Customer Reviews

Tragedy Of Miss Geneva Flowers

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Well, it's interesting how I came across this book. I was at my grandparents over the summer and there wasn't a whole lot to do, so I read. A lot. Anyhow, I was looking for a book of this genre, for a change of pace, and came across Dance, Recover, Repeat (which I cannot personally recommend, seeing that I haven't read it yet, but I've heard it's good). This book was included in a "related books" list, so I checked it out. After reading an excerpt online, I decided it would be worth the money... hopefully. I purchased it on a Friday night, and finished it the next morning before breakfast. I couldn't put it down! Though the plot appears painfully bland, it captures teenage life perfectly. Babcock also has a wonderful way of writing which makes you feel as if you know the characters personally, and in a way, you do. I don't usually get emotional while reading, but this book goes through the happiest and saddest of times, and even I was reaching for a Kleenex every now and then. Anyhow, I personally thought it was an extraordinarily good book and feel slightly disheartened that it was over so fast.

A dazzling display of prose. Joe Babcock captures a teenaged perspective with surprising detail. In a genre fraught with glamorized sexing, drugging, and debauchery The Tragedy Of Miss Geneva Flowers sheds some much needed light on an important part of gay culture that is so often taken for granted. A surprisingly well written fast paced read that takes us on a wide array of fabulous misadventures, as we follow Erick, who is a realistic breath of fresh air, compared with many gay books with protagonists that seem unnaturally wise for their age or just a little too uninhibited for real life. Erick is a well thought out fully realized depiction of what its like to try to find a place in a world that is often more confused with what to do with young gay people than even they themselves are. This book is worth your time.

I can see why it won a lambda literary award, because this novel defies catagorization and is so wonderfully unpredictable and disturbing and unique. As someone who is from Minneapolis I thought it accurately reflected life in that city in the halcyon days of 1990. I thouroughly enjoyed it.

I cannot praise Joe Babcock's debut novel highly enough. It is unbelievable to think that it was originally self-published...it deserves as widespread an audience as possible. Yes, it is, in essence, a `coming out' novel; and yes, there are a huge range of novels available in this genre. However, this one absolutely must be read.

Since the storyline has already been covered (in fact, over-divulged) by the primary reviewer, little more needs to be said on that subject. The power of this work lies primarily in the force of the narrator's voice. The writing seems so effortless; the words just flow with such ease and fluidity, pulling the reader along with the current. One can't help but compare it with works such as `The Catcher in the Rye' due to the frank honesty of Erick's perspective on his world. For the duration of the novel you enter into his mind, feel his self-loathing, and share his hurt, anguish, confusion, and, ultimately, his hope that the present just cannot be as good as it gets - that there must, surely, be somewhere that one can feel truly comfortable with oneself.

Without wishing to wax lyrical, it seems to me that there is a new generation of arresting authors, shaking up the establishment with vitality and a fresh, contemporary perspective. Joe Babcock undoubtedly is among this swathe, along with others such as J T LeRoy, Kief Hillsbery and Blair Mastbaum. It is an electrifying time for gay literature. Once you've devoured `The Tragedy of Miss Geneva Flowers', check out Joe Babcock's second novel, `The Boys and the Bees'. And then eagerly await his next...

Probably the most exciting thing a reader (or a book reviewer) can discover is a new literary voice. Over the years, for me, these have included such now familiar gay writers as Ethan Mordden, George Whitemore and Felice Picano. I'm thrilled to add Joe Babcock to this list. Babcock's The Tragedy of Miss Geneva Flowers is a remarkable achievement for a first novel.

A native of Minneapolis, Babcock relates the saga of Erick Taylor, a sixteen-year-old Catholic School student who, like all other teenagers, has parents (his overcoming a personal tragedy) who don't understand him. Struggling with coming out, Erick quits school and gets a job at the Uptown Mall, working at a sunglasses franchise. His boss is Chloe, a self-described "grandiloquist' drag queen." With a new wardrobe, platform shoes and a new hair color, Chloe helps Erick toward the path to find himself. Like many impressionable people of his generation, Erick's journey includes experimentation in drugs, sex and drag, including addiction to crystal meth. A huge jolt of reality in Erick's relationship with Chloe leads him toward his responsibilities to himself and those he loves.

The angst-filled teen and young adult novel have been with us for a half-century, with J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye the best known. Still, the world Babcock's
Erick Taylor leads us into is far removed from Holden Caulfield's. So vividly painted are Babcock's portraits of "breaking a window," and the world of the young middle-class crack addict, that he not only voices his experiences, but, for many readers he educates us as well. The realism Babcock presents goes beyond the usual movie-of-the-week style of other, similarly-themed novels. The Tragedy of Miss Geneva Flowers is also told from the point of view of a young gay man, which strengthens its purpose.

As stated previously, it's a pleasure to discover a compelling first novel, and Joe Babcock's self-published first novel, The Tragedy of Miss Geneva Flowers is the most exciting thing I've read since Stephen McCauley's The Object of My Affection in 1987. I should relate that while McCauley's follow-up works are disappointing, Joe Babcock's exceptional talent leads me to believe that his next book will be as vivid an eye-opener as his excellent first effort.

Reviewed by Steven LaVigne in White Crane Journal

The Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book grand prize award winner, Tragedy Of Miss Geneva Flowers by Joe Babcock and published by Closet Case Books, is a thoughtful and reflective novel arising from the theme of what it is like to grow up as a young homosexual man in America. Sixteen-year-old Erick Taylor dreams of being star, has problems with his Catholic school and its bullies, and is uncertain about his personal identity and future. When Erick meets a drag queen, he is drawn into the world of gay nightlife in Minnesota -- yet threatening consequences await his inexperienced exploration. A powerful novel of struggle, risk, and steep prices paid by those who are different from most others, The Tragedy Of Miss Geneva Flowers is almost impossible to put down.

A wonderful surprise...purchased at a pride festival right from the author on a whim...I was so pleased by how well written, the content, and the purpose. The book actually brought tears to my eyes.

This is an auspicious debut! If my math is correct, Babcok started writing this when he was around twenty years old, which makes it all the more impressive. To further augment this praise, The Tragedy of Miss Geneva Flowers won Writer's Digest best self-published book (before being picked up by its current publisher) in 2002.

Babcock's characters are starkly drawn and very believable. Erick Taylor, our sixteen-year-old narrator, feels different, separate from his family, and especially from his mother who became born again when their youngest son died. He meets the "fierce" and "fabulous" Chloe (a guy who dresses fierce in fabulous women's clothes, and my favorite character) while at the mall one day, and a magnificent adventure begins. Erick looks up to Chloe - indeed, is in love with Chloe - and sees himself becoming what Chloe once was, a (relatively) famous drag queen. His relationship with Chloe further alienates him from his family, as Chloe gives him what the book calls a "glam rock makeover", with spiked platinum blonde hair, 6-inch platform heels, and a whole new wardrobe.

As so often happens to youth in the gay community (especially today, as opposed to the mid 90s which I suspect this is told in), Erick finds his way to crystal meth. It seems that doing one drug led the way to doing more, because prior to and during his experience with meth he was, even if I'm being polite, a major "pothead". Erick's experiences with meth appear to be very realistic, but from friends I know that have experience with the drug, Erick's life didn't suffer the ruination that so often accompanies meth. Regardless, Babcock writes about Erick with a sure, strong hand, guiding him through what will likely be the most difficult period in young Erick's life. He finds love, loses it, wants it, yearns - and has "angst". Erick once posed a question, wondering why people didn't get his "angst".

There are times when Babcock, through Erick, intrudes on the story. If this had not been a self-published book, those passages would have been edited out. Still, they're not so intrusive that they detract from the story, and Babcock does a fine job of moving the story forward at all times.
[...]
I'm looking forward to more from Babcock. There was a disappointing dearth of information about him and his writing on the internet. I hope he keeps it up, he has great potential.

If the Modern Library ever decides to re-publish another gay coming -out story. Eric Taylor's should be the one told to the world. But there should be a warning on the inside cover : "This is NOT just another 'Best little Boy in the World'.."

Although the book seems to come across as another coming of age story at first, before you know it; you are inside Eric's head seeing the world from his "fierce" eyes. Joe Babcock paints a picture not-so-perfect of what it is like to be 17 and have already seen it and lived it all; love, sex, drugs and the awful little illusion called death. He portrays the epitome of our society and its lack of breathing space and understanding of the gay teenager, but he does it with STYLE and techno music playing in the background. Spend some alone time with Miss Geneva Flowers, you are going to LOVE her, girl! You might even start dressing fiercely ... one of the very few books that left me content!

I read this book as part of a (gay) book club, and all of us enjoyed the book--it held interest through the plot and the character development. The author is exceptionally good in getting the reader into the main character's mind. I actually learned quite a bit about a teenager coming out in the Twin Cities, and all of the obstacles there are. Additionally, I was most impressed about the realism contained in the author's description of currently popular pharmaceuticals...educational!

Highly recommend this book--it grows on the reader. Hope Joe Babcock writes more!