Do You like book The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2002)?
I didn't really care about the whole drama surrounding JT Leroy when I read this, about whether he really existed or was a made up character (which it now turns out "he" was) in turn writing works of fiction based on a life which is also a work of fiction... I still don't care that JT didn't actually exist - it doesn't take away from the writing or the story in my eyes. Perhaps it displays even more storytelling talent on the author's part? I found "The Heart..." to be more realistic than "Sarah" was, there was no away-with-the-fairies stuff, apart from incidents which you are made aware are the delusions of the characters rather than something the reader has to suspend belief in. I liked the way it kind of jumped about in places, and you had to keep reading for it all to make sense. I do enjoy stories like that, which reward you for reading on and putting some thought into the words as you take them in. And again, as in "Sarah", its written perfectly from the point-of-view of the child narrator, with wonderful child-like interpretations of the adult world, especially the crystal meth part. Its a dark and dirty book too, one that makes you feel unease and real emotion as you read it. LeRoy has a voice that weaves intriguing stories, but stories which still leave room for your own diagnosis.
—Sarah
Know what? Fuck that. This is better because JT Leroy was a hoax. When you look at the way that honest, caring, media-appropriately-framed stories of trans people look in this society, you throw up. Uh. *I* throw up. Maybe you are super into it. I can't think of a trans author (okay, one who's not Jan Morris) who's writing fiction that really pokes me in the eye. Or memoir, actually. (I haven't read T Cooper yet though, so maybe T Cooper.) I'd much rather read JT Leroy than Jennifer Finney Boylan. I'd much rather watch Hedwig than, what, Transamerica? It's just that, often, when people write about trans stuff without the preciousness that comes with trying to get everything right. Like, Bohjalian's Trans-Sister Radio? Pssh. There was nothing really WRONG with that book except that it was boring and handled the drama of being trans in such a fuckin Lifetime movie way. JT Leroy, man, both this one and Sarah, whatsername got a lot of things right. I think she got them right because she was writing about pretty universal things- loneliness, desperation, laissez-faire attitudes toward who you fuck- but putting them in a trans context. Or a meta-trans context. Or something. It's just that- the trans stuff, the poverty stuff, the sex work stuff- that never seemed to be what was sensationalistic in her work, or, at least, more sensationalistic than anything Chuck Palahniuk writes. The sensationalism was in the fantastic emotional landscapes and I can't argue with that. I read 'em a long time ago though. I could be wrong.
—Imogen
The JT LeRoy narrative is a depressing subject. It's one thing to write under another identity, but to actually pull people in via the "victim's mentality" is quite Tom Ripley like. There is no doubt in my mind that the author is disturbed, but what is worst is how she hoodwinked a whole community of people.And I am not excluding myself from this world. I too am drawn to writers who seem to have interesting lives. So who can say what is real or not real. What is interesting is that as a reader or a viewer (voyeur?) we want to believe in something so much that we are willing to look the other way - when the obvious is on hand.And basically the title says it all: "The heart is deceitful..."
—Tosh
