Customer Reviews

The Orton Diaries

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although I admire the principle of not excessively editing artists' diaries for publication, Lahr goes a little overboard in this one, leaving in every word from the last eight months of the diary's (and Orton's) life. So no one but a hardcore fan is really going to be interested in the endless meetings, correspondences and contract negotiations which provide the mundane background for the meat of the diaries: Orton's tempestuous relationship with Kenneth Halliwell, the lover who eventually kills him; and his promiscuous sex life. But for a fan, this diary IS fascinating, and knowing the end of Orton's life in advance does give even the most mundane details an eerie cast. For gay readers, the Tangier section gives a wonderfully intricate portrait of a lost gay refuge. For me, 4 stars -- for people who couldn't care less about Joe Orton, 2 stars.

Not a book for everyone, I found it very interesting. I can't say I would recommend it for anyone but those who have an interest in the art of writing, and perhaps more specifically, the plays and short life of Joe Orton. A gay man in 1960's London, when it was not fashionable to "come out," Orton was always true to himself and to his desires (as awful as they were). He was a great playwright. He was not a great person. His diary, recorded over the last six months of his life, captures a slice of history when London was at its last zenith since the Renaissance. His short life involved hit plays of outrageous farce, work with the Beatles, and inumerous actors, producers, and directors. John Lahr does an outstanding job of editing the diaries of an interesting man who was butchered in his sleep by the one person he was nothing without. I highly recommend it, together with "Prick up Your Ears," the biography also by John Lahr.

Absolutely wonderful! A look inside the mind of a genius. Playful, honest, funny and a bit disturbing at times. Orton was a risk taker who got off on the danger of his pursuits as much as just getting off! I love this man and wish he was still around. The last few pages of his diary are missing as well, which just makes the life of Joe Orton even more intriguing. John Lahr has done a beauitful job.

I think I heard of Joe Orton vaguely on a documentary about murders on TV so when I came across this book in a dollar bin, I had no idea who he was but bought it anyway because I thought it would be interesting to read a diary by a writer and a gay one at that.

And it was fascinating and quarter of the way through it I went to a local used book store and found a few of his plays and read those as well. Hilarious plays where I was actually laughing out loud. So I devoured this book. The sex stuff was at times a little to graphic for my liking but I got passed it, after all, it was usually with two consenting adults so no biggy.

I especially loved the way he would write scenes from what he witnessed in a shop or on the bus, some were really funny and all I could think of was if he lived he would had done such wonderful 'in your face' books and plays and even maybe movies. He wrote with such humor. And I especially liked the letters in the back section.

Now the reason for the 3 stars. I got to the Tangier part and really wished I had avoided that section. My rather high opinion of Joe Orton dropped dramatically and from then on I was feeling a bit ill really, even after the Tangier section, it just wasn't the same as he would keep referring to Tangier at later dates. (there wasn't much left to the diary but still. . .)

I never actually heard of this place before (Sorry on otherside of the world and not a place I would visit anyway) but now if I ever hear of Tangier in the future I will think of this book and what Orton and Halliwell did and all their other gay friends who were there and that's a real shame. I do wish I had avoided this section completely and it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Otherwise aside from 'that' section, I found it to be amazingly well written and fun to read the workings of his last play (What the butler saw) especially after reading the play first and watching it unfold through his diary.

Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell were both murdered. It was totaly organised and cover up murder. Orton had many enemies, and many jelous homophobic people around Him. That time even in London, if one was openly Gay, and promote sex in public, it was exremely dangerous. What he did and write in his time, was totaly taboo, and not exepted in English society. Only few people knew and know the true story behind Orton and Halliwell murder. I love the book about Orton life. He was a Dare Devil for His time, and died for Gay people liberation movement, like many before and after Him.

I cannot agree with the previous reviewer's opinion regarding The Orton Diaries. Tangiers in the 1960's was a paedophile's paradise and please God, it no longer exists as such. Orton and Halliwell used young boys for their own gratification little thinking of the damage they were inflicting on them. Orton's diaries are full of his hedonistic pursuits and talented as a playwrite he may have been, for the sake of those children he abused, the publishers of The Orton Diaries, Methuen, should be banned from ever publishing further copies of his diary.