The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

I'm reading The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things by JT LeRoy. It's blowing my mind, just the directness of the prose * Bono Vox (U2) * Good Lord, what a book! JT LeRoy's writing is savagely authentic and appallingly beautiful. They don't make 'em like this anymore. Christ, he's good. He's a born writer * John Waters, writer/director of Pink Flamingos * One of the most honest and distinctive voices in American fiction * Nan Goldin * JT's stories are like stitches, like exit wounds, dispatches, depositions. He is the brilliant, gifted, and profound fly on the wall * Tom Waits * a genuinely authoritative voice ... truly remarkable * Booklist * JT Leroy has succeeded in writing the perfect novel * Shirley Manson (Garbage) * JT LeRoy's first two books, Sarah and The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, will prove to be among the most influential books of the last ten years. This is not because they are read and understood by everyone; it's because they are read and loved, rabidly, by thousands of young and very sensitive people who believe that JT speaks for them. He does speak for them, and does so without knowing that he does, and does so with a perfect and bizarre eloquence * Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius * [The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things] is a fascinating book, a book that instantly stirs the emotions and involves the readers in the lives of the people. It did not take long for the judgments to come fast and furious. That's what can be so deceitful about this book: you get so caught up in the circumstances and lives of the people you can easily overlook the quality of the writing, which is exceptional. One of the reasons this book is so powerful and effective is because it is beautifully structured and written. JT LeRoy should have a most remarkable future as a writer * Hubert Selby, Jr., author of Last Exit to Brooklyn * An eyewitness's imagination burns in his language ... as vivid as a match held close to the face * New York Times * A startling achievement * Publishers Weekly *

JT LeRoy is the literary persona created by Laura Albert. She is the author of Sarah, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, and Harold's End