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The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things Paperback – June 1, 2002

3.2 out of 5 stars 120 customer reviews

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 247 pages
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 35189th edition (June 1, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1582342113
  • ISBN-13: 978-1582342115
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (120 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #998,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Format: Paperback
I came to Laura Albert's, aka JT LeRoy's, work only five months ago.
I'm glad I missed the 2006 circus, revealing Ms. Albert as the author of the novels attributed to JT LeRoy, and the virulent backlash that followed. Acclaimed at first, Sarah; The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things; and Harold's End were later slandered, as was Ms. Albert. This vilification had nothing to do with the brilliance of writing; it arose merely from the egos of those who felt deceived.
Time has passed, and with it, the craziness surrounding these books. Currently, there is a resurgence of interest, as new readers come with fresh eyes. I want to correct a central criticism found in many Amazon reviews.
At the "reveal" in 2006, detractors posited that the novels weren't valid because "a middle-aged woman" couldn't write such experiences. However, Ms. Albert endured a childhood filled with abandonment and violence, including emotional and sexual abuse. She left home at fifteen, living on the streets of New York City in an uncertain hand-to-mouth existence masking deep emotional pain. Only a gifted, brilliant, original mind such as Laura Albert's could convert that pain into fiction with such integrity. These are novels, not memoirs.

In Sarah, the reader enters an Appalachian truck-stop world peopled by quixotic characters. The protagonist is twelve-year-old Cherry Vanilla, whose mother, Sarah, is a prostitute, or "lot lizard." Lot lizards are cross-dressing prostitutes whose desirable worth is measured by the size of the raccoon penis bone amulets they wear.
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Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I actually became a fan of Jt (Aka Laura) after the whole scandle was up and done with. I read this book knowing it was fake. However, that did not stop me from being absolutely moved by this book in ways that I have rarely been moved before. Her writing is beautiful, filled with the desperation and rawness that one would expect from an actual survivor. The dynamic between Jeremiah and his mouther is touching and disgusting at the same time. Her two main characters were well-rounded, and I really enjoyed her writing style.

Too many people are biased against this book because it isnt a true story. For a book with no real plot arch, it kept my attention and really got me to feel for both Jeremiah and his mother. It is a shame that laura felt the need to hide behind the identity of JT, because she has the talent needed to make it on her own.
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Format: Paperback
As someone who works in child protection (in the UK not the US) I can honestly say that this book, more so than the more surreal Sarah, is VERY realistic. The way the innocent child's view of the world and their own self worth is skewed and how the child becomes conditioned to the abuse and thinks it normal. This is the reason those abused sometimes go on to abuse others. It is gripping (if you can stomach it but) not a pleasant read and as such it without the Leroy charade it probably wouldn't have become such a big hit but it is certainly a realistic and harrowing account of child abuse. To me this book is scarier and harder to read than the goriest horror novel.

It is a pity that Albert chose to lie like this as I suspect these books would have become cult classics (and may still). Unfortunately there is not much appetite amongst mainstream readers for books that decribe this sort of abuse unless they contain the true life "I got out" ending.

I have lost count of the poorly written autobiographies by genuine survivors of abuse. They appear on Oprah etc and the book sells a few more copies and I guess having been through what they have no one can grudge them that. However, often those books feel like reading a TV movie where the worse of it is only hinted at but mostly glossed over and maybe understandly but the postitives are highlighted (I found god and he got me through it etc). This book does not do that. True or not it is an accurate account of how children are being exploited in the US, UK and almost everywhere else in the world. This book should be used to highlight the plight of the forgotten children of the underclass of society not slated because it didn't happen. Alas for every one child that is rescued or gets out some other way there are 10 that don't.
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Format: Paperback
It doesn't matter who was behind this collection of stories, because it's just simply not all that good and incredibly derivitive of other/better writings.

And, yes, it was published as fiction and doesn't claim anywhere on the dust jacket to be autobiographical--but if anyone who is even half aware of the writer and "his" supposed background, it mirrored what the author was telling journalists, magazines, writers, doctors, musicians, actors, agents, etc., as being based on actual events in "Leroy's" life which was supposedly being purged via writing. My god, this was a scam/hustle in the most fundemental sense. But if you really want to dive into the pool, you should at least acquaint yourself with the books most of this joke was borrowed from, i.e. anything by Dennis Cooper, some of Mary Gaitskill, and more than a dollop of Flannery O'Connor. The only difference is that those people were/are original and truly talented from the start.
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