Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
scratching my head now that the hype has been squashed, October 28, 2005
Okay, I always figured there was something suspect about Leroy's background. Now with the cat out of the bag, I have to confess that there's something about the writing that will perplex me for a while to come: When I believed SARAH, HAROLD'S END, and HEART were written by a young wunderkind with a heartbreaking past, I allowed myself to forgive much about the writing that seemed forced, over the top, and just downright questionable. Now that it's been revealed the writing comes from a 30-something woman who opted against the understandable use of a moniker and decided to pass Leroy off as real (ten points for the marketing coup, but minus fifty points for manipulating so many of us who felt real empathy for your invention), I just can't take this writing seriously anymore. Instead of coming off as the creative purging of a painful childhood, it now just reads like what it has become: the ramblings of someone who never was a child prostitute, never an addict, and never lived the life she is writing about and claiming to be real.
Perhaps J.T. is the product of a troubled woman with multiple personalities, and if that's the case there's at least a couple of more books she can write about along those lines.
Anyway, I'm very sorry to learn about Leroy being hoax. And, yes, it does make difference for how I feel about the writing.
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
What Tangled Webs..., October 27, 2005
First off, as with the story collection, I'm giving SARAH two stars based solely on my reading of it and nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that J.T. Leroy is a hoax. I read it before the hoax came to light, and, like the collection, found it to be so poorly realized on so many levels that I was shocked by the praise and hype driving it along. As someone born and raised in the South, it became very obvious to me that "Mr. Leroy" wasn't from this part of the world but had created an entire fiction based on little else other than imagination. Unfortunately, the fabrications weren't very interesting to me. Now, of course, we know J.T. Leroy wasn't even a real person to begin with, so that only adds to my frustration to having been lured into this "autobiographical" account by reviewers who hailed it as truthful, painful, and wonderful.
Secondly, I've noticed that others who have posted reviews since the J.T. hoax have had their reviews removed from Amazon.com (at least 3 by my count). I find that very troubling, as it seems someone is trying to prevent the disappointment and anger many feel for having been duped from being heard. That form of censorship in order to keep an already dying myth afloat will only backfire.
For Laura Albert-the woman behind this whole myth-I urge you to own up to the fact that the hoax is done with and it had a very good run. Why you decided to invent J.T. in the first place, as well as other characters involved in his story, strikes me as ten times more interesting than what this ill-imagined collection offered. My advice to you is to retire "J.T." with some dignity and put yourself forward in as honest a manner as possible. You might be surprised how many of us would now be willing to listen to your story instead. Otherwise, I fear "J.T." is going to have a rough road ahead, because few are going to champion his story anymore (something that was much easier to do when we thought he was alive).
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Inauthentic, corny and just plain awful, October 30, 2005
Poor writing--not least due to its outrageous inauthenticity. Very like the "Go Ask Alice" of the third millenium: a novel purporting to be based on factual, lived experience--in actual fact, a cynical fraud. All of the words here are very, very selfconsciously 'street', preciously explicit, and come off as a third-rate pastiche of a John Irving universe as dreamed by John Rechy. in work like this, it really does matter who's doing the writing. J.T. Leroy is a middle aged woman. That's it. At your own risk, readers.
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