If you are looking for another book about a queer teen-ager's relationship with his eccentrically grandiose mother, Robert Leleux's The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy may be for you. Mr. Leleux is a skillful writer; he carefully renders his fabulously be-wigged mother and the tiny Texas town he inhabits with her. His writing style is breezy and easy to read--frequently amusing, occasionally humorous. Such as when he describes his realization of his own gayness as "...kind of like those movies where a young person is suddenly told she's a member of the Russian aristocracy and in response asks: 'Is that why we have all those samovars in the garage?'"
The story isn't particularly compelling: boy meets boy. And it's a g-rated production; sex isn't described at all in the book. This is an unfortunate choice, because the reader is deprived of important information. Such as: Does the narrator have oral or anal sex with his partner? Do they use condoms? Do they get HIV tests at any point? None of these questions are answered in the book. So why the self-censorship? Afterall, this is literature, not an episode of Will and Grace. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that Mr. Leleux chose to label this as memoir. And the characters in the story are (apparently) all still alive. But the reason this is unfortunate goes beyond mere reader curiosity, because here Mr. Leleux misses a vital opportunity to illuminate his own character. For a memoir this is not a particularly introspective book. Ironically, the least developed character is the narrator. And that's part of the reason of the reason the emotional climax is ineffective.
Although I can't recommend this title, I believe Mr. Leleux is a queer writer to watch. If his next book is fiction, it might just be great.
The story isn't particularly compelling: boy meets boy. And it's a g-rated production; sex isn't described at all in the book. This is an unfortunate choice, because the reader is deprived of important information. Such as: Does the narrator have oral or anal sex with his partner? Do they use condoms? Do they get HIV tests at any point? None of these questions are answered in the book. So why the self-censorship? Afterall, this is literature, not an episode of Will and Grace. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that Mr. Leleux chose to label this as memoir. And the characters in the story are (apparently) all still alive. But the reason this is unfortunate goes beyond mere reader curiosity, because here Mr. Leleux misses a vital opportunity to illuminate his own character. For a memoir this is not a particularly introspective book. Ironically, the least developed character is the narrator. And that's part of the reason of the reason the emotional climax is ineffective.
Although I can't recommend this title, I believe Mr. Leleux is a queer writer to watch. If his next book is fiction, it might just be great.
Robert Leleux's
Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy
is published by Saint Martin's.
