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Lou Grande (148 KP) rated Sarah in Books

Jun 29, 2018

Sarah

J.T. LeRoy | 2001 | Fiction & Poetry

6.5

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

There is so much wrong with this book, and not just because it features a victim of child sex trafficking as the protagonist. The story of JT LeRoy is more interesting than Sarah. LeRoy doesn't exist. The person writing these books was a white woman in her forties. However, she claimed to be someone like the character in this book: a male or intersex child prostitute raised by a drug addicted mother. The media EXPLODED over this. Garbage wrote a song about these characters ("Cherry Lips" on Beautiful Garbage); Asia Argento adapted Sarah into an unsuccessful film, and Gus Van Sant designed the cover! When it came time to make a media appearance, she hired her sister-in-law, who was kind of masculine, to portray the "character" of JT LeRoy.

Thing is, this book is basically Hogg by Samuel Delaney. He's a gay man who wrote a similar book three months before the Stonewall Riots. It's full of anger and rage, and it's more depraved and weird than anything LeRoy could conjure up. The parallels are clear: both feature underage protagonists who are largely nameless and passive, used for sexual purposes, usually at the hands of truck drivers. And Hogg is better in every way. It punches you in the face, where Sarah pulls back at the last second.

Is the story fun to read? Sure, in a sick kind of way. But the fact that it was done before, and better, and by someone who lives in the LGBT community, makes it hard for me to stomach. As it is, this feels like LGBT fanfiction.

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Caitlyn Ould (6 KP) rated Love, Simon (2018) in Movies

Jan 21, 2019

Love, Simon (2018)

2018 | Comedy, Drama, Romance

8.7

(59 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Strong LGBT representation, close to the book, cute, romantic (0 more)

Subtle changes that weren't too bad but different from the book (0 more)

Love in a good form

I loved the book that this movie is based on so, so much. It was one of the best books that I read in 2018 along with it's sequel Leah on the Offbeat. And this was one of the best movies that I saw in 2018. The acting is superb and it's so relevant to today's society and culture with the pop culture references of Harry Potter, Brendon Urie, and even a Hamilton Easter Egg which I enjoyed. It also touches your heart and has a lot of themes to do with family at the very core and learning to let people see you for who you really are

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Being Conchita: We are Unstoppable

Conchita Wurst

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Book

With the song 'Rise Like a Phoenix', Thomas Neuwirth - better known to the world as Conchita Wurst -...

Unconventional Leadership: What Henry Ford and Detroit Taught Me About Reinvention and Diversity

Nancy M. Schlichting

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Book

What does it take to lead the successful turnaround of four consecutive organizations? What does it...

Clinical Work with Substance-Abusing Clients

Shulamith Lala Ashenberg Straussner

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Book

A leading professional resource and course text, this book provides practical guidance for treating...

Jenni Olson recommended Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) in Movies (curated)

"As of this writing, it’s been nearly a year since we lost the talent and spirit of Chantal Akerman. Her 1975 breakthrough feature wowed the international film world after premiering at Cannes to a combination of raves and an audience exodus. Truly a film to return to again and again, Jeanne Dielman expands the possibilities of cinema as an art form. Its durational, physiological impact on the viewer is an absolute revelation. I first saw it on a crappy 16 mm print in college in the late 1980s and didn’t get to see it again on the big screen until the late ’90s—on 35 mm at the San Francisco LGBT Film Festival. Now I like to watch it in segments on Hulu (sort of the opposite of binge-watching) just for the shift in consciousness it induces in me after each twenty-minute chunk. Transcendent."

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