Reviews

I found this book incredible. It is a harrowing account of a part of a terrible life. The life of a neglected child who turns to sex work as a way to make their way and pave a path which might garner respect in the world that they know. The book is disgusting in places and pulls no punches. This was a special read, but if I were you, I’d take care to be ready before you open it up.

cherrylimelo's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

burningvaliolet's review against another edition

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MY REVIEW OF EVERYTHING RELATED TO JT LEROY

In 1999, JT Leroy was introduced to the literary world as the male teenage author of the semi-autobiographical work called Sarah. No one knew what he looked like, as he only ever communicated via phone or email. In 2001, he started making public appearances wearing wigs and big sunglasses to conceal his identity. Leroy was considered the “new voice of literature”, as he was queer and his work dealt with sex work, transness, poverty and abuse. He became associated with many celebrities, mostly rockstars. But then, in 2005, his fame collapsed as it was revealed that Leroy was not a real person, but a persona created by author, phone sex operator and musician Laura Albert. She pretended to be JT Leroy on the phone and made her sister-in-law Savannah Knoop dress up as him for public appearances. She also pretended to be Leroy’s manager. JT Leroy is considered one of the biggest literary hoaxes ever (even though Albert swears that he is not a hoax but an “avatar” she created). This story has everything; really long phone calls, pseudo-intellectuals, racoon penis bones, white trash america becoming the new cool thing for the rich and famous, wigs, eating disorders, getting possessed by manifestations of your childhood trauma, and more! It makes you wonder how the hell all those famous people are connected like that. I recommend embarking on the rabbit hole on your own because I can only cover very little here. Also, I am not here to tell you if Laura Albert was a good or bad person for creating this persona because the situation is very complicated, maybe you should decide for yourself.

The obsession started with me listening to a podcast episode about it, sitting on a bench near the Acropolis on the first day of June, skipping class to go get french fries, and it ends today, where I wrap up all of my opinions on the media I consumed about it.

THE BOOK - Sarah is definitely the most bizarre book I have read so far. The lore is just so wild, from the raccoon penis bones to the whole black snake thing and the christian insanity. This is the part of the book that I loved, the worldbuilding. But, sadly, I had a very strong love-hate relationship with the book. While half of the time I was amazed by the story, the other half it felt really grotesque and fake. I almost stopped reading halfway, and was relieved I didn’t only a few pages later. I have no idea what to rate it. ??? out of 10.

THE DOCUMENTARY - The documentary called Author The JT Leroy Story tells Laura Albert’s side of the story. She explains the whole timeline of the creation and fame of JT Leroy from her point of view, and reveals things about her childhood that might be the reason why she turned to creating bizarre characters as a way to cope. Seeing her perspective is obviously already really interesting, but the documentary’s aesthetic and the photos and stories about Laura’s and Savannah’s insane interactions with celebrities make it a truly fascinating watch. 9 out of 10.

THE BIOPIC - The 2018 biopic starring Laura Dern and Kristen Stewart might not be very appealing if you are not familiar with the story, but for me, as someone who is obsessed with JT Leroy, it was quite fun. Some parts of the story weren’t included, which is sad, because a lot of those details are what makes the story so wild, but I suppose many of the people involved don’t want to be associated with Leroy anymore. The two protagonists were great, the acting was really on point, very similar to what I’d seen in the documentary. But the overall movie wasn’t that amazing. 6.5 out of 10.

THE MOVIE ADAPTATION - The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things is the adaptation of JT Leroy’s book of the same name, but I am going to pretend it’s an adaptation of Sarah because it deals with the same mother and son as Sarah. It’s kinda like a prequel actually. The movie was released in 2004 and was directed by Asia Argento, who also stars as Sarah. The story of the author is crazy enough as it is and the controversy made the movie unpopular, but there is a really serious thing that tarnishes it. In 2018, it was revealed that one of the child actors was sexually assaulted by the director in 2013, when he was only 17 and Argento was 37. So, obviously, fuck Asia Argento. But I believe that ethics don’t have anything to do with talent, so I’m going to be fair with my review. Not that that’s relevant after all, not a lot of talent was found here. I feel exactly what I felt watching The Brown Bunny, the only difference being that Heart had a plot, while Brown Bunny didn’t. My exact feelings for both movies are that the cinematography, soundtrack, outfits and overall vibes where cool, but the plot, the pacing, the acting and the director’s self-obsession ruin the whole thing. In Heart, the best scenes where the surrealistic, stop-motion animation ones, but there weren’t many. Overall, bad movie. 3 out of 10.

THE PODCAST EPISODE - Finally, the Missing Pages Podcast’s episode about JT Leroy, the one that sent me down this rabbit hole, is one of the best podcast episodes I have ever listened to, so I have to say that the obsession was justified. Very well researched and truly entertaining. It touches on many perspectives of the story, but mainly the publishing industry's perspective. No complaints. 10 out of 10.

That’s all.