The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

The extraordinary stories that brought the author a cult following at the age of sixteen.

These are the stories of a young boy on the run, away from his past, hellbent towards an unknown future. Connected, they form a sometimes harrowing, sometimes bleakly funny, and often tender portrait of a complicated life. Like a modern-day Voltaire, LeRoy bounces his characters from adventure to adventure, each of them unyielding in the belief that the best of all possible worlds lies just around the next corner. Fresh, raw, and absolutely unforgettable, The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things has further established the acclaimed author of Sarah as one of the most compelling voices in contemporary fiction.

I read about the Jeremiah Terminator scam shortly after I read this novel, and months after reading "Sarah". Yes, I was really dismayed. Not because I think the real author did a disservice to the AIDS community or real-life sex abuse victims with a bunch of utter lies, but because this particular kid with his particular agonies and fascinating pathos never existed! How many readers ached to meet this kid? He was adored in some celebrity circles, and I doubt that all of his fans decided the book was total crap once the truth got out. I opened "The Heart..." and could barely put it down till the end! The subject matter was so dark and twisted. I am Christian, but was thoroughly creeped out by Jeremiah's fundamentalist grandparents. I cannot identify with child abuse, but I was so saddened by the damage delivered by his mental mother and her string of hopeless cruel boyfriends. And I have always been D/S, and the book's final chapter (in which Jeremiah's acts were consentual, so don't judge me on this) gave me the worst terribly sweet stomachache and left compelling mental images that lasted for days. I enjoy reading books that range from the spiritually uplifting to the dismal and psychotic; I think it's good to get perspective on how very different people live even if the stories depress or offend. "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" is one of my favorites.

I bought this book a few weeks ago despite the copious amount of bad reviews I read. And I read it with an unbiased mentality.

It was amazing. It plunges the reader into a world that is so violent and uncomfortable that you almost can't take it...and then you realize that this story is real for people all over the world.

I don't care about the fake author. I care about the words on the page; this is what truly matters. Like it or not, this book is great.

When I found out that the author was a sham, I was saddened. There is just too much of this going on today. Why couldn't this book have been written as a novel rather than a memoir?

The writing is brilliant, disturbing and provocative. The story is told in connected, autobiographical vignettes that show us in lyrical horror the compulsion to re-enact child abuse and re-enter the past script from the child's perspective. We see the victim's reality twisting, his perception skewed, as he compels his abuser to act. At once terrifying and poignant, this androgynous child lives to parent the parent, a psychotic drug-addicted prostitute who slowly strips her child of self-worth. The child's sense of individuation is lost and redemption is found only through receiving more pain.

I am sad that the author is a fake and the story is untrue. However, this does not minimize the power of this book and the beauty of the writing. I can't understand why in the world the book was not presented as a novel. I believe it would have been more successful and would have not alienated readers.

How can I be the only person alive not to know that J T LeRoy is a fake? I just bought the movie and cried all the way to the end where, they even interview this poor soul. He wants to hide, he acts very weird like someone that's been totally abused in every way possible his whole life. All of Hollywood's A-listers love and Cherish him, They support him so lovingly! He's not real? He's a middle aged housewife in NY?

I really can't believe it took me this long to find out! I'm so disgusted with my self. Laura Albert, May you burn in hell! The disservice you've done to abused children everywhere makes me sick! You should be ashamed!

I still haven't finished reading this a year later.
since finding out the author made up most of it, or all of it.
she's some housewife in New Jersey, which takes my interest away.
If it were a true-life account of a kids life I'd have already read the whole book.

The movie was pretty good though.