Rating: 
Summary: Exactly what I told JT (the author)
Review: I just finished reading Sarah and wanted to let you know I really liked it. I think you did a great job with Sarah's voice, it rings true on every page. And your descriptive powers are marvelous. Your descriptions are rich and dense and lent a feeling of authenticity to the story. Sarah is there and the reader is brought along for the ride. The story arc is believable, sad but believable. There is a refreshing honesty to every page, the same as I saw in your short fiction. You suggest violence very well, without ever going over the top. I loved the elements of the raccoon bone and the black snake, you made them real for me. The story is sad but rings true. It was sad to see that Sarah couldn't go back and work for Glad as if nothing had happened. It was uplifting in that s/he got away from Le Loup though. It left me feeling thoughtful, kind of quiet. But that's how I am with anything that makes me think and gives me an experience worth dwelling on. And it was an experience. Thank you. You have a truly unique voice and your writing is spectacular --especially considering you're only 21. I admire what you've accomplished and hope that you are able to take some pride in having written such an effective, engrossing novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Most dissapointing book I've read all year!
Review: I don't know what my fellow reviewers have been reading that caused them to give this book such glowing reviews, but their comments prompted me to purchase this book, a decision I regret! I found the characters (caricatures?) in this story so one-dimensional that I was reminded of those in silent films. Good, guy, bad guy, poor little Nell. Their motivations often seemed pointless, as did many of the plot developments. The author's attempt to utilize the juxtaposition between the squalor of the setting with the "haute cuisine" menu of the truck stop, did little to affect the sense of surrealism he was attempting. I thought the books subject (stolen moments of tenderness between hard-bitten, latent homosexual truckers and their counterparts; emotionally needy, socially repressed boys) was an interesting one, deserving further exploration by a more capable writer. If that is what you are seeking, look elsewhere.
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Summary: A wild adventure
Review: LeRoy's inventive story of a young boy who wants to become a lot lizard (whore of a sort) like his mother is quite worth devouring. The boy calls himself by his mother's name, Sarah, and begins working like his mother, but runs away to become a better lizard. He falls in with a wrong crowd, and is mistaken for a saint, which becomes his downfall when the deranged pimp discovers 'she' is really a 'he'. Sarah is eventually rescued by his first pimp (a real gem called Glad). LeRoy's exciting rhythms and talents with words and pacing are certain to draw the reader to continue. It's a wonderful beginning for a young writer. It's certainly one of the most memorable books of the year, but it won't make my top ten for the year. Well worth reading, don't mistake me. I just don't feel as strongly for this book as others do.
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Summary: Haunted by this tale
Review: I went out and bought Sarah not thinking it could live up to the massive press I've been reading about it. And I was FOR ONCE quite nicely surprised! The book is the best piece I've read in sometime. And the questions of who or how JT LeRoy wrote it are of interest, ultimately what matters is this is a book that took me on a journey I LIVED as I read and as reviewers said, feel quite haunted by. Now, what do I do with the desire to read more, to not have the adventure end? Maybe that is the need to know JT, so I can understand some of the miracle that has occurred in these mind-blowing pages. Thanks for the book tip, wish I could forget it.
Rating: 
Summary: What's a Lot-Lizard?
Review: Here's the story of Sarah's son who wants to be just as famous as his mother. Sarah is a Lot-Lizard (a truck-stop whore). All the whores at this truck-stop are ruled by a pimp called Glad. He's a decent guy and treats his whore's well, looking out for their best interest. Sarah's son, an androgynous 12 year old boy who dresses as a girl, leaves his mother, and the safety of her nest, to venture out on his own to become more famous and well-known than his mother. This is where Sarah's adventure really begins. This story is way-out there somewhere! I never read anything like it. It is a strange little story, easy to read in one sitting. Its funny at times, but sad, and deeply disturbing at other times. I can guarantee you, you won't want to put it down, because it is so interesting. It's a great book from a clever writer, who will have to go a long way to top this debut novel. J.T. we're waiting!
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Summary: BUY IT READIT LOVEIT!
Review: Raw, gritty, dirty, loving ... He is not looking for sympathy. Just asking you to taste, smell and see this alien world of Appalachian truck stop cuisine! What's on the menu? A bitter stew of unsavory characters and a buffet of young, endearing cross-dressing boys aiming to please every tired truckers demented desires. With a touch and a sprinkle of Southern magic and lore. This book and its characters exist in the fringe. Do you like your sensibilities challenged? Do you like taking a hot humid stroll out of your comfort zone? Then you'll like this book. You'll probably want to take the main character home with you ... give him a bath, a nice hot dinner and read him a bed-time story! He's so loveable you'll want to embrace him and give him a good home!
Rating:
Summary: Sordid yet boring
Review: I picked up this book based on all the 5-star reviews and found I couldn't get past page 40. Ok, maybe I didn't give it a chance (although everyone else seems to be hooked by page 1). I found the subject matter (boygirls doing tricks for truckers) depressing and the writing uninspired.
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Summary: What a Revelation...
Review: While visiting a book store last night, I came across an interesting-look book which came to be SARAH. I sat down to read and got hooked from the first word. Read the entire book in one sitting, along with 5 refills of coffee. I walked out of the store totally in awe and the world looked different. SARAH is a beautiful, unsettling, and hilarious journey that will leave you haunted. The characters are absolutely unforgettable and they will stay with you eternally. I returned to the store and bought the entire stock of SARAH to give away to my friends, relatives, professors, and lovers. Don't wait til the book comes out in paperback...get it today. Your money will not be wasted... SARAH is pure art.
Rating:
Summary: True and Beautiful
Review: Anyone who has ever struggled with what's deep inside his, or her heart, will relate to the courageous hero of sarah. The author has a gift for description that evokes amazing images in the reader's mind, where he creates an entire world, defines it, populates it, and colors it in so precisely that you can see and smell and feel what's happening. The characters in this story have entered my heart and remain there. The writing is beautiful, real, and painfully true. I am recommending sarah to everybody I know, at least the ones with good taste in books.
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Summary: Nothing like a little Appalachian humor to make your day!
Review: I was prepared for a really sad book, which I am not into right now... but then I read Mary Gaitskill's comments in which she writes about how funny this book is, and I am a huge Gaitskill fan as well. She was right! While the book is very intense and touching, etc, the heart of it is humorous! It is awe inspiring to me when a writer can hit that rare combo of poignant, profound and HUMOR! The bad part is, the book is too short. I finished the book too fast. Now what? I am left CRAVING MORE!
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