Harold's End

Rating:
Summary: Wrenches like a meat hook; hopeful
Review: "Harold's End" is brilliant: its story wrenches like a meat hook, the language imbeds itself like a great song, and Cherry Hood's watercolor illustrations literally take your breath away. Perhaps the best part, though, is that JT LeRoy imbues the protagonist, Oliver, with a heart and with hope. Gorgeous and unforgettable.

Rating:
Summary: With my hand on my heart it's not the best
Review: Hype and praise breed expectation. I am unsatisfied. I am left scratching my head as to how this novella got published. Not nearly as strong as the stories in THE HEART IS DECITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS. The only redemption is the snail. Cute, clever. The rest is cliche after cliche. Street kids, heroin, dirty old men with bizarre fetishes. Been there, read that.

Rating:
Summary: Did we read the same book?
Review: I emphatically do not agree with Krush's review. JT LeRoy's beauty lies in taking scenes and situations to which many may not relate and describing them so one sees redemption and hope above all. All of this with language so devastatingly beautiful and analogies so spot on that I had to put the book down several times so as to absorb, then savor it. Illustrations by Cherry Hood are as arresting as the prose. Both combined create a world that is hard to shake after the covers have been closed. This writer has a singular voice and I encourage anyone who values an artist that paints with words to treat his or herself to this book. You won't be sorry.



Rating:
Summary: Of oysters and Snails
Review: I like Harold's End, especially the stunning illustrations by Cherry Hood, but I wanted to like it more. It's the story of a youthful hustler befriended by a john who gives him an unusual pet, a snail, the Harold of the title. The final showdown with a hotel desk clerk is probably the book's finest moment, but it helps to know that Oliver, the hustler, is probably oblivious to the pummeling he's given--he's endured far worse in life. In this case, Oliver's too focused on trying to shelter the mollusk in his palm to register the beating. Perhaps there's something happening on a Freudian level here: I can't help but think of Sir Lawrence Olivier's words to slave Tony Curtis in Spartacus on taste in the matter of oysters and snails. The book has a fragmentary feel, as if it were left over from one of the earlier works, The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things or Sarah, either one of which is a far richer, and much more deeply affecting, reading experience. Well, it is a short story, er, novella, after all, granted that it's decked out like a Christmas tree (it even has a bright green ribbon to mark your place). The introduction and afterword, the acknowledgements, and the illustrations run almost as long as the text. To be fair, there is also an ample supply of the kind of richly textured prose that distinguished the earlier books, as in this passage regarding Oliver's relation to Larry, the john who gives him Harold: "Before bed I climb into the pajamas he got me, even though they're covered in dancing penguins, and I let him watch me do my balloon. And then I talk. I tell him what I tell no one until I fall asleep against him." I'm looking forward to JT's third novel, rumored to be due out later this year, which should find him back on form. In the meantime, he'll be busy, writing lyrics for his band Thistle, hanging out with buds Tatum O'Neal and Debbie Harry, and otherwise hiding his megawatt celebrity under a bushel barrel. No matter what happens with the books, the next chapter in his life should be a corker.

Rating:
Summary: An Accomplished Marriage of Text and Visuals
Review: JT LeRoy is not an unknown entity; his SARAH and THE HEART IS DECEIIFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS have garnered not only international recognition but also a following not unlike the HARRY POTTER clan. He writes about street life in an intelligent, engaging way, joining the pantheon of writers who are able to bring to light the seamy side of life and in doing so engage our empathy if not our sympathy.

HAROLD'S END is a brief story about a group of kids addicted to heroin and the streets, each of whom has a pet (dog, snake, rat) over which they may shower the love and attention missing in their own lives. All except Oliver, who not only has no pet, he has little direction beyond the next fix. Enter Larry, a dweeby older guy who befriends the street kids and finds an attraction to Oliver in particular. Offering him food and shelter, Larry soon gives Oliver a special gift - a snail in mesclun lettuce that Oliver names Harold.

In the continuum of heroin daze and the relative comfort of Larry's home in the Castro, Oliver passes his days until Larry's particular sexual proclivities change the situation. Oliver goes along with Larry's bizarre requests only to find that Larry, once satisfied, has little use for Oliver.

Back on the streets Oliver's primary drive is to protect Harold and to that end Oliver's obsession with his pet results in his undoing.

Artist Cherry Hood has created exquisitely beautiful watercolor renderings of each of the main characters and their pets and in the design of the book, these full page watercolors are placed in such a way that they not only enhance the beauty of the book, they also bring LeRoy's lost children to life. This is a very fine little art book as well as another good yarn from the pen of JT LeRoy. Grady Harp, January 2005



Rating:
Summary: A Story from the Streets
Review: Just plain beautiful. JT Leroy has created a fairy tale out of a hustler story in HAROLD'S END. Originally published in McSweeney's, HAROLD'S END is a short-short novella, set in a neighborhood of lost children who hustle for drug money and are distinguished by their elaborate pets. Oliver, the narrator, seems to be the most disturbed of the lot, rebellious and angry, even towards his fellow hustlers. He is eventually picked up by an odd customer, with a very disgusting fetish, who seems most attracted to the rebellious nature of young adults. In return, Oliver is not only paid in money, but is also given a exotic pet of his own, a snail named Harold.

The story, in its own, is quite exotic and lives only in the minute. Though I could see this becoming a full length novel, we aren't given much background and only get a slide-show of the other characters. Pretty much, you're getting a simple character portrait, rather than the wide landscape of Leroy's previous works. This would certainly explain some of the criticisms coming from the other reviewers, who were perhaps expecting this to be a more well-rounded and detailed story. But I think the true beauty of HAROLD'S END, is that in all its simplicity, you have a basic morality tale in which a character comes from nothing, is given something to take care, fails miserably and suffers the consequences. Leroy's delicate and infactuating prose compeletly supports the fairy tale aspect to his bleak landscape.

The book is also gorgeously illustrated with character portraits of the various hustlers and their animals. It is visually aestetic as it is well-written and engrossing. This is concrete proof that independent presses put out materials that rival if not surpass the literature of many mainstream publishers. I am so happy I bought this.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful, and unique work of art
Review: This book is five stars all around. The packaging, illustrations, and story are totally cohesive, and enhance the experience. The story is short and bitter-sweet: mixing a fictional story and (I assume) some of LeRoy's personal experiences. While many chose to write off LeRoy as a "shock writer", exploiting transgressive lifestyles, his works transcend what could be a major flaw. LeRoy's themes are not child prostitution and S&M, but universal themes such as the quest for love, acceptance, and happiness.
While this novella is not for the faint of heart, it is deeply intriguing and rewarding, like all of LeRoy's works.

Rating:
Summary: Lacks LeRoy's usual emotional punch.
Review: This story lacks the emotional punch that his other stories have. The storyline is fairly predictable, and it's too short for the reader to really develop a connection with any of the characters involved.

The writing is beautiful as always, and the illustrations are as well. There are wonderful moments along the way, like Oliver's misunderstanding "mesclun" for "mescaline", and the fight at the end.

While I was a bit disappointed in HAROLD'S END after reading SARAH and THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS, I'm still glad that I got this book. (Supporting small presses is a good thing!)