Rating: 
Summary: One of the Most Heartfelt book i have ever read.............
Review: JT LeRoy's novel Sarah is the most sincere and heartbreakingly beautiful book i have ever read and i'm emotionally paralyzed. Sarah, is a semi-autobiographical book based heavily on Mr. Leroy himself. Sarah is the name of the protagonist's mother who by the way is a truck stop [prostitute] and doesn't want anyone to find out that she's a mother, but Sarah is also the name of the protagonist, i for one think its better than the one his kind pimp gave him "Cherry Vanilla". So here's the clincher Cherry Vanilla is this twelve year-old boy slash girl slash truck stop [prostitute] (or lizard as they are called in the book and in the south) slash saint. It may sound overwhelming but trust me Mr. Leroy is a genius he takes all these crazy characters and puts them in a burlap sack and shakes it up to make it come together into this beautiful written story. Besides everything thing that happens to Cherry Vanilla slash Sarah you can't help but think that there is something more deeper than a thirteen year-old boy slash girl turned truck stop [prostitute] and saint, but just a thirteen year old boy scared who just wants to be with his mother. To tell you the truth after reading this book it made me want to find my mother and hug her. Caution this book isn't for the weak hearted and elderly there is a lot of provocative material written in this book. But read it anyway, trust me, i never lie.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbingly funny
Review: When I picked up this book about a 12 year old truck stop whore (lot lizard) who's mother dresses up as a boy to bring in the big bucks, the last thing I expected was for it to be funny.
Boy, was I wrong!
The characters (their superstitions) and situations in this book are coffee-out-your-nose funny. While you can't wait to hear what kind of trouble the protagonist is going to get into next, on his quest to become the world's greatest lot lizard, you can't help but feel a tug on your heart strings as you realize the depth of longing this kid has for real love and family.
Rating: 
Summary: Out of the Curiosity Shop Comes a Sustained Intrigue
Review: JT LeRoy made a noisy splash on the literary scene when SARAH was published in 2000 when he was a mere 19 years old. Something of the nature of a cult was born and was encouraged by his subsequent work THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS and now HAROLD'S END. This reader read them in reverse order and perhaps that is the reason for a 4 star vs a 5 star rating.
LeRoy has talent: there is no question about his skills at writing interesting fiction. The subject matter is certainly edgy, provocative, and seems bound to ply the shock treatment of his works as the main driver. But the same has been said about many fine writers in the past who successfully grabbed the audience by the collar and demanded to be heard. Genet, Lawrence, Gide, Burroughs, Rechy, etc. come to mind. Having read the three books of his output there does seem at this point to be a sameness that one hopes will dissipate into other arenas, enough to justify his '15 minutes of fame'.
SARAH, simply, is a young boy, son of a truck stop prostitute, who has managed to survive his 'home culture' by dressing as a little girl and pandering to the lusts of his mother's tricks and of pedophilic truck drivers at truck stops in West Virginia. It is a tale of survival, of tenuous dreams misguided, of sexual promiscuity and perversion, and of the 'family' of lizards (prostitutes) and pimps who manage to exist in a squalid environment. The language is razor sharp, the characters are well drawn if at times caricatures, and LeRoy manages to gain the readers' compassion for nearly every person who populates this strange curiosity shop of living.
LeRoy is at his best when he waxes poetic and it is those passages that his latent talent feels most secure. Young writers like LeRoy are fascinating to watch, to see if the initial burst of flame is sustainable. I hope it is. Grady Harp, February 2005
Rating:
Summary: A Twisted and Delicious Fairy Tale
Review: Sarah is the edgy and engrossing tale of a cross-dressing pre-pubescent prostitute in rural West Virginia and the surreal world he/she inhabits of truck stops tricks and pimps and the meaning of family and redemption. Almost like a modern day Flannery O'Connor in the strange symbolism and religious connotations. Harrowing and hilarious and rich with an abundance of folklore as well as superb idiomatic flourishes. Wholly original.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Most Heartfelt book i have ever read.............
Review: JT LeRoy's novel Sarah is the most sincere and heartbreakingly beautiful book i have ever read and i'm emotionally paralyzed. Sarah, is a semi-autobiographical book based heavily on Mr. Leroy himself. Sarah is the name of the protagonist's mother who by the way is a truck stop [prostitute] and doesn't want anyone to find out that she's a mother, but Sarah is also the name of the protagonist, i for one think its better than the one his kind pimp gave him "Cherry Vanilla". So here's the clincher Cherry Vanilla is this twelve year-old boy slash girl slash truck stop [prostitute] (or lizard as they are called in the book and in the south) slash saint. It may sound overwhelming but trust me Mr. Leroy is a genius he takes all these crazy characters and puts them in a burlap sack and shakes it up to make it come together into this beautiful written story. Besides everything thing that happens to Cherry Vanilla slash Sarah you can't help but think that there is something more deeper than a thirteen year-old boy slash girl turned truck stop [prostitute] and saint, but just a thirteen year old boy scared who just wants to be with his mother. To tell you the truth after reading this book it made me want to find my mother and hug her. Caution this book isn't for the weak hearted and elderly there is a lot of provocative material written in this book. But read it anyway, trust me, i never lie.
Rating:
Summary: To hell with the hype! This author is amazing!
Review: There is a whole world in Sarah. Sometimes it is topsy turvy, sometimes it is whimsical, sometimes it resonates with chords I never even knew I had. Characterization so strong that I would recognize Cherry Vanilla, LeLoup, Mother Shapiro or anyone else if they stepped off the page and into a crowded room. Since then, I've tried to read everything JT LeRoy has written, be it book or article or interview. He is a genius. His ability to paint word pictures, in both Sarah and The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things is astounding. I've never read anyone who can produce such clear images in my mind's eye as this author's writing can do. His analogies and descriptions are spot on and breath taking. His innate sense of timing gives the reader the perfect emotion (humor, poignancy, introspection) at the most opportune time so that the meaning sinks deepest. His writing can lull you into thinking that you know this situation, this scenario, this setting. Then, just as you're settling into complacency, he jerks the rug out from under you with a reality that can barely be imagined. He is a singular talent. I have no doubt at all that his writing will stand the test of time and he will be the Mark Twain of this generation.
Rating: 
Summary: Oliver Twist from Hell...
Review: This is a very disturbing book. It is difficult to separate the novel from the myth of LeRoy himself. It is autobiographical fiction, but I'm not exactly sure where the autobiography ends and the fiction begins. LeRoy was a fourteen year old street-hustler whose therapist recommended he turn to writing in order to deal with his issues. He was put in touch with figures in the literary community, such as his hero, Dennis Cooper. He was first published at 16 and at 19 he wrote the novel Sarah. The book reveals a world I never knew existed (and now that I know, I'd like to forget). Apparently, there is quite a trade in child prostitution for truck drivers in West Virginia. The narrator is just one of those characters. Pre-pubescent, his mother Sarah is a prostitute and soon he (known as Cherry Vanilla) is indoctrinated as well. (This is nothing new to him as his mother's Johns have been molesting him as well.) The wrinkle is that he has to dress up to look like a girl. The story does bare a resemblance to Oliver Twist - instead of child pickpockets, they are child prostitutes. However, the drama of this story merely entails the escape from the "bad" pimp to the "good" pimp. Don't expect an overly happy ending for the book, but at least we know LeRoy's own life is turning out better. If you are interested I highly recommend viewing his homepage at www.jtleroy.com to get a better understanding of him (there is some speculation as to the veracity of his claims). LeRoy is now friends with many people in the entertainment industry and both his books are being made into movies. I was troubled with some of the cavalier blurbs on the book, as if it were a lighthearted romp. True there are funny moments but the world described is hell. I had trouble sleeping at night considering the implications of Sarah. Anyone who's seen Mystic River knows that victims of child abuse never really escape. If the author of this book really went through something like this, then the powers of human healing are truly miraculous indeed.
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