|
Lädt ... The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens (2003)54 | 1 | 480,419 |
(2.67) | Keine | "A funny, sexy, far-fetched coming-of-age story" from the award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of City of Night ( The Washington Post). John Rechy--described by Gore Vidal as "one of the few original writers of the last century"--delivers a riotous bildungsroman that pays homage to the classic eighteenth-century picaresque. Loosely inspired by Fielding's Tom Jones, The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens follows the journey of handsome Lyle Clemens as he travels through the religious fundamentalist world of Texas to the gambling palaces of Las Vegas and the enticing traps of Los Angeles's mythologies. As Lyle approaches adulthood, everyone wants him to be something he's not. His beautiful mother wants to make him into a reflection of the cowboy who abandoned her; a group of avaricious fundamentalists plot to convert him into "the Lord's Cowboy" to rouse their televangelical empire to new frenzied heights; and the lovely Maria wants him to fulfill her varying fantasies of "true love." When Lyle leaves home to make his own destiny, he encounters a gallery of charlatans and wistful souls, quirky gamblers, aging starlets, and wily pornographers. The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens is "a potent compound of both sex and rapture . . . sly, smart, sexy and laugh-out-loud funny, but it is also tinged with sorrow and ultimately elevated into the realm of magic" (The Los Angeles Times Book Review). "Ambitious and very funny . . . a tall tale, a simultaneously sweet and vicious satire of contemporary America . . . a comic tour de force and, at the same time, a truly heartfelt book." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)… (mehr) |
▾Empfehlungen von LibraryThing ▾Diskussionen (Über Links) Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. ▾Reihen und Werk-Beziehungen ▾Auszeichnungen und Ehrungen
|
Gebräuchlichster Titel |
Die Informationen stammen von der englischen "Wissenswertes"-Seite. Ändern, um den Eintrag der eigenen Sprache anzupassen. | |
|
Originaltitel |
|
Alternative Titel |
|
Ursprüngliches Erscheinungsdatum |
|
Figuren/Charaktere |
|
Wichtige Schauplätze |
|
Wichtige Ereignisse |
|
Zugehörige Filme |
|
Epigraph (Motto/Zitat) |
Die Informationen stammen von der englischen "Wissenswertes"-Seite. Ändern, um den Eintrag der eigenen Sprache anzupassen. Lyle Clemens is delivered, alive; how he came to be born. The horror at the Miss Rio Escondido Beauty Pageant recalled briefly. | |
|
Widmung |
|
Erste Worte |
Die Informationen stammen von der englischen "Wissenswertes"-Seite. Ändern, um den Eintrag der eigenen Sprache anzupassen. When Lyle Clemens was born, in Rio Escondido, Texas, in 1984, his mother quickly covered his rosy nakedness just before she fainted, either from the rigors of the birth or from her first impression of the child. | |
|
Zitate |
|
Letzte Worte |
Die Informationen stammen von der englischen "Wissenswertes"-Seite. Ändern, um den Eintrag der eigenen Sprache anzupassen. | |
|
Hinweis zur Identitätsklärung |
|
Verlagslektoren |
|
Werbezitate von |
|
Originalsprache |
|
Anerkannter DDC/MDS |
|
Anerkannter LCC |
|
▾Literaturhinweise Literaturhinweise zu diesem Werk aus externen Quellen. Wikipedia auf EnglischKeine ▾Buchbeschreibungen "A funny, sexy, far-fetched coming-of-age story" from the award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of City of Night (The Washington Post). John Rechy--described by Gore Vidal as "one of the few original writers of the last century"--delivers a riotous bildungsroman that pays homage to the classic eighteenth-century picaresque. Loosely inspired by Fielding's Tom Jones, The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens follows the journey of handsome Lyle Clemens as he travels through the religious fundamentalist world of Texas to the gambling palaces of Las Vegas and the enticing traps of Los Angeles's mythologies. As Lyle approaches adulthood, everyone wants him to be something he's not. His beautiful mother wants to make him into a reflection of the cowboy who abandoned her; a group of avaricious fundamentalists plot to convert him into "the Lord's Cowboy" to rouse their televangelical empire to new frenzied heights; and the lovely Maria wants him to fulfill her varying fantasies of "true love." When Lyle leaves home to make his own destiny, he encounters a gallery of charlatans and wistful souls, quirky gamblers, aging starlets, and wily pornographers. The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens is "a potent compound of both sex and rapture . . . sly, smart, sexy and laugh-out-loud funny, but it is also tinged with sorrow and ultimately elevated into the realm of magic" (The Los Angeles Times Book Review). "Ambitious and very funny . . . a tall tale, a simultaneously sweet and vicious satire of contemporary America . . . a comic tour de force and, at the same time, a truly heartfelt book." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) ▾Bibliotheksbeschreibungen Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. ▾Beschreibung von LibraryThing-Mitgliedern
Zusammenfassung in Haiku-Form |
|
|
Aktuelle DiskussionenKeineGoogle Books — Lädt ... Tausch (1 vorhanden, 2 gewünscht)
|
My, what I've left out! Rechy includes quite a few sub-stories, all having some kind of effect on Lyle in subtle ways -- from Sylvia's disastrous involvement with the Miss Rio Escondido Beauty Pageant to Lyle's stint with Brother Bud and Sister Sis on their televised letter campaign to a determined aging actress trying to regain the spotlight with the film sequel to Valley of the Dolls. While most of them are fun, they seem to be layered on one after the other, jumping quickly before one tale can finish. As I reader, I wasn't given enough of a chance to get into a storyline before all the characters moved onto something else. After a while, the stories begin to lose believability and seem more coincidental than necessary.
I hate to say it, but I'm not all that fond of the characters. They come across as over-the-top and one-dimensional, like characters in a telenovela. They're either good or bad, with no grey area in between to allow for growth. Lyle's almost too much of a goody-goody that he seems almost oblivious to negative situations unless they're pointed out to him. I did, however, think it a nice touch to add the character of Enrique Fielding o the mix, since the spiel on the dust jacket mentions that this story is loosely based on "The History of Tom Jones" by Henry Fielding.
"The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens" is interesting to read, but from what I've read of Rechy's other books, he's offered much better stories and characters. ( )