Sarah

A Novel

By: Laura Albert, J. T. LeRoy, Billy Corgan

Narrated by: Winsome Brown, Leigh Ledare

Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

A reissue of the national best-selling novel by JT LeRoy/Laura Albert - published to coincide with the new Jeff Feuerzeig documentary: Author: The JT LeRoy Story.

Sarah never admits that she’s his mother, but the beautiful boy has watched her survive as a “lot lizard”: a prostitute working the West Virginia truck stops. Desperate to win her love, he decides to surpass her as the best and most famous lot lizard ever. With his own leather miniskirt and a makeup bag that closes with Velcro, the young “Cherry Vanilla” embarks on a journey through the Appalachian wilds, dining on transcendental cuisine, supplicating to the mystical Jackalope, encountering the most terrifying of pimps, walking on water, being venerated as an innocent girl saint - and then being denounced as the devil.

By turns exhilarating and shocking, magical and realistic, Sarah brings urgency, wit, and imagination to an unknown and unforgettable world.

©2000, 2016 JT LeRoy (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Never Been So Happy To Find A Novel on Audible!

this book captivated me when I was in my 20s. I'm fascinated how different lives can take you on a completely different path, and, if you just take the time, you can see so many perspectives through stories; both real and imagined.

this story affected me deeply. Such a bittersweet beauty, and a wonderful sense of humor; this is a world you may have not experienced but a world that can enchant you if you are open to seeing the childlike innocence and longing of a lot lizard with so much love in their hearts and aching for some meaning in the depths of debauchery. Hope and the need for deep meaning is stronger than you can imagine, no matter how dark the situation.

Great but unexpected story

Great story about a child who looks up and takes off on an adventure to be just like their mom. Unfortunately they realize that their mom's life wasn't as grand as she thought out to be.

West Virginia seen from different eyes

Very few people know the seedy underbelly of the truck stops of WVA. Sarah let’s you look inside the lot lizard lifestyle like never before. Truly an amazing read.

Really Great book & the narrator did a phenomenal job

This book has been on my list to read for years. Its a fabulous book & the narrator did such a Wonderful job. I wish the book didn’t end though & think the ending could of been better.. But over all ~ it was even better then I anticipated. I can totally see why this book is being turned into a movie. Super impressed that a biological women could write such vivid details of being transgender. Fabulous lgbtq+ book..!

What a steal.

This book was free and strongly recommended to me, and I could not believe how good the story was. So beautifully detailed, and I appreciated every single Southern catch phrase. The performance of the reader was also astonishing, she captured ever character so very well. Definitely one of my favorite books now. Wonderful.

Masterpiece!

This is one of the best audible books that I have gotten to listen to. Having read the book prior, I was blown away how much the narrator's voice matched up with the character's voice in my head. For me, I know that a piece of art such as a book is great when the character's voice stretches beyond the pages and resonates in my imagination. I hope there are more audibles to come by this amazing author and the incredible narrator of the masterpieces.

I don't know what to say....

Nothing normally grosses me out or disturbs me BUT there was a part in this book that made me wanna rage and vomit at the same time! I only got it because I started reading the other book about Sarah and Jeremiah so I wanted to get a little back ground I guess?? Would I read it Again? No.... would I recommend it? No.... narration was stellar though.

Strange, dark, and poetic. Beautifully read.

What a twisted story LeRoy spins! A coming-of-age gone wrong in a dark utopia of truck stop bordellos. So imaginative and deeply moving. Winsome Brown is a perfect reader. She completely transports the listener to this crazy world, giving subtle but distinct voice to all its characters, and conveying the action sequences with calm, but urgent precision.

Classic

The performance alone is spectacular, the voices delightful and vivid. The story itself original, gritty and kooky. It’s arthouse blockbustre material. 5 stars all round. Reviewed by Ferdinand Andrew

Wildly funny and poignant

Having listened to "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things," which was super intense and gut-grabbingly so, I was not prepared for "Sarah" to be funny at all, let alone barkingly hilarious. And hilarious with no mean spirit toward any of its characters. No judgment. No special treatment or beatification of the protagonist at the expense of anyone else. This perspective was so deeply imbued that it felt like Love. Clear-eyed and not overlooking one damn thing, but Love nonetheless.

I am glad I listened instead of reading. Listening to the book, read with great authenticity and soul by Winsome Brown -- a performance so authentic that how could any author ask for more? -- made the humor and the pathos and the poignancy so vivid that it simply could not be misinterpreted.

I know about the (drummed up IMO) controversy about JT LeRoy and I find it to be quite the opposite of what I have just written about "Sarah" and its characters i.e. mean spirited and judgmental and more personally cruel than any writer of fiction should have to tolerate.

I loved "Sarah." It was over too soon.