Customer Reviews

The Palace of Varieties

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

 

 

Great story that moves along smoothly. Well-developed characters with lots of variety of sex. Just the right splash of emotions an angst of lead character who is 18 at time of story. Very easy to read with lots of gay sex! Lear captures the emotions and changing situations of our hero and has interesting characters that come along for the ride. "Excuse the pun!" I wasn't disppointed.

Bawdy, squalid and irreverent, James Lear's sexually graphic novel transports us to London of 1935 and into the life of eighteen-year-old Paul Lemoyne, a waif and wild child whose fleshy adventures play out amongst the rarefied world of music halls, train stations, public toilets and the sordid back alleys of South London. Escaping an abusive and alcoholic father, who cannot help but conceal his shame beneath a pitiful display of hostility ,Paul escapes from Sussex and hops on a train to London from Sussex.

Although Paul has very little education, he possesses a fierce natural intelligence; it's not surprising then that he is able to secures employment as a stage hand at the South London Palace of Varieties, a bawdy and ramshackle music hall, smelling heavily of unwashed bodies, cigarette smoke and perfume. Under the tutelage of Mr. Nicholas Holly the General Manager, Paul begins his services in this grand life of hard physical labor, that involves clambering around scaffolds and sweeping the stage, and also allowing Holly to give Paul oral satisfaction when Holly so desires it.

But it is in the gentleman's cloakroom in Waterloo station which really cements Paul's career as a procurer of male needs, where one can "wash and brush-up for a sixpence" and where at the urinal involving two young gents in identical black suits, Paul has his first true sleazy experience where he also gets to earn his first crown. Soon enough Paul's consumed with the idea of getting sex wherever and with whoever he can, becoming a master of this extracurricular work.

While Paul aches to conquer the red-headed Kieran, his affable young work colleague, he's also helped by Vera, a genial and somewhat effeminate dresser in business like ambition of servicing many of the "toffs and stage-door johnnies" that come to the performances, especially the giant Mr. Newsome with his hands on his hips, "his huge weapon throbbing before him," and where he and Paul end up taking pleasure in each other as "crudely and as brutally" as they liked.

Paul rapidly becomes an enterprising young man, luckily blessed with a true tart's instinct for divining the wishes of his clients and he begins to ply his trade at the various pubs that pepper the East End, low dives, frequented largely by stagehands, prostitutes, laborers and itinerants. The stink of beer and fags and unwashed men requiring him to be crude and coarse and above all dirty. But it is through Paul's association with Mr. Albert Abbott who takes a beneficent in him forcing him to do dirty things with a handsome art deco paperweight that Paul is eventually thrust into bigger markets in an effort to make real money and perhaps also the chance to make something more of himself.

Although Albert swiftly becomes the ruling passion in Paul's life, he's always there playing Paul like a puppet, even pecuring him the genius artist Mikhail Boleslavsky while also levying a certain amount of his cash flow. Albert Abbott is just one just one of a dozen colorful characters who populate Paul's little world, they're the supporting players in a smut-filled dream of which Paul is always the hero. Author James Lear's unashamed descriptions of Paul's sexual philandering is shocking, but it is the author's colorful combination of 1930's London and its world of vice along with descriptions of Paul engaging in some of the most degrading sexual activities that make this novel so unbelievably entertaining and also so shocking. Mike Leonard August 08.

I love James Lear, his other books, and this one, too. Too much sex? Read something else. Disgusting scenes? My absolute favorites. To each his own, and I'm glad I own this book. Thank you, Mr. Lear.

I found this such an excellent book that I cannot wait to read the rest of James Lear's other books.
He is an interesting story teller with some nice twists in plot. And it is also at times very erotic.
A good lead character.

aw heck, who am I kidding? "Homo-eroticism" my tail; it's hot sex! Intelligently and also beautifully written this novel does NOT disappoint on ANY level. I'll be buying ALL of James Lear works now, along with a "Do Not Disturb" sign to go on my door. Keep it coming Sir! My ONLY regret, is that Palace Of Varieties is not MY autobiography.

Paul Lemoyne is a lower class, under educated young man in 1930s England. After a row with his alcoholic father, Paul leaves home and enters the cruel, merciless pre-WW2 streets of London and lands a job as a stage-hand at The Palace of Varieties.
Im sorry to admit that I did not enjoy this book as I have all the others. As a fan of Lear's work I am going to really push the positive and say the book is well written. The prose flows nicely and the story is easy to follow. Lear's eroticism -while not entirely as cleaver and creative as his other works -still manages to raise an eyebrow or two. In particular I enjoyed Paul's encounter with Trevor in Chapter 4, the meeting with Albert Abbott in Chapter 6 also the "snuggery" in Chapter 6 was pretty cool. However, in a nutshell, the book was boring. Usually when I read Lear I am flying in another world and moving fast through erotic, witty, intelligent humor and fascinating characters. In The Palace of Varieties I felt like I was being dragged along with nothing going on. Until I got to Chapter 8. The story should be called the Palace of Herringham, once we meet this artist in the brothel the story took off in a Learesque Masterpiece. Once I got here I couldn't put the book down. Every character from Chapter 8 and on was amazing. The story went from funny, to tragic, to romantic, to heart breaking. Then it was uplifting and exciting and moving and erotic and just perfect. I loved the bit of romance in the end and suddenly I understood that this was a delightful coming of age story. An adventure all its own and once again comparing Lear to de Sade, this story reminded me of the books "Justine" and "Julliet".

I really enjoyed Lear's The Back Passage. It was a fun romp that naturally spoofed an Agatha Christie-type mystery, and the characters were engaging - and it had lots of explicit sex. So, I eagerly searched out more by the author. Only, I wish I had never found this one. It is NOT an M/M romance.

Paul Lemoyne begins work as a stage hand, but almost immediately realizes he can make a lot more money as a prostitute. This book centers on his "exploits" and the depths to which he falls in his quest for money and lust. He spends his money as fast as he earns it, sometimes faster. He has an agent of sorts, Albert, whom readers are supposed to believe Paul has feelings for. But Albert rarely appears, and there is no plot. Paul goes from one sexual encounter to the next. I have read stories about prostitutes before, that's not a problem. But, Paul is not a likeable character and he has no purpose: no one he persues out of love, no ambition to become or obtain something (respect, a job, anything!) He just exists. At first he comes across as naive, but quickly degenerates into a leach on society. And Lear never reveals enough about Albert for him to develop into a fully realized character. The entire book is Paul.

I enjoy M/M erotica, even porn. I usually like a lot of sex in books regardless of genre, whether M/M or het. But, I want some emotion in it. The characters need not be in love, but at least care. However, this book completely turned me off. Paul had no feelings for any of the men he coupled with. It wasn't erotic, it was an exercise in depravity. Some of the "sexual" acts described were outright disgusting to me (involving bodily functions/fluids I'd rather not remember) and there was no other storyline to provide a break from it. I've read books with disturbing acts/scenes (rape, murder, abuse) but they were used to enhance or propel a story. There is no story here. Even in "Back Passage" there was a mystery (of a sorts) to unravel. Perhaps the worst part of all, the ending was unfinished and the left the reader hanging on a possible romance that never happens.

Overall, this book was a huge disappoinment. Skip this, and read Lear's other work instead.

"The Palace of Varieties," is trash, though well-written trash. Lear writes well. But, make no mistake, it's still trash. There is virtually no humanity and very little pleasure in this story. Paul, the main character, is an irredeemable, thoroughly despicable, self-admitted gay prostitute who, as a sociopath, never learns from all his awful (or good) experience. The worst thing about this book is its degradation of intimacy and love. Paul demonizes and debases everyone and everything he ever touches.

The reader is forced to wade through page after page of Paul's disastrous, exploitive, selfish little life in London during the 1930's, hoping -- for the first 100 pages -- that maybe, just maybe, Paul might take advantage of his personal talents and the generous help of others to make something of himself other than becoming a tramp. He does not. He's a sex addict, and, worse, he's a young man with no moral backbone or visible set of values. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, about Paul to like or appreciate. Whatever bad happens to him in the story (and a great deal of bad happens), he thoroughly deserved it.

The story is populated by a string of unpleasant, unlikable, silly people, with only 2 or 3 minor exceptions. The exceptions are young men who have personal strength of character and rise above the degradation that Paul heaps upon himself and them. Paul manages to degrade, abuse and drive away these friends, the only decent people in the book.

If you were looking for a gay man's story that had some stimulating sex in it, this is not the book for you. There is not much of a story here. If you were looking for tons and tons of gay male sex, you've found it here, but, even as Paul himself tires of his endless life of sexual exploits, the reader tires greatly of it too (at least this reader).

While I did more-or-less enjoy another of this author's books "Hot Valley," I will never buy nor read this author's work again, simply because this book is such an obvious pandering to smutty interests -- a faux novel in reality, simply 275 pages of gay porn. In fact, I didn't even finish this book (rare for me), except to browse for 5 minutes the last pages. The story, the characters, the sex -- it's all immensely boring and without any redeeming value whatsoever.

Nous sommes en 1934 et la grande dépression économique bat son plein à Londres. Paul Lemoyne, un jeune homme issue d'un milieu des plus pauvre, tente par tous les moyens de s'extirper de sa condition mais sans grand succès. C'est alors qu'il se fait embaucher au Palace of Varieties - l'équivalent de notre Théâtre des nouveautés, à Montréal, au début du siècle - et réalise rapidement que s'offre à lui des options beaucoup plus lucratives pour se constituer rapidement un capital.
Il se jette rapidement, et pour son grand plaisir (ainsi que le notre), dans les bras de la prostitution. Mais Paul est un peu étourdie et dépense sans compter. Il se retrouve rapidement dans l'épineuse situation où il doit rembourser rapidement des dettes astronomiques et, malgré son talent indéniable, il ne peut suffire à la besogne.
C'est alors qu'il rencontre le mystérieux Albert Abbott qui l'engage dans son « écurie » et lui permet de s'élever rapidement au-dessus de sa condition. Mais Paul éprouve un sentiment trouble face à ce dernier : une haine tenace entremêlé d'une fascination indéniable. Qui se cache derrière ce visage glacial mais indéniablement séducteur ?
Un roman érotique des plus réussi dans lequel le lecteur se trouvera plongé dans des scènes plus excitantes les unes que les autres. Pour une fois, l'auteur nous offre également des personnages relativement complexes auxquels on s'intéresse réellement et qui incite à poursuivre plus avant la lecture. Le récit se clôt à l'aube de la deuxième guerre mondiale et annonce une suite que l'on ne peut attendre qu'avec impatience.