Thought she was James Dean for a day
Author : Joseph Cassara
Title : The House of Impossible Beauties
Published : 01/02/2018
Pages : 416
Genre : Historical Fiction / Queer
Publisher : Oneworld Publications
It’s 1980 in New York City, and nowhere is the city’s glamour and energy better reflected than in the burgeoning Harlem ballroom scene, where seventeen-year-old Angel first comes into her own. Burned by her traumatic past, Angel is new to the drag world, and has a yearning to help create a family for those without. When she falls in love with Hector, a beautiful young man who dreams of becoming a professional dancer, the two decide to form the House of Xtravaganza, the first-ever all-Latino house in the ballroom circuit.
Last Sunday I was doing my usual hunt for a book to read at the airport. In amongst the usual stacks of just our crime fiction and the latest books recommend by Richard and Judy was this. Now this year I have been trying to read outside my comfort zone more. The House of Impossible Beauties seem to do that, the description gave me a glimpse into a world so very far removed from my own.
Cassara writes his characters with great passion and vibrancy. They Push themselves off the page and into our world with a determination that provokes a great deal of emotion within the reader. For each of the people we get to know throughout this book we get an insight into the struggles and hardships they faced just trying to live a life that is true to them. The author managed to pull me into each of them's world and create a bond that holds strong throughout the book. While I can ever know what it was like to be a gay, transgender Latino in New York during this time period it does give the reader some insight into the world. And I think there are also some universal truths that hold their own no matter what your sexual orientation is or gender you associate your self with. With them, we follow as they search for a place to belong and a group of people to connect with and share their hopes and dreams.
As we follow Angel and her friends the story delves not only into the highs of there lives but as you would imagine it deals with some fairly deep down and dark places. From them working as prostitution in order to make a living and the abuse of drink and drugs as a coping mechanism for the choices they have made in order to live their true selves. But there's is not all a story of sadness, we get to share the loves and passions and even a few silly moments of pure happiness.With each continuing section of the book, we see the author giving us light into specific years within his characters lives. It allows the story to flow on a grand level and give these characters the space to breathe and tell there stories in the full technicolor they deserve. For me, the author brought this world to life on so many levels but I think one of the outstanding ways this shine through is in the dialogue with its snappiness and faced pacing it brings a whole lot of energy to the text.
With part of this book being set during the nineteen eighty's the topic of the AIDs virus is ever present. This is of its self is a big topic to cover. I felt the author managed to show the unease of the early days, and people not really knowing how to handle it or how bad things would become. Which in turn is reflected in later chapters when the panic started and news coverage was at its fever pitch.
Overall I think this author's first book is well deserved of the praise it's getting. This is a story of people trying to do the best they can. And in Angel, he has given us some one we can follow into the world. She is a person who wears her heart on her sleeve and does her best to take shit from no one. Be that friends or family. All in the hope that she will be accepted for the women she knows she is. So if your looking for a walk on the wild side I would recommend you give this a go. You might just want a box of tissues with you for those moments when in the darkness of the night there seems no hope for our heroine.
Cassara writes his characters with great passion and vibrancy. They Push themselves off the page and into our world with a determination that provokes a great deal of emotion within the reader. For each of the people we get to know throughout this book we get an insight into the struggles and hardships they faced just trying to live a life that is true to them. The author managed to pull me into each of them's world and create a bond that holds strong throughout the book. While I can ever know what it was like to be a gay, transgender Latino in New York during this time period it does give the reader some insight into the world. And I think there are also some universal truths that hold their own no matter what your sexual orientation is or gender you associate your self with. With them, we follow as they search for a place to belong and a group of people to connect with and share their hopes and dreams.
As we follow Angel and her friends the story delves not only into the highs of there lives but as you would imagine it deals with some fairly deep down and dark places. From them working as prostitution in order to make a living and the abuse of drink and drugs as a coping mechanism for the choices they have made in order to live their true selves. But there's is not all a story of sadness, we get to share the loves and passions and even a few silly moments of pure happiness.With each continuing section of the book, we see the author giving us light into specific years within his characters lives. It allows the story to flow on a grand level and give these characters the space to breathe and tell there stories in the full technicolor they deserve. For me, the author brought this world to life on so many levels but I think one of the outstanding ways this shine through is in the dialogue with its snappiness and faced pacing it brings a whole lot of energy to the text.
With part of this book being set during the nineteen eighty's the topic of the AIDs virus is ever present. This is of its self is a big topic to cover. I felt the author managed to show the unease of the early days, and people not really knowing how to handle it or how bad things would become. Which in turn is reflected in later chapters when the panic started and news coverage was at its fever pitch.
Overall I think this author's first book is well deserved of the praise it's getting. This is a story of people trying to do the best they can. And in Angel, he has given us some one we can follow into the world. She is a person who wears her heart on her sleeve and does her best to take shit from no one. Be that friends or family. All in the hope that she will be accepted for the women she knows she is. So if your looking for a walk on the wild side I would recommend you give this a go. You might just want a box of tissues with you for those moments when in the darkness of the night there seems no hope for our heroine.
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