The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (edit title)

• Rated 5 stars

“Absolutely wonderful!!!”

• Rated 3 stars

“The movie was an interesting take on the book. The flow and storyline of the book could get a little confusing. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“I have not seen the movie, and I am aware that JT Leroy is an invented persona. I still like this book. I am fascinated that the woman who wrote this was ballsy enough to lie, and follow through the lie enough to get her sister-in-law to pose as abused child turned writer JT. She seems like an interesting character herself and should probably write an actual memoir someday.

I am not sure why she didn't just write it as a novel to begin with, but if she had it wouldn't have gotten the publicity it has now. I've read much more shocking stories that are true and I am just glad that this didn't actually happen to a child. ”

• Rated 3 stars

“One of those books that makes me realize how lucky I am to have had the disfuctional childhood that I did have and not a nightmareish one. Great storytelling with vivid recollections and detailed insights into darks worlds one could not imagine. ”

• Rated 0 stars

“J.T. Leroy is not real. Somehow, I think that makes this BETTER. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“This book is a sequal to LeRoy's novel Sarah.

This novel, tells the tale of Sarahs' son Jeremiah who is unexpectedly taken from his (adoptive) parents by Sarah and has to adopt her rebelious lot-lizard lifestyle.

Sarah almost appears tame by comparison to this novel in that, Sarah is the tip of the iceberg where as Jeremiah's experience dives head-first into the barbarity of their lifestyle.

The scenes dealing with Sarah's strict Christian parents are just chilling yet, the characters names and certain scenes brought a smirk to my face in their Old Testament references.

If you like LeRoy, may I introduce you to Dennis Cooper. They are a bit different in their styles yet, they are both heavy hitters in the 'transgressive fiction' scene.”

• Rated 4 stars

“Shock. Fear. Anger mostly. I can't decide if it's a good thing or bad thing that this is a fictional story. As a 16 year old, I can't imagine writing something so disturbing and horrible. Obviously it's a book that needs to be taught and learned from, but what lessons I don't know. It's eye opening and so disturbing I couldn't read more than a couple pages at a time. The words were more powerful than the movie. Unlike other films that were based on books, it followed the storyline very closely and accurately.
I don't think I could read this again.”

• Rated 5 stars

“Very few writers can turn a subject matter so grim and sleazy, involving minors, into a deep, audicious modern fairytale, enriched with so much colour and spark.”

• Rated 5 stars

“It doesn't matter that there is no "real" JT Leroy with the fascinatingly disturbing background. I don't care if a group of monkeys wrote this book: the point is that someone did, and it is one of the most emotionally gripping books I've ever read. After reading this book, I really tried to look at people differently. Even if someone is a bastard, they might have grown up like the protagonist in this book.”

• Rated 5 stars

“I don't care if J.T. Leroy doesn't exist after all.... the chapter called "Coal" made me cry and cry. LOVE THIS BOOK.”