Leleux, Robert 1980(?)-

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Leleux, Robert 1980(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1980, in TX; son of Bob (a veterinarian) and Jessica Wilson; partner's name Michael Leleux (a choreographer). Education: Sarah Lawrence College, B.A., 2003.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. Agent—Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents, Inc., 1501 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer; teaches writing in schools in New York, NY.

WRITINGS:

The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

Robert Leleux was born in Texas and studied at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, graduating with his bachelor of arts degree in 2003. A poet and writer, he teaches writing classes within the school system in New York City, but his own writing is his primary focus. His first book, The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy, is a pseudo-memoir with a political slant. Set in and around Houston during Leleux's own formative years, it looks at the transition from childhood to adulthood, beginning with the shock that runs through a family when the father declares he is going to leave. Just sixteen when his father leaves them, Leleux understands early in his parents' separation that his mother believes her only recourse is to marry again as soon as she can; it never crosses her mind to get a formal job in order to be able to take care of her family on her own. Over the course of the book, Leleux reveals his own attitudes toward his mother during her search for a new spouse and delves deeply into their tightly knit relationship, as well as reflecting on his own childhood and on his realization that he is gay, which is something of a surprising revelation. The second half of the book is devoted to Leleux's own long-term relationship with his partner, choreographer Michael Leleux, whose name he took, focusing in particular on the way they first met on a community production of West Side Story and the early days of their time together. Threaded through the narrative is Leleux's own anxiety regarding his lack of a relationship with his own father, who had so definitely cut him out of his life, but who makes a reappearance prior to the end of the book.

Leleux sets out to strike a very definite tone with his book. As a gay man who is extremely open about his preferences, he acknowledges that much of his child- hood and his formative years were rife with painful experiences, but that the overall feeling of his book and his writing helps to overcome that naturally. But even as he pokes fun at himself, he is just as quick to address the important issues that affect anyone who is the least bit disconnected from what is considered to be normal behavior. Regarding why he chose this tone in which to present the work, Leleux stated in an interview with Fritz Lanham for the Houston Chronicle that his "whole idea was to take these effete English writers that I love—Christopher Isherwood or J.R. Ackerley or Noel Coward or Jessica Mitford—and marry them to John Henry Faulk or Molly Ivins." Not all of the reviews were favorable. Mike Shea, writing for Texas Monthly, commented that "sexual orientation may be an identity, but it should not be confused with a career." A contributor for Kirkus Reviews remarked of Leleux's own efforts that "the text is lush with simile, verdant with metaphor and generally permeated with writerly flair. Though the author calls it a memoir, it reads more like a comic novel." Michael Barnard, in a review for Publishers Weekly, remarked that Leleux's work "is a spectacular debut; fans of David Sedaris, Augusten Burroughs and Josh Kilmer-Purcell will love it." Writing for Booklist, Michael Cart commented that "older teen fans of Sedaris and Burroughs will enjoy Leleux's similarly skewed view of the world and its oddball inhabitants." Ann E. Yow, writing for the Seattle Times, called Leleux's effort "a wickedly funny and tender account of his adoring relationship with his eccentric mother and her self-absorbed antics that put him … across the border of Traumatized and into the land of the Hysterical."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Advocate, March 11, 2008, "A Gay Life: While It May Go Light on Drama, Robert Leleux's Memoir of Growing up the Fey Son of an Indulgent Mother Doesn't Skimp on Entertainment," p. 57.

Booklist, November 15, 2007, Michael Cart, review of The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy, p. 13.

Houston Chronicle, February 4, 2008, Fritz Lanham, "Books: Mother, Son Raise a Beautiful Boy; Memoir Explores Family Relationships, Author's Acceptance of His Sexuality," p. 1.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2007, review of The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy.

Publishers Weekly, November 12, 2007, Michael Barnard, review of The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy, p. 13.

Texas Monthly, January 1, 2008, Mike Shea, review of The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy, p. 52.