Doc Leroy is one of J. T. Edson's primary characters. It is possible to find him in many of Edson's books. Well defined with a lot of detail, you really feel that you know 'Doc' when you finish the book.

i read SARAH in one day and was in complete admirational love with JT Leroy by the end of it. when i found out that Leroy's only other book was one of stories, i was a bit worried. i'm not one for "stories"... i tend to want all or nothing. but i was so intrigued with Leroy's writing that i decided to try it anyway, and i am so glad i did.

THE HEART IS DECIETFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS is so beautiful, it hurts. this is emotional honesty at it's finest. the stories read like a novel, yet each is distinctive and thought-provoking in it's own right. each character pushes their way into your head like personality disorder. the good one, the bad one, the child, the whore... you'll probably need a few nights alone, a strong drink and a box of tissues to get thru this one. and if you really want to torture yourself, listen to Bright Eyes's LETTING OFF THE HAPPINESS while yr at it. it's so worth it in the end. thank you JT, i can't wait for the next one.

Labels are often times erroneous or downright misleading. What JT LeRoy has brilliantly fashioned here is a horror story. No, not a horror story like those produced by Stephen King or Clive Barker, this is a horror story in that the subject matter is absolutely horrific. This is a savage and sobering series of interrelated stories dealing with the life long abuse suffered by a little boy named Jeremiah. Torture, pure and unadulterated. Mental, physical and sexual abuse are presented in a prose style which claims your attention like a brick through the front window. This is a shocking book on a variety of levels, the least of which is the subject matter. What is most shocking is the surety with which Mr. LeRoy writes. One would think that this material would almost assuredly repell its reader. However, the opposite is true. These stories grab on like a pit bull. Once you start, you simply must finish. That these pieces lack subtlety is only fitting. We aren't meant to be coddled or reassured by a Hollywood ending. I put the book down feeling drained and helpless. These are real horror stories. People actually live like this, treat one another like this, and the rest of the world looks away. Don't look away from this punishing, absorbing and challenging new book from one of the most exciting new writers of contemporary fiction.

Leroy's metaphors ring true without exception, not merely detailing images but nailing their meaning. The pacing shows good editing and good storytelling, never dawdling except to lay out how relentless are the sequences of growing up. Leroy indulges in descriptions of ordinary things from glowing doorbells to stray dogs but he never gives in to sentimentalism.
Some of these Amazon reviewers sound like they've never read other accounts of child abuse. Writers such as Dorothy Allison in Bastard Out of Carolina and Maya Angelou in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings have confessed secrets about how children yield to abuse and have itemized the surcharges of the strength it gives them. But Leroy stands out in the completeness of his childhood perspective and in the depth of his understanding the characters around him. He's trying to impress us not with the facts, which are indeed horrible, but with their significance. The reviewer who says the character Jeremiah is always looking for love and never finding it is on target but has oversimplified the problem. Leroy asks how to untangle loving from wanting to be loved. (Which is the same identity problem that the biblical Jeremiah confronts in the verse taken for the title.) You can relate to this problem even if it hasn't taken you so far towards your fears as it has Jeremiah. Leroy has loads to tell. Buy this book.

I realized that the young author, J.T.Leroy, had totally hooked me into caring about his young hero when the boy in this story decided to leave the safety and security of the only home he'd ever known -- working as a truck stop prostitute for a genuinely caring pimp -- and wander out into the world to get his idea of a symbol of achievement, a bigger raccoon penis bone. This adventure novel grips the reader with a good story. His descriptions and dialogues are so real, it's like watching a movie. Every character is interesting and unique. With a few bold and incisive strokes, LeRoy gives us the essence of each human being. "Sarah" is a sad/funny and beautiful novel that has "Classic" on every page.

JT LeRoy received so much high acclaim that I felt I just had to buy this book.

On the cover there are quotes by well-known people who compare LeRoy to the likes of Burroughs, etc. So the standard is set very high, I think....

Consindering this publication "only" has 166 pages, it is quite something that I did not fully get into it until around page 100... And even after having finished it I am not totally sure what to think of this book - but I can recommend it nevertheless.

JT LeRoy describes life of a male teenage prostitute. He also talks about Sarah, his mother. What I liked about the book is the way it made my brains work - Sarah could be the mother, but could also be an alter ego, sort of schizophrenic. JT shows the ugly side of the prostitution trade, but at the same time makes religious comparisons, talks about a certain holiness of the business.

This book deserves 1500 plus stars. I read Sarah and was in awe of it all - the words, the story, the characters and their development, the use of language - everything that makes a story brilliant....and this book is. I could not put it down. It touches you in a way that is hard to explain. LeRoy has a way of using language so beautifully it wraps itself around your heart and mind and won't let you go. Even when i HAD to put the book down to deal with the mundane in life, I kept thinking about it and when i could get back to it. It's an incredible, wondrous truckstop fairytale - think Lewis Carroll on a fabulous acid trip in the wilds of west virginia - i've never read anything like it. This book is a big blooming rose in a field of stinkweed - DON'T pass it by - pluck this literary flower, breathe it in and be mesmerized. You will not be disappointed!!