New books: by Austen Burroughs and J.T. LeRoy
Austen Burroughs published "Running with Scissors" and a sequel, "Dry." The first book is a memoir of a wildly bizarre childhood that included explicitly described sexual abuse, starting when he was 13, by his adopted father's stepson, age 30. "Running" reads as comic farce, which I found exasperating and disturbing. In the sequel, "Dry," he is 24 years old and a serious alcoholic with serious relationship problems.
J.T. LeRoy's two books, "Sarah" and "The Heart is Deceitful above All Things" chronicles a horrendous childhood and adolescence which featured almost satanicphysical and pyschological abuse as well as sexual abuse from a very early age.
Both authors, apparently gay, do not seem to see themselves as survivors so much as heroic travelers through the underbelly of life.
A movie is being made of "Heart" and should make Mystic River look like "Mary Poppins."
I, though, was upset by the reception these books have had: as if the protagonist-authors have somehow escaped into adulthood and shed all remaining evidence of trauma.
Has anyone read these books? Beware, they can be very triggering.
J.T. LeRoy's two books, "Sarah" and "The Heart is Deceitful above All Things" chronicles a horrendous childhood and adolescence which featured almost satanicphysical and pyschological abuse as well as sexual abuse from a very early age.
Both authors, apparently gay, do not seem to see themselves as survivors so much as heroic travelers through the underbelly of life.
A movie is being made of "Heart" and should make Mystic River look like "Mary Poppins."
I, though, was upset by the reception these books have had: as if the protagonist-authors have somehow escaped into adulthood and shed all remaining evidence of trauma.
Has anyone read these books? Beware, they can be very triggering.