Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy By Savannah Knoop

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Kristen Stewart (as JT) and Laura Dern.

The JT LeRoy scandal is a story of our times. In January 2006, the New York Times unmasked Savannah Knoop as the face of the mysterious author JT LeRoy. A media frenzy ensued as JT's fans, mentors, and readers came to terms with the fact that the gay-male-ex-truck-stop-prostitute-turned literary-wunderkind was really a girl from San Francisco, whose sister-in-law wrote the books.
Girl Boy Girl is the story of how Savannah Knoop led this bizarre double life for six years, trading a precarious existence as a college dropout for a life in which she was embraced by celebrities and artists--Carrie Fisher, Courtney Love, Mary Ellen Mark, Winona Ryder, Asia Argento, Sharon Olds, Gus Van Sant, Mike Pitt, Calvin Klein, and Shirley Manson, to name a few--and traveled the world. Telling her side of the story for the first time, Savannah reveals how being perceived as a boy gave her a sense of confidence and entitlement she never had before. Her love affair with Asia Argento is particularly wrenching, as they embark on an intimate relationship that causes more alienation than closeness.
As Savannah and Laura struggle over control of the JT character, Savannah realizes the limits of the game - - and inadvertently finds herself through the adventure of being someone else. Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy

Savannah Knoop Ò 3 characters

I couldn't even finish it. Not only did I feel deceived the entire time, but Savannah Knoop takes no personal responsibility and is a terrible writer. The book was flat out boring. Maybe if her sister-in-law had written it... Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy ¿Sabéis eso de que la realidad siempre supera a la ficción? Pues este libro encarna a la perfección ese dicho. Yo no tenía ni idea de que esta fascinante historia hubiese ocurrido realmente (de verdad, repito, la realidad supera la ficción....

A finales de los noventa, un escritor nuevo comenzó a causar sensación en la escena literaria norteamericana. Uno de los motivos de ese furor, es que nadie sabía quién era exactamente. Recibió apoyo de famosos y conocidos (Carrie Fisher, Bono, Courtney Love, Asia Argento...) haciendo lecturas de sus libros.

La historia del autor no es nada fácil. Fue criado por una madre prostituta y drogadicta en un apeadero de caminos en el sur de Estados Unidos. Cambió de sexo y fue considerado un escritor maldito por todas las desgracias que le habían rodeado a lo largo de su vida. Como es lógico, en este mundo tan morboso, la historia de J.T Leroy fue el centro de los focos pero, finalmente, la verdad salió a la luz: todo había sido un engaño. J.T Leroy nunca había existido. Durante seis años, Savannah Knoop acudió a festivales literarios y se codeó con las celebrities haciéndose pasar por él. ¿Cómo te quedas? Muerta y matá.

Pero todo va más allá: Savannah Knoop se hizo pasar por el atormentado escritor J.T Leroy porque su cuñada en aquel momento, Laura Albert, se lo pidió. ¿Y quién era ella? Pues la autora de las novelas del autor. Un relato digno de película que, si no estoy mal informada, ya existe o la van a rodar.

Chica, chico, chica es el relato de la propia Savannah Knoop en el que narra las vivencias e historias que le sucedieron haciéndose pasar por J.T Leroy casi a tiempo completo durante años. Si me paro a pensarlo, no sé cómo no llegó a sufrir alguna crisis de identidad o alguna enfermedad mental (puede que ya la trajese de casa...).

Me he encantado esta lectura. Entretenida, adictiva y cuidada. Se nota la edición de Alpha Decay que siempre es un acierto.

Gracias a la editorial por esta colaboración. Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy Quite frankly, this is a loathsome book about loathsome people without remorse or redeeming qualities. Knopp writes about her actions as though they were done to her, but that’s hardly the case. Knopp’s abusive behaviour and lies are the foundation of this book and it reads like sad, sick exploitation theatre. She degrades the most vulnerable people’s experiences by posing as this mountain of lies. Would give it zero stars if I could. Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy Man, y'know, I thought I was interested. I liked the JT Leroy fiasco! I was in a weird place when I read those books, though, and I'm terrified to go back and re-read them 'cause they might be totally stupid. (Though I totally don't care about policing authenticity in authorship. Have we forgotten the structuralists so soon, just because structuralism doesn't really work?)

So yeah. I thought this would be interesting, so I read the first chapter or two. Early on there's a bit where she and Asia Argento walk by a park and she sees the authentic realness in the eyes of the hustlers and 'trannys' (PUKE PUKE PUKE) and feels jealous. Oddly, it ended up sitting in my bag for a week after that and I couldn't muster the interest to keep reading.

Oh well, whatever. I'm not gonna give it a revengeatory one-star, 'cause I barely got twenty pages into it, but I will give it an enormous 'whatever.' Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy I seem to be the only one who enjoyed this memoir. That's a shame, because even if it's not exactly the most linear in terms of how the whole JT Leroy debacle came up, it's still a peek into her head on how she was taken for the ride of her life.

Give the book a chance, guys. Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy

Jesus F. Christ, you gotta give this woman credit for sheer audacity. I'm not sure what's more stomach wrenching--her shamelessly taking on the poor junkie hustler boy persona or the dozens of lame-ass gliterati who needed to celebrate one to make their own miserable rich fuck lives more meaningful.

And you know what? There's plenty of real street kids writing real stories everyday. Check out Roaddawgs magazine out of SF's Tenderloin for the real deal. Think these kids are gonna have Carrie Fisher wanting to pay their bills? Nope. Think any publisher is going to take a risk on them in the wake of hurricane JT? I don't think so.

Once upon a time, if a middle-class person wanted to write a story about poor folks, they did so and had the honesty to call it fiction, not memoir. Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy The story of J.T. LeRoy is long and complex and is not chronicled within the pages of this book. It's her side of the story and her side only.

Having read a J.T. LeRoy book, I was a little curious about the scandal that erupted. After reading this book I could care less. It might have been a scandal, but it was only scandalous to the artsy-fartsy-protectors of-all-things-sacred in-the-art-world crowd. the real world could care less.

The only redeeming thing about this book was when Carrie Fisher shows up. Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy Laura Albert is a literary genius. Her nom de plume (JT Leroy) scandal rocked certain peoples' worlds apart. This memoir is written by her ex-sister-in-law who played JT Leroy in public. JT Leroy was Laura Albert's nom de plume. I loved reading about Savannah-as-JT's love affair with Asia Argento, the Hollywood travels and tales, and the debut of the Asia Argento film which was adpated from a JT book at Cannes. Ultimately, this is Laura's Story, and Savannah's version only seems like a tiny part. I can't wait to read more by Laura Albert and hear her side of everything. Also, Savannah was sort of awful to Albert when she could have been amazing. The ending just sort of trailed off, and left a lot of info out. Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy Books like these are why I never seem to have the time to read the classics. The time I've wasted reading and watching movies based on non fiction that turns out to be pure fiction. (I'm looking at you, James Frey.)
I am fascinated by autobiographical books that are outed as fakes. Burns my butter to see them still in the Non-fiction section of the library after all this time though....
Anyway, the story behind this story isn't too interesting. Yeah, she got to meet famous people while posing as JT, got to travel a lot, etc. The tale got bogged down by bad writing (even though I expected this) and pages and pages about her conflicted feelings of her love life and self harming that had nothing to do with the JT LeRoy experience. She made her audience into her therapist and I don't think I take her insurance. Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy I found this book to be very brave and interesting. I know that a lot of people are really critical of her motives for writing it, but I really don't see any of those behind what she conveys in the book. I know that people say she just misses the fame, etc., but I think she would be the first to admit it that, yes, she does mourn not having this anymore. In fact, she often mourned this when she was still living as JT Leroy and herself. I think it's very interesting how she brings up how much easier things are when you're a wunderkind/child wonder boy than if you were a girl. This is something that I often thought about after the whole LeRoy debocle cleared a bit. She shows how trite and double-standard life is when you're a celebrated young boy than just some girl. She also managed to depict people very clearly as they really probably acted without being exploitive or vulgar. When people were good, they were good, when they were grotesque they were grotesque, but nothing relyed on sensationalism. I was prepared to come away from this book being utterly annoyed by Laura Albert but found her to be a very complex and damaged human being who sincerely believed in what she was doing as an outlet for her art. At one point she is quoted as saying in regards to how often she was snubbed as a child for her talents *she wasn't a pretty little girl or a good little girl who people paid attention to* I realized I would always have to work double time.

I found this book to be a fascinating account of the dubious nature of hype, celebrity, and gender. About the longing for validation, about success, vanity, and self-loathing. Who among us has never wanted to be someone else, if not just for one brief moment? Who of us would turn down an opportunity to check out of our boring lives (at least for a moment) and live one filled with jet-setting, success, money, fame and glamour? If you want to know what actually living this fantasy would be like as well as all the ways fame and identity and lies can hurt not only the victims, but also the criminals, go read this. It's written from a true place. Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy