscent of something out of Flannery O'Connor or, perhaps more appropriately, Charles Portis--Sarah, of course, being the narrator's mother's real name. If, as has been rumored, Gun Van Sant has optioned the screen rights to the film, he should have a field day casting the gallery of grotesques who populate the novel. In the space of a mere 166 pages (Picador edition), we are introduced to Pooh, who has second sight and who can see through the narrator's disguise; Le Loup, her pimp, who is confused by his tender regard for "Sarah"; and Laymon, who keeps pictures on his walls of little girls in frilly underwear and who is shocked to find what Sarah is hiding beneath hers. Once his masquerade is discovered, and our hero is farmed out to a low-life named Stacey as a kind of second-string, male lot lizard by Le Loup, the action shifts to a truckstop version of an old-west stagecoach rescue, with transvestites and pimps... "Sarah" is a terrrific entertainment, a one-of-a-kind adventure, that prepares the reader for the more gut-wrenching reality of "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things." There are moments in "Sarah" that anticipate the pathos of "Heart," as when the narrator explains his attraction to prostitution: "I hold those moments--the tobacco and grease-stained hand lovingly caressing my throat, the lips parted in silent ecstasy, kissing my forehead like a parent placing a good-night kiss--I replay them in slow motion as if they took place with the prolonged consumed movements of someone running under water." That's writing--nay, poetry--of a tall order, and only one of many reasons to read this...first novel.Book Review: A Torrent Story of Played Innocence
Summary: 4 Stars
Now, I had never heard of JT Leroy or the "Hoax" that came with that name, as I was searching for a good book, Sarah caught my eye with its vibrant cover. And reviews were not good at all, calling it "Awful, Trash, Stupid etc etc" I was a little dissapointed and torn at the same time. Buy the book? Or the hell with it? So I began making research on this JT Leroy and came up with a fountain of information. Altough the "Hoax" doesnt bother me [especially because I wasnt a fan at the time when everyone else was] I find Sarah to be one of a kind. Filled with an almost dramatic and theatrical flare, Sarah is not like any. Based on twelve year old Cherry Vanilla, a boy who lives with a mother who can barely take care of herself or him, as he is often accused of stealing her boyfriends, Sarah lives the life of a truckstop whore. Sarah a rival and idol at the same time to her son, is everything he wants to be, the best Lot Lizard[Prostitute]. But as I read through the story I couldnt help but notice that "Sarah" isnt really about a boy's struggle with his mother, it was a boy's struggle to capture his own identity. Cherry Vanilla lives through being a newly adjusted "Lizard" before he begins to fear his diminishing "powers" to capture his clients hearts and glances, he goes in search of a superstious jack-a-lope that is said to restore good luck, and sets off to wish to be the best and most famous "Lot Lizard". He meets a woman prostitute who is there for the same reason, for some luck to be restored to her. Her sadistic and brutal pimp takes an interest in Cherry Vanilla who by then calls himself Sarah and they set off to another town, where Cherry Vanilla was warned off by his ex-pimp to keep away. Swelling in his new identity as Saint Sarah, after his new pimps Superstitious prostitutes name him a Saint and bringer of luck. Its only after luck starts to turn bad do things go sour, especially after Cherry Vanilla's identity Sarah is actually discovered to be "he" rather than a "she". I couldnt take my eyes off the book while reading, and though I can only recommend it to those few who just want to read a hypnotic and mesmerizing book do I recommend this wild fantasy of acid trips. Filled with descriptions made to open the eyes and mind, Sarah is not beautiful nor Stunning. Its book of fiction, that within the depths of our mind comes alive with blood, organs and breath that you can almost smell and taste. In the end its neither a happy ending nor a bad ending, its almost a stand by and a reflection of events that leads to a corner that can only by wok lead to something else.Book Review: Out of the Curiosity Shop Comes a Sustained Intrigue
Summary: 4 Stars
JT LeRoy made a noisy splash on the literary scene when SARAH was published in 2000 when he was a mere 19 years old. Something of the nature of a cult was born and was encouraged by his subsequent work THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS and now HAROLD'S END. This reader read them in reverse order and perhaps that is the reason for a 4 star vs a 5 star rating.
LeRoy has talent: there is no question about his skills at writing interesting fiction. The subject matter is certainly edgy, provocative, and seems bound to ply the shock treatment of his works as the main driver. But the same has been said about many fine writers in the past who successfully grabbed the audience by the collar and demanded to be heard. Genet, Lawrence, Gide, Burroughs, Rechy, etc. come to mind. Having read the three books of his output there does seem at this point to be a sameness that one hopes will dissipate into other arenas, enough to justify his '15 minutes of fame'.
SARAH, simply, is a young boy, son of a truck stop prostitute, who has managed to survive his 'home culture' by dressing as a little girl and pandering to the lusts of his mother's tricks and of pedophilic truck drivers at truck stops in West Virginia. It is a tale of survival, of tenuous dreams misguided, of sexual promiscuity and perversion, and of the 'family' of lizards (prostitutes) and pimps who manage to exist in a squalid environment. The language is razor sharp, the characters are well drawn if at times caricatures, and LeRoy manages to gain the readers' compassion for nearly every person who populates this strange curiosity shop of living.
LeRoy is at his best when he waxes poetic and it is those passages that his latent talent feels most secure. Young writers like LeRoy are fascinating to watch, to see if the initial burst of flame is sustainable. I hope it is. Grady Harp, February 2005
Book Review: good but this is NOT for everyone
Summary: 4 Stars
I think this was a good read, and I never was compelled to stop reading because it was bad. I read this in one evening so in that respect it was quite engrossing, but I was disturbing in an outlandish way that I would have thought comical had I not read some interviews with the author.It's hard to critique autobiographical works, especially ones like this. Is it a poorly written book? No. Is it difficult to read? Yes, because of the subject matter. I read some of the other reviews and some of them are kind of harsh, but who are we to criticize other people's lives. I think in some ways this should be read by everyone. Because the more people who know about the real and awful things that happen to children, the better.
The major drawback for me, was the tone. I thought this was going to be much more graphic and dark. Despite the subject matter, the book seemed like it was trying to make things funny. Funny has it's place, but it doesn't seem like this is it. But to play devils advocate with myself, humor often doubles as a mechanism for dealing with trauma our rational brains can't handle. So that could be the place of humor in this novel. If so it was done very subtly.
Overall, I recommend it. I have to congratulate the writer: Good for you for getting this on the page, it's hard and you did a wonderful job.
Book Review: The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things...
Summary: 4 Stars
When I read 'Sarah' last autumn, I was quite taken by the simplicity with which it was told. It's straightforward story, J.T.'s reality retold in simple prose, it's grittiness was mainly sad, but over all, when I finished reading, I thought, "Ah, and he became a writer. Excellent." Not much else I'm afraid, whilst I enjoyed the style, and the pace, the story was well told, but left little to think about. Sad life, yes. Book of consecuence, barely. However, I've just finished J.T.'s new book "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things", and can only say one thing. Breathtaking. Again, J.T. sticks with his simple prose, but this time explores other aspects of his persona, things that, I daresay affect him still as a result of his past. Whilst 'Sarah' made me think, 'The Heart...' made me gasp at times, it's content is sometimes shocking, definitely disturbing, but extremely witty and honest. The reviews here have been mixed, I'd reccommend you read 'Sarah', but start with 'The Heart...' and perhaps it will all make better sense. 'Sarah' gets four from me, because whilst it's a good book, the grittiness tends to inspire pity rather than shock. A sensitive debut from a young man surely destined to mature into a wonderful writer.