The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy

Written by Robert Leleux

Narrated by Jeremy Arthur

Bitter-sweet (emphasis on the bitter) coming-of-age memoir. Featuring a larger than life mother addicted to shopping and surgical makeovers, Leleux admits to having "tilted" the story so that it "reads better (as in funnier, or happier) than it was lived". Still, it's a rocky trip that obviously required a highly evolved sense of humor to get through, (fortunately, Leleux makes himself as big a target as his extravagant mother). Beginning with his father's abandonment when Leleux was 17, the author traces the erratic aftermath in the home of his desperate mom, whose plan to remarry rich leads her to pursue a risky and exorbitant series of surgical enhancements, turning inside out Leleux's hope that "the end of marriage would be only the beginning of plastic surgery and happy new lives." In the meantime, Robert meets and unexpectedly falls in love with Michael Leleux, learning for the first time that he's gay and, further, that his mom has already known. Not for the timid, this laugh-out-loud tale of dysfunction and discovery is a compulsively readable treat; any fan of Augusten Burroughs or David Sedaris owes it to themselves to pick it up.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lantern Audio
• Release date: Feb 7, 2018
• ISBN: 9781945213762

Robert Leleux

Robert Leleux teaches creative writing in the New York city schools.  His nonfiction pieces have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Texas Observer, and elsewhere. He is the author of The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy and The Living End. He lives with his husband, Michael Leleux, in Manhattan.

Reviews for The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy

[peggyk49 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I found The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy to be a great, fun book and thought it was well written. (Though I'm no expert!) In fact, after reading this one, I searched for and purchased the follow up book, The Living End: A Memoir of Forgetting and Forgiving. I hope I enjoy it just as much.

[chrisweir-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Wasn't the best but wasn't the worse. Tales of a "beautiful boy" growing up in Texas in the 80's and 90's. It seem that he has hero worship for his mother. HIs father left him when he was young which he never seems to get over. His over the top mother gets plastic surgery and has tricked him into taking her by saying she's bleeding from her woman parts. He however ends up stuck in a podiatrists office. Then she decides to do something about her wispy hair which is disappearing do to wearing wigs for years on end. She gets her head shaved and then a wig glued to her head and then ends up throwing up all over the room and the attendant. The book turns more towards Roberts life when he turns 17 and his mother moves out of the state to try and land a new man in California. He has met the love of his life Michael Leleux and has moved in with his family. Was fun overall reminiscent of Augustine Burroughs in many ways, not quite as dysfunctional but over the top in other ways.

[satyridae · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read Leleux's memoirs in the wrong order, and I'm sorry about that. I recommend you read this one first, because the second is full of spoilers, if you will. I already knew most of the story, and though it was well-written and interesting, it wasn't as much fun as it would have been if I'd done it in the proper order.

[presto_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Robert spent the first years of his life without knowing want, that is until his father walked out on his mother, leaving them virtually to fend for themselves. Not an easy plight for his mother, used to a life of ease and comfort, nor for Robert, who now has to contend with his mother's often extreme measures to find herself another rich husband before she looses her good looks, and all her hair.Robert's memoirs of his childhood, his coming of age, and his finally meeting Michael, the love of his life make for a most entertaining read. He paints a vivid picture of his flamboyant mother, and it is clear he shares many of her traits; the only person to be surprised to learn that he is gay is Robert himself. He tell his story with great honesty and a humour that frequently verges on the hilarious. No one is safe from his often acerbic wit, including Robert himself. As a first novel this bodes well for Robert's future as a writer, he writes with confidence and style.

[mikerr_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Big (fake) hair, big Texas personalities, big fun. The love child of an Oscar statue and a Texan version of Liz Taylor, Robert Leleux is precocious, pert, penniless, and utterly charming. Candid - sometimes to the cringe point - this memoir is, well, memorable. Enjoy.

[pinprick_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I picked this up as a lark at the public library, and found it a quick, enjoyable read. Not being Texan, or the gay son of a beautiful mother, it was cute and sweet and interesting enough to keep my attention for a few days. When I was done reading it, though, I found it left a sour taste in my mouth. I'm all for loving your parents unconditionally, but I was surprised that the author let his mother get away with the things he did. I would have imagined he'd feel more abandoned by her leaving him for for a man than he did his father leaving him for his pregnant mistress. He mentions early and often that both of his parents were miserable in their marriage, yet excuses his mother for wanting out and not his father. Honestly, both his parents sounded more than a little self-absorbed, which is maybe why someone so young, with so little actual life experience, felt the need to pen a memoir so early on. That sounds harsher than I meant it to, but writing a memoir about your teens when you are barely out of them does seem a bit premature. In all, it's a good, lazy summer read from an author who will probably go on to write better books. It's light, it's funny, it's a bit forgettable.

[jenners26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm a huge fan of memoirs -- particularly funny memoirs about messed up childhoods. Think Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs or some of David Sedaris's books about his childhood. This memoir is along those lines, and it was a fun, fast read. Like Sedaris and Burroughs, Mr. LeLeux grows up as a gay son of a unusual and different mother (though Mr. LeLeux's mother takes the cake in terms of flamboyance). His mother is pretty much the star of the book. A Texas Blonde (but only because she wears a wig) who is left by her husband, Robert's mother puts Operation Snag Another Rich Husband into play when Robert is in his early teens. The story of her attempts to turn back the clock and get a man forms the heart of the book. Plastic surgery, hair replacement attempts -- his mother's attempts to regain her former lifestyle are both sad but hilarious. The bulk of the book chronicles his mother's various antics. These remembrances are a kick to read -- but I'm sure glad I didn't have to live them. The book also covers Robert's realization that he is gay (a shock only to him) and his subsequent love affair with Michael LeLeux. Although his mother moves to California during the last third of the book, she is never far away -- even though you wish poor Robert could just get a chance to be out from under her drama. This is a wonderfully written and fun memoir. I really enjoyed it and I hope the author continues to write more about his life and his larger-than-life mother.

[tngolden_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was, quite simply, one of the funnest books I have ever read. It is just charming. The voice of the main character is amusing and light and his relationship with his mother is hilarious and touching at the same time. It is the story of a gay coming of age, but it transcends that and simply shows us how to laugh at ourselves. Seriously, I laughed out loud reading this and people around me thought I was nuts -- but I just couldn't help it. Somehow this book made my life a little lighter and more fun.

[mgaulding_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant! Hysterically funny! As a fellow "pretty boy" survivor of Texas I was captivated by this book

[imayb1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

In my experience, memoirs are read either to learn about an important person, to entertain, or to make a point. This book doesn't do any of that. There is so much emphasis on the author's mother that his seemingly misplaced hero-worship is terribly grating. I didn't find anything truly compelling or comendable about her. The author is so wrapped up in her that he became repulsive to me. I really wanted to like this book, but reading it made me feel like I was slogging through an acquaintence's home movies for politeness' sake. Eventually, I had to excuse myself and run away.

[mcfitz_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy" is a quick and entertaining read, although not as polished as a more mature effort or as funny as advertised. The author is still very young, so "memoirs" could be seen as precocious, but his skill with words is evident and I, like many reviewers before me, look forward to future works from Robert Leleux. The book is an account of Robert's life from ages 16 through about 18, although the first half of the book concentrates almost solely on his mother Jessica O'Doole, a self-centered beauty whose only apparent skill is seducing rich men. Her mission, after Robert's father moves on to someone more 'real' in small-town Texas, is to keep herself as attractive as possible for the next target. The adventures of mother and son as they spend every available dime left to keep Mother looking as young as possible were sometimes a tickle, sometimes ridiculous.Meanwhile, Robert comes to the slow realization that he must be gay, which finally hits home when he meets and falls madly for Michael, a dancer. Since Robert, for instance, attended a conservative, religious school in East Texas, that seems like a conclusion he should have reached earlier. However, judging by his mother's intellectual capacity, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised.Much of the rest of the book is spent enthusing over Michael and his family, and Robert includes his own occasional rudeness and anxiety as an indication of the family life he never enjoyed: the closeness and warmth of parents, siblings, and a real home. They put up with him anyway, and eventually he and Michael go off to live happily ever after in starving-student mode.Although I assumed the story was supposed to be roughly chronological, it jumped around quite a bit, which threw me off a few times. The youth and enthusiasm of the author were obvious in his gushing descriptions of Michael, and his ability to poke fun at himself and his mother were necessary and well-done.I passed this book on to a gay friend, who enjoyed it very much. He told me that his review would include "witty" and "pleasant" and that he will be looking for more books by Robert Leleux.

[beserene · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Book blurb comparisons to Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris set this memoir up to be the next of the glittering gay men's bibles, but Leleux has neither the deep oddity of Burroughs nor the razor wit of Sedaris. There are wonderful moments--the author's familial relationship with Neiman Marcus is a bond achingly familiar to anyone who has experienced true and desperate shopping therapy--and Leleux writes his mother's quirks with cinematic flair, but on the whole the book seems to suffer from a lack of perspective. When, at the mid-point of the novel, Leleux writes that his mother's story is his story, adult readers on the other side of thirty--especially those who have struggled to become themselves rather than their parents--may feel the strong urge to roll their eyes. The second half of the memoir, packed with gushing praise for the love of Leleux's life, contributes to the overall feeling that this is a young man who has yet to stand and face himself alone. In light of the great potential shown in this book, one hopes that Leleux will find himself soon; his grown up work is sure to be impressive.

[intplibrarian_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic voice, but no story to tell. The story was... just not there. It felt like the whole time I was reading I was waiting for the story to really start. Like the entire book was a... argh, I can't think of the word. Not a forward. A part of the book that's *before* the book starts.Anyway.However, the author's *voice* is just great! I did keep reading the book just to "listen" to him. I really hope he chooses to write more books. Novels, maybe?

[duanewilliams_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy by Robert Leleux is presumably meant to be funny, but it didn't make me laugh. You get a warning of what's to come in the acknowledgements when the author writes: 'There's not a word in this book she [his mother] hasn't inspired, and then improved upon with her wit and smarts and style. When the answering machine picks up my telephone, the first thing Mother says is, "Pick up the goddamned phone." ' Leleux thinks that's humorous? It's not.The author is the "beautiful boy" of the title and the book is a fictionalized account of a portion of his life after his father walked out and left Robert and his mother in dire financial straits. His mother decides she needs to find a rich man to marry and she proceeds to try to make herself attractive again. Her attempts are somewhat extreme, but not really unusual, and the consequences more pathetic than funny. By the middle of the book Robert's mother has found herself a new man and left Robert on his own. He has found himself a boyfriend and has basically moved in with the boyfriend's family. The rest of the book is about his struggle to finish high school, get into college and become a writer. Everyone's life is unique and everyone has their troubles, but that doesn't mean that everyone's life makes an interesting story and I found this one rather ho-hum. The story lacked sufficient conflict, or suspense, or character development, or anything else to keep the reader anxious to see what would happen next. Because it is so much autobiographical, we know all along how it's going to turn out, because we know from the blurb about the author on the back cover that he teaches creative writing in New York. So we already know that he got through school and became an author. His path to that end just isn't made interesting enough in this book.

[nancyewhite · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Robert Leleux’s memoir begins with his father leaving him and his mother for a pregnant girlfriend. He and his mother, who is flamboyant and narcissistic, comfort themselves with trips to Neiman Marcus and old movies. Before long they are living on returning clothing to high end department stores and his mother begins her quest of marrying another wealthy man. This being Texas, this quest involves tricking her son into taking her for breast and lip implants as well as glued on hair extensions. There are many funny “scenes” in this life, but I found it to be quite sad because although the voice Leleux uses is cynical, sarcastic and knowing, the person behind the voice was a sheltered adolescent. His mother who did love him and was, I’ll admit, in many ways a good mother for a gay son also poisoned him against his extended family with morbidly humorous songs wishing for their deaths etc.The book became much more pleasant for me when Robert meets and falls in love with his future partner, Michael and Michael’s large French-Cajun family. As he learns that loving people involves not being cruel to them and finds that family can be big and messy, I found myself laughing out loud watching the thoughtlessly mean little boy turn into a considerate (but still meanly funny) man. I recommend this book for anyone who likes memoir in the messed up childhood vein. It will be particularly fun for folks who like their humor in the wittily campy way of gay men.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this memoir finding it a delightful quotable read, even if it has some stereotypical moments. But the stereotypes are fun; from the over-the-top mother with fake hair to her tres gay son who accompanies her many trips to the mall. The author narrates a wild ride that begins in Petunia, Texas when his father abandons them. Left with few resources the mother finds a man and so does the son. As the memoir unfolds it became an unforgettable coming of age story. The author's writing style was focused and filled the book with a true aura of the southern Texas setting. Ultimately it was the one-liners and set-pieces that filled me with laughter and kept me turning the pages.

[srod_7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was truly an enjoyable read. I thought my family was flamboyant and dysfunctional, not even close!

[mangochris · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy is Robert Leleux’s chronicle of the first two decades (or so) of his life spent growing up in Texas. The first half of the story is really about his mother, an extravagant, self-centered woman obsessed with plastic surgery in order to find a rich man to replace Leleux’s father, who leaves them in the first chapter. The reader will find themselves, much like Leleux, shaking their head in exasperation and disbelief at his mother Jessica’s antics and selfishness, but it’s impossible to view her with any real malice. The second half of the memoir focuses more on Leleux’s experiences through high school, detailing the (entirely unsurprising) realization of his sexual orientation when he falls in love with a male dancer after auditioning for a part in West Side Story, the struggle to keep abreast of poverty and graduate as a gay male from a Christian high school in Texas, and the difficulties he faces finding a focus after high school.Leleux’s prose is light and sparkling, and frequently marked by ironic humor. The boy he portrays himself as has a tendency for the overdramatic and flamboyant, the desire to live his life as if it were a story, as his boyfriend Mark points out later in the book. His over-the-top reactions to life are self-aware enough to be amusing, and he handles the very real problems of poverty and prejudice with characteristic flippancy. The main players in the work are Leleux and his mother, and later his boyfriend, but I would have appreciated more description and fleshing out of the side characters, particularly in the latter half. As memoirs go, this may not be the deepest, most meaningful one out there, but it certainly entertains, while also providing a glimpse at life growing up in Texas as a gay man with a motley cast of characters.

[erinclark_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Robert Leleux has a wicked way with words. The descriptions and stories of his mother are hilariously intense - she must be a kick in the pants in person. I loved how he described how no one else could get away with the huge plastic hair and pancake makeup but her - because EVERYTHING is big in Texas! She fit right in. I don't have a problem with Robert being so young and being able to write a memoir - I would like to read version II, III, IV as the years progress and see where his life and writing take him. This is a very funny, sweet and loving tribute to his mother (who I would be almost afraid to meet;) Highly recommended.

[5eva5 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Throughout this book I find myself wavering between envy that my own family is so humdrum and normal that I would never get an interesting memoir out of them, and a giddy glee and quite a bit of relief that they're nothing like the menagerie of crazy characters that inhabit Robert Leleux's world. From his larger-than-life mother (who should be played by Bette Davis in the film version and whom you'd like to strangle quite a few times throughout the book), evil teachers, flamboyant drama coaches, to his in-laws, who, however quirky, you can't help but love for their sincerity and loyalty, there's a plethora of circus freaks to behold. I'm quite impressed that Leleux turned out to be a seemingly functional adult with that kind of youth. The minus is that the book feels like a series of scenes (some literally laugh-out-loud funny - like his mother's lip-implant disaster - and some heart-wrenchingly sad - like his father's attempts at reconciliation) rather than a fluent story. Perhaps Leleux is still too close in time to these events to be able to write anything more emotionally invested than vignettes. There is a hint of a story arch (it's told chronologically), but I think there's a need to mold true life into a dramatic story. Is it still worth a read? Absolutely. Without hesitation. Not to mention how much I look forward to Leleux using his distinct voice for fiction in the future.

[arelenriel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is the intriguing tale of author Robert Leleux and his childhood in East Texas. Perhaps one of the most interesting characters in this book is that of Leleux's mother who faces poverty and loneliness as she raises her children as a single mother. This book is very similar to works by Augusten Burroughs and Chuck Sedaris. Leleaux' descriptions of what was like t grow up gay in Texas in the 1980's are both touching and stereotypical in a way. The vibrant descriptions of his mothers personality and of his experiences at a small Christian high school are very amusing but sad at times. This book is reccomened for those who enjoy personal memorios- Due for release 2008