Sugarless [Hardcover]

James Magruder (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 2009

Things look bad for Rick Lahrem, a high school sophomore in a cookie-cutter Chicago suburb in 1976. His mother’s second husband is a licensed psychologist who eats like an ape, his stepsister is a stoner slut, and his father is engaged to a Southern belle. Rick’s only solace is his growing collection of original Broadway-cast LPs, bought on the sly at Wax Trax.
    After he brings two girls in speech class to tears by reading a story aloud, Rick is coaxed onto the interscholastic forensics team to perform an eight-minute dramatic interpretation of The Boys in the Band, the controversial sixties play about homosexuality. Unexpectedly successful at this oddball event, Rick begins winning tournaments and making friends with his teammates.
    Rick also discovers the joys of sex—with a speech coach from a rival school—just as his mother, reacting to a deteriorating home environment, makes an unnerving commitment to Christ. The newly confident Rick assumes this too shall pass—until the combined forces of family, sex, and faith threaten to undo him at the state meet in Peoria.
    James Magruder’s Sugarless offers a ruefully entertaining take on the simultaneous struggles of coming-out, coming-of-age, and coming-to-Jesus.

 

 

A selection of InsightOut Book Club

 

Finalist, Lambda Book Award for Gay Debut Fiction, Lambda Literary Foundation

 

Finalist, TLA Gaybie Award for Best Gay Fiction

 

Semi-finalist, James Branch Cabell First Novelist Award, Virginia Commonwealth University

 

Semi-finalist, William Saroyan International Prize For Writing, Stanford University

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this fascinating 1970s coming-of-age story, playwright and translator Magruder introduces readers to Rick Lahrem, a high school sophomore struggling with his sexuality, his loneliness and his new stepfamily. His only solace is the Broadway LPs he buys at the local record store, but when he's coaxed into joining his school's speech team, he finally discovers something he's successful at and a group of friends who actually seem to care about him. Then one day, while record shopping, he meets Ned Bolang, a speech coach from a rival high school, and a sexual affair ensues just as Rick's mother is finding Christ, an irony not lost on the reader. Rick and Ned's relationship is nuanced and complicated: Rick views Ned as the one person who can make him happy, but is the older Ned exploiting his young lover? While this novel may be about a homosexual relationship in the 1970s, the story captures the struggles of teenagers, straight and gay, of every generation. (Oct.)
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Review

“Magruder is a writer of immense gifts, with a voice—smart, playful, lyrical, subtle, unsparing—utterly unlike anyone else’s.”—Tony Kushner, playwright of Angels in America

“A remarkable debut. At once tender and satirical, Magruder illuminates the secret heart of every character, from the sixteen-year-old narrator who worships Broadway show tunes to the Christian girl who wears a live Peruvian cockroach pinned to her blouse.”—Richard McCann, author of Mother of Sorrows

“Sugarless is the rough chutes and ladders of adolescence against a realistic and hilarious evocation of the 1970s. If you ever wondered what makes boys tick, or you’ve been in danger of forgetting, this is the book you’ve been looking for.”—Amy Bloom, author of Away

“The tale of adolescent sexual awakening in James Magruder’s Sugarless reads so true it feels like it should be thrust into the hands of every confused protogay teenager.”—Out Magazine

"In this fascinating 1970s coming-of-age story, playwright and translator Magruder introduces readers to Rick Lahrem, a high school sophomore struggling with his sexuality, his loneliness and his new stepfamily. His only solace is the Broadway LPs he buys at the local record store, but when he's coaxed into joining his school's speech team, he finally discovers something he's successful at and a group of friends who actually seem to care about him. Then one day, while record shopping, he meets Ned Bolang, a speech coach from a rival high school, and a sexual affair ensues just as Rick's mother is finding Christ, an irony not lost on the reader. Rick and Ned's relationship is nuanced and complicated: Rick views Ned as the one person who can make him happy, but is the older Ned exploiting his young lover? While this novel may be about a homosexual relationship in the 1970s, the story captures the struggles of teenagers, straight and gay, of every generation."—Publishers Weekly

“With fine attention to detail and a resounding feel of truth James Magruder explores the burgeoning sexuality of a teenage boy in the Midwest bible belt coming to terms with his homosexuality.”—The Washington Times

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 274 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; 1 edition (October 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299233804
• ISBN-13: 978-0299233808
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #483,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

JAMES MAGRUDER was born in Washington, D.C., and moved with his family five times before settling down in Wheaton, Illinois. He went off to Cornell University, spent a year in Paris, served time as a grad student in the Yale French department, then defected to the Yale School of Drama, where he received his doctorate in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism. His dissertation, Three French Comedies (Yale University Press), was named an "Outstanding Literary Translation of the Year" by the American Literary Translators Association. Today, his versions of Molière, Marivaux, Lesage, Labiche, Gozzi, and Dickens have been produced across the country and earn him tens of dollars. He also wrote the book for the ill-fated Broadway musical Triumph of Love. The journal he kept during that very special time will become available when several of his collaborators have passed away. After fifteen years in show business as a playwright and dramaturg, he turned to fiction in 2002. His stories have appeared in The Gettysburg Review, The Harrington Gay Men's Fiction Quarterly, Bloom, Subtropics, and the anthology Boy Crazy. His writing has been supported by the Maryland State Arts Council, the New Harmony Project, The MacDowell Colony, where he was named a Thornton Wilder Fellow, the Ucross Foundation, the Blue Mountain Center, and the Jerome Foundation. He teaches translation and adaptation at the Yale School of Drama and dramaturgy at Swarthmore College. He lives in Baltimore with his partner Stephen Bolton.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Realistic, engaging tale of '70s gay teen coming of age., September 17, 2009

By 

Bob Lind "camelwest" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Sugarless (Hardcover)

Rick Lahrem is a rather nondescript mid-1970's high school sophomore, in a nondescript Chicago suburb, who spends most of his spare time listening to Broadway-cast albums. His ability to "blend in" is a coping mechanism, to avoid attention at school (which he fears might result in him being outed as gay) and to avoid making waves in his rather dysfunctional family, consisting of a psychologist stepfather who is a slob, his stoner stepsister, and a mother in denial about her not-so-"happy" home. It all changes for Rick the day that he gives a dramatic reading in Speech class, which results in bringing some students to tears, and puts him on the teachers' "radar" to join the school team that competes in dramatic interpretation competitions. And it starts to really unravel when he is assigned a dramatic scene from the gay-themed play "The Boys in the Band."

Surprisingly, Rich steps up to the challenges that face him, and does very well in the competitions. He also explores his sexual fantasies, with a speech coach from a rival school, dangerously about the same time as his mother is "born again" as a devout Bible-thumping Christian.

A talented first-time novelist presents a sweet, witty and well-written coming-of-age story, featuring realistic, fully-nuanced characters and situations (including the relationship with the older man). Worthy of a full five disco stars out of five!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant new novel, October 1, 2009

By 

Birmingham Bear "Birmingham Bear" (Birmingham, AL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sugarless (Hardcover)

SUGARLESS is a brilliant new work that deserves a wide audience. Well-written and constructed, Magruder's book introduces a wonderful new character, Rick, who shares his thoughts and adventures with the reader. Avoiding many of the pitfalls of similar works, SUGARLESS is far from maudlin or heavy-handed. The characters are believable and the author perfectuly captures the look and feel of the 1970s, as well as a young man's thrilling and frightening exploration of his sexuality. Kudos for such a terrific story.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars READ THIS, September 30, 2009

By 

Jeannette Festa (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sugarless (Hardcover)

Sexy, hilarious, heartbreaking. Sugarless is a valentine to love's indelible nature. Read this novel not just for its finely tuned record of the 24 hour news cycle that is adolescense . Read this novel not just for the claustrophobic familiarity of the fractured and bandaged, barely reconstituted family life circa 1973. Read this novel not just for the razor sharp humor fueled by the hormonal juggernaut of coming of age, coming out and did I mention that Jesus might save us all? But, sex definitely will. Read this novel to laugh and weep and revisit the intensity of being 15. As Rick discovers the wily, wilder world celebrated in his Sondheim musicals, he finds himself without a spoonful of sugar to sweeten life's visceral lessons of loving , losing and forgiving. The best writing is always brave and true, not just to itself but to larger realities that lodge in the heart of the reader permanently. Sugarless is such a book.