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Title: The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens by John Rechy ISBN: 0-8021-1746-5 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 07 October, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.75 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: One of Rechy's best
Comment: Often overlooked in Rechy's work--by reviewers who seem to focus only on his "scandalous" material, even to ignoring other books of his that are not "scandalous"--is his sense of humor, his satirical sense of humor, and his wit--and the way he mixes all that with humor. It won't be easy to ignore all those facets in this very funny and very touching novel, its hero being knockout handsome Lyle Clemens, an innocent, a "cowboy who has never ridden a horse." In his travels from Escondito, Texas, to Las Vegas (how he gets there is hilarious), to Los Angeles (Hollywood--the last part of the novel is at a memorable Academy Awards, a ceremony Rechy captures to the last detail), Lyle encounters a cast right out of Dickens--although he's modeled this novel as a "modern Tom Jones"--and that cast includes some with names that will surprise you (no roman a clef for Rechy; he comes right out and names them). Real charactes mix with imagined ones--Tarah Worth, the anxious actress plotting for her "return," and there's Sister Sis and Brother Bud, hilarious and horarifying at the same time, televangelists who want to convert Lyle into "the Lord's Cowboy," and that leads him into the clutches of aother deadly couple, high-toned pornographers (again, hilarious and deadly); there's Maria, the Chicano beauty; and there's "the Sexy Chicano"--a cast large enough to fill a wide screen. The novel is written in beautiful lyrical language, and the ending is like a revelation. Without doubt this is one of Rechy's very best since his first novel, the classic "City of Night."
Rating: 5
Summary: Field Day for Rechy
Comment: Using Henry Fielding's classic "Tom Jones"--and other picaresque novels a reader can detect--Rechy has written one whale of a book. There are strains of Tristram Shandy, Don Quixote--and Jacqueline Susann--yes, Jacqueline Susanna. Yet Rechy's is a modern novel in which its entirely engaging innocent--but very sexy--hero, Lyle Clemens leaves a small town in Texas to travel to Las Vegas, and finally Los Angeles. How he gets from place to place provides Rechy with ample opportunity to explore the form of the picaresque novel, with twists and turns and coincidences that he renders possible, and a cast of characters that is awesome: from Lyle's mother, an ex-beauty queen, now langushing into alcoholism, to Sister Matilda, the gospel singer, to Brother Bud and Sister Sis, too hilarious but deadly fundamentalists who reign over an evangelical empire and want to convert Lyle into the Lord's Cowboy. Difficult to give an indication of the many wonderful scenes that Lyle's adventures create; he even winds up as an "usher" at the Playboy mansion ("Hughie's Mansion") and has to flee when he tries to save Ms. Universe from a peacock running loose among guests. This only gives a hint of the shenanigans that allow Rechy to satirize American society, from religion to the movies. But for all its humor--and I challenge any reader not to laugh aloud at some of the situations, like Lyle's encounter with the heterosexual couple who produce porn. Yet this novel is also very poignant, moving, especially at the last. The ending is wrenching and as lyrical as the song "Amazing Grace," which winds throughout the novel. There's an addiitonal bonus. The novel is illustrated with beautiful drawings heading every exciting chapter. I would recommend this book to anyone. It's a great winner.
Rating: 5
Summary: A LEGENDARY AUTHOR ADDS TO HIS LEGEND
Comment: john rechy is a cultural touchstone and a literary marvel. this book is a picaresque novel that he loosely based on tom jones --i hate to say this but it is better than fielding! (both helen and henry). rechy's range is astonishing -- he is sexual and cerebral, melancholy and hilarious, all at once. he is a living treasure, and i wouldn't be surprised if this one's up for all the awards next year. i think it may be his finest book to date. if you're not hip to rechy (you would have had to have been under a pretty big rock), GO OUT AND BUY THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW! you'll have a helluva good time, not just with monitoring the narrative, but with rechy's mastery of the medium of fiction.
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Title: Lives of the Circus Animals : A Novel by Christopher Bram ISBN: 0060542535 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Outlaw: John Rechy by Charles Casillo ISBN: 1555837344 Publisher: Alyson Pubns Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Fanny: A Fiction by Edmund White ISBN: 0060004843 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 07 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Bodies and Souls by John Rechy ISBN: 0802138462 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 07 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Gay Blades by Ben Tyler ISBN: 075820017X Publisher: Kensington Pub Corp Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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