A reissue of the national bestselling novel by JT LeRoy/Laura Albert – published to coincide with the Jeff Feuerzeig documentary: Author: The JT LeRoy Story.
‘A deft and imaginative…novel’ New York Times Book Review
Sarah never admits that she’s his mother, but the beautiful boy has watched her survive as a “lot lizard”: a prostitute working the West Virginia truck stops. Desperate to win her love, he decides to surpass her as the best and most famous lot lizard ever. With his own leather mini-skirt and a makeup bag that closes with Velcro, the young “Cherry Vanilla” embarks on a journey through the Appalachian wilds, dining on transcendental cuisine, supplicating to the mystical Jackalope, encountering the most terrifying of pimps, walking on water, being venerated as an innocent girl saint – and then being denounced as the devil.
By turns exhilarating and shocking, magical and realistic, Sarah brings urgency, wit, and imagination to an unknown and unforgettable world.
‘A deft and imaginative…novel’ New York Times Book Review
Sarah never admits that she’s his mother, but the beautiful boy has watched her survive as a “lot lizard”: a prostitute working the West Virginia truck stops. Desperate to win her love, he decides to surpass her as the best and most famous lot lizard ever. With his own leather mini-skirt and a makeup bag that closes with Velcro, the young “Cherry Vanilla” embarks on a journey through the Appalachian wilds, dining on transcendental cuisine, supplicating to the mystical Jackalope, encountering the most terrifying of pimps, walking on water, being venerated as an innocent girl saint – and then being denounced as the devil.
By turns exhilarating and shocking, magical and realistic, Sarah brings urgency, wit, and imagination to an unknown and unforgettable world.
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Reviews
Sarah is weird, darkly funny and haunting. JT LeRoy has a gift, to be able to articulate his world so clearly and astringently, with grace and humor, but without glossing over the pain and brutality of it
Sarah has a strong seductive quality, and it is impossible to forget. LeRoy's ability to present trauma and tenderness simultaneously is entirely his own. 'This book is nothing short of a miracle,' LeRoy has said. I have to agree
Extraordinarily, LeRoy manages to lace this story with tenderness and humour. Not for the fainthearted, these few raw pages constitute a breathtaking debut
A deft and imaginative...novel
LeRoy brushed achingly close to duplicating Genet's legerdemain - mythologizing self-abasement so as to transform it into glorious apotheosis
Like a cross between Nathanael West and Mark Twain, drunk out of their minds and collaborating on Charlie's Angels meets The Headless Horseman - Sarah is a wildly comic tour de force and a brilliant debut
Extraordinary. LeRoy writes with astonishing flair and confidence, making Sarah a very impressive debut indeed
Remarkable
I have just finished reading Sarah and found it incredible, very moving, very sad and very beautiful
LeRoy's work is a startling achievement in his accelerating mastery of the literary form
JT LeRoy is one of the most interesting, passionate and gifted of writers, very few have his heart and courage. I admire his writing tremendously
Sarah is surprising, upsetting, offensive, and fun. It's everything a good read - or good sex for that matter - should be