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Successful "teenage" author JT Leroy unmasked as a fraud
Filed under: Media
A few years ago a young man named JT Leroy appeared on the New York literary scene with a successful short novel
called Sarah he claimed was written when he was 16. The book was about the life of a teenage male truckstop
prostitute and his mother, purportedly based on Leroy's own life as a truck stop prostitute. The young author was feted
in literary circles and his story of "triumph over adversity" was championed by celebrities like Billy Corgan,
Courtney Love, and even Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher). I even once read a gushy interview by Leroy of child star Tatum
O'Neal (Paper Moon and Bad News Bears) where they commiserated about childhood stardom.
Well, the truth is Leroy wasn't a teenager at all when he wrote his celebrated books. Turns out there is no such person as JT Leroy; a couple of unfulfilled rock musicians/writers concocted the character of JT Leroy to gain access first to literary circles and, later, to celebrities. They managed to keep the ruse alive for about nine years, until today, when the New York Times officially unmasked Leroy as a fraud. He's the Milli Vanilli of the New York publishing world!
My wife read Sarah and I read the first few pages. I thought it sucked, and I figured it had only gotten the attention because the author was a kid with an interesting story. Now, it's just a book that sucks, with only an interesting story of fraud and deception keeping it from floundering into irrelevancy.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
7-02-2006 @ 2:45AM
pho soup said...Everyone's up in arms about JT Leroy being a fraud, telling how much the books sucked. Where the @#$% were you guys before the outting took place? It isn't great literature, but still a very good read.....When was the last time you had a best seller? I think you're just jealous cuz you didn't think of it first :-0
Reply
7-02-2006 @ 2:46AM
pho soup said...Everyone's up in arms about JT Leroy being a fraud, telling how much the books sucked. Where the @#$% were you guys before the outting took place? It isn't great literature, but still a very good read.....When was the last time you had a best seller? I think you're just jealous cuz you didn't think of it first :-0
Reply