AmosL
10-17-2006, 08:36 PM
Lee, Matty. “35 Cents”. Suspect Thoughts Press, 2006.
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
As I said in a previous review I posted this week, prison has always held a special place in the minds of gay men—that all male world of sensuousness replete with gang rapes and lots of male only activities. Let me clarify that statement----the fantasies of gay men include thoughts of prison and those hot writhing bodies engaged in man sex has always fueled the minds of gay men. But of course fantasizing about prison is just that---no one really wants to go there but it does provide stimuli for erotic dreams. “35 Cents” is the tale of a young white boy who made his way through life hustling and ending up in juvenile detention. It is not a pretty story but it is a read that is not easily forgotten.
Matthew began turning tricks at 13. He had a lousy home life and he just did not seem to care about very much. The abuse and terrible home life he encountered led him to rent out his body; in fact, his first trick got him for only 35 cents. I bet you are thinking that this book sounds somewhat sordid. IT IS and I loved it. All of us love fantasy and like I have said many times, there is something about an all male environment that makes for really good fantasies. But as sordid as it, there is great warmth, wit and humor in the novel. Somehow Matthew manages to turn the tables on what is abusive to others and allow those very abuses to be the things that save his life. He had been unloved and he tells how gay men taught him what love is. Now what you must understand is that Matthew is basically straight and is based upon Lee’s own experiences.
Lee’s writing his crystal clear and honest to the point that it reads somewhat painfully. He says he wrote this book because he was tired of hearing people complain about how the past made the present unbearable, how present failures have been blamed on the past. The message that I got was that as bad as the past may be, the future can be that much better.
Lee writes about an “underground culture” which once was but now seems to have risen from the underground to be a part of the way we live now. There still is something of an underground but it is not what it was—the values may still be there but the mainstream has adopted what so many refer to as underground.
This is not a gay book per se. Gender lines here become amorphous. What we read about is the blending of labels and differences. Lee does not play down the drug culture and writes of it as it should be dealt with—with brutal honesty. And I respect that. This book is so brutally honest and just plain brutal that it makes you sit up and take notice. This is not the kind of book you read and forget. It’s message like its language is strong. I feel so much better for having read it.
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
As I said in a previous review I posted this week, prison has always held a special place in the minds of gay men—that all male world of sensuousness replete with gang rapes and lots of male only activities. Let me clarify that statement----the fantasies of gay men include thoughts of prison and those hot writhing bodies engaged in man sex has always fueled the minds of gay men. But of course fantasizing about prison is just that---no one really wants to go there but it does provide stimuli for erotic dreams. “35 Cents” is the tale of a young white boy who made his way through life hustling and ending up in juvenile detention. It is not a pretty story but it is a read that is not easily forgotten.
Matthew began turning tricks at 13. He had a lousy home life and he just did not seem to care about very much. The abuse and terrible home life he encountered led him to rent out his body; in fact, his first trick got him for only 35 cents. I bet you are thinking that this book sounds somewhat sordid. IT IS and I loved it. All of us love fantasy and like I have said many times, there is something about an all male environment that makes for really good fantasies. But as sordid as it, there is great warmth, wit and humor in the novel. Somehow Matthew manages to turn the tables on what is abusive to others and allow those very abuses to be the things that save his life. He had been unloved and he tells how gay men taught him what love is. Now what you must understand is that Matthew is basically straight and is based upon Lee’s own experiences.
Lee’s writing his crystal clear and honest to the point that it reads somewhat painfully. He says he wrote this book because he was tired of hearing people complain about how the past made the present unbearable, how present failures have been blamed on the past. The message that I got was that as bad as the past may be, the future can be that much better.
Lee writes about an “underground culture” which once was but now seems to have risen from the underground to be a part of the way we live now. There still is something of an underground but it is not what it was—the values may still be there but the mainstream has adopted what so many refer to as underground.
This is not a gay book per se. Gender lines here become amorphous. What we read about is the blending of labels and differences. Lee does not play down the drug culture and writes of it as it should be dealt with—with brutal honesty. And I respect that. This book is so brutally honest and just plain brutal that it makes you sit up and take notice. This is not the kind of book you read and forget. It’s message like its language is strong. I feel so much better for having read it.