Bobbie - Shop now
$9.99 with 33 percent savings
Digital List Price: $14.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

John Rechy
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens: A Novel Kindle Edition

by John Rechy (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.2 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
“A funny, sexy, far-fetched coming-of-age story” from the award-winning, New York Times–bestselling author of City of Night (The Washington Post).
 
John Rechy—described by Gore Vidal as “one of the few original writers of the last century”—delivers a riotous bildungsroman that pays homage to the classic eighteenth-century picaresque.
 
Loosely inspired by Fielding’s Tom Jones, The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens follows the journey of handsome Lyle Clemens as he travels through the religious fundamentalist world of Texas to the gambling palaces of Las Vegas and the enticing traps of Los Angeles’s mythologies.
 
As Lyle approaches adulthood, everyone wants him to be something he’s not. His beautiful mother wants to make him into a reflection of the cowboy who abandoned her; a group of avaricious fundamentalists plot to convert him into “the Lord’s Cowboy” to rouse their televangelical empire to new frenzied heights; and the lovely Maria wants him to fulfill her varying fantasies of “true love.” When Lyle leaves home to make his own destiny, he encounters a gallery of charlatans and wistful souls, quirky gamblers, aging starlets, and wily pornographers.
 
The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens is “a potent compound of both sex and rapture . . . sly, smart, sexy and laugh-out-loud funny, but it is also tinged with sorrow and ultimately elevated into the realm of magic” (The Los Angeles Times Book Review).
 
“Ambitious and very funny . . . a tall tale, a simultaneously sweet and vicious satire of contemporary America . . . a comic tour de force and, at the same time, a truly heartfelt book.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    356 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Grove Press
  4. Publication date
    December 1, 2007
  5. File size
    7.0 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
Next slide of product details

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This ambitious and very funny novel tells the coming-of-age story of Lyle Clemens, "the child who would grow up to become the Mystery Cowboy who appeared naked along Hollywood Boulevard." It's a tall tale, a simultaneously sweet and vicious satire of contemporary America, with the handsome, empathic and guileless Lyle an innocent in a cruel world serving as vehicle for Rechy's reflections on religion, sexuality, fame and greed. Self-consciously modeled on Henry Fielding's 18th-century classic The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling, the book begins with Lyle's birth in Rio Escondido, Tex., to the unwed Sylvia Love, whose dream of becoming Miss America was shattered by her Bible-thumping mother Eulah. The book feels at times like one of Robert Altman's classic films, perhaps Nashville, with its expansive canvas and its mixture of humor and sadness. Moving with fluid grace from Anaheim, Calif., to Las Vegas and Hollywood, the story features a large cast of characters, most of whom use Lyle to further their own ambitions, notably Brother Bud and Sister Sis, a pair of greedy televangelists, and a has-been actress named Tarah Worth. Rechy has great command of this sprawling narrative, and he generally strikes the right balance between satire and real emotion. His humor can be less than subtle an unsavory pair of mismatched pornographers and a crooked banker are named after several standing Supreme Court justices and his explicit, campy sex scenes won't please everyone. Still, this distinctly American novel is ultimately about the search for love and redemption, about the ideal of "amazing grace" from the old song that serves as a touchstone for Lyle. It's a comic tour de force and, at the same time, a truly heartfelt book.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Picaresque .This raucous, hormone-fueled Bildungsroman takes its hero through the tabloid underbelly of America." -- Lawrence Rungren, Library Journal

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005FFPUW8
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grove Press (December 1, 2007)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 1, 2007
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 7.0 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 356 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.2 out of 5 stars 12 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
John Rechy

John Rechy

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

3.2 out of 5 stars
12 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars LYLE IS VERY ENTERTAINING --- A Must Read
    Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2004
    After all the hullabaloos in the NY Times over authors writing their own reviews, because of the comments of Rechy, I picked up this book over the weekend and couldn't put it down. Curiosity got the best of me. The book is hilarious. I enjoyed every minute. I recall reading Rechy's excellent but dark CITY OF NIGHT. This is such a contrast. It is humorous yet touching, proving Rechy's strong virtuosity as a topflight novelist. It is story telling at its best - a bewitching wickedly entertaining tome in which an irrepressible young hero is set loose in the "born again" world of Texas, the clubs of Las Vegas, and then on to the seductive allure of crazed filled Los Angeles. Finely written, a very good read, highly recommended and I'm pleased to rediscover this excellent writer.
    6 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • James R. Galloway
    1.0 out of 5 stars Absurd
    Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Those who have read earlier works by Rechy, such as City of Night or Numbers, should not expect any resemblance to that writing here. Absurd characters in absurd situations. The few sex scenes are absurd. There is consistency, he tops it all off with an absurd ending. I haven't a clue what the author's purpose was. The book is not funny, it does not entertain or enlighten. It's just pointless absurdity from beginning to end. Mr. Rechy is capable of so much more; he owes his readers an apology for this one.
    Helpful
     Report
  • J. Nichols
    2.0 out of 5 stars Do you love Henry Fielding's "Tom Jones"? Then don't read this book...
    Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2009
    If you love the "scathing critique" of common (read: pat, boring, moralist,) literature in Georgian England that is Henry Fielding's comic masterpiece "The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling," look elsewhere for a great read. While Rechy does a credible job of attempting to honor the masterpiece, he falls far short both in terms of playful characterization, and in his attempt to modernize the ending sufficiently.

    Problem the first is that Mr. Rechy's characters, while sketched lightly to mimic the style of Fielding in his grand satire, don't quite fit in a book that falls far short of the original's aims (and was aimed differently, to begin with). Where in Tom Jones the idea was to slap staid moralists with the reality that, in fact, a well-meaning black sheep could sometimes have a happy ending, too, Rechy's aim is far less definite. He seems to be making fun of his lightly sketched characters because they aren't educated, witty or urbane of their own accord. In short, this book isn't a satire of modern times or literary movements, it's really more of a burlesque show playing on the low-class trashiness of the characters to no real moral end.

    Our second problem proceeds apace of the first, and that is the book's confusion over its' own identity. Fielding's goal was actually quite simple... SATIRE re: the bad, inflexible, interchangeable moralist plotlines of the Georgian novel! "The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens", however, seems to be a light novel about the differences between being seedy and being seedy with good intentions, albiet with no binding theme to said seediness. If the book had only been a little longer, the characterization hadn't been stolen directly from Tom Jones, and the moral dillemmas faced by the book's namesake, Lyle, had been a little less porno-centric, this might've been a literary tour-de-force. As it is, I can't recommend it at all.

    Read it if you want. There's a decent deflowering scene, anyway... Though, as porn, the novel also leaves one wanting a good sniff of Teleny...
    Helpful
     Report
  • Amazon Customer
    3.0 out of 5 stars Riotous fun for some, but a bit of a disappointment for me.
    Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2003
    I've really enjoyed most of John Rechy's work, particularly Marylin's Daughter The miraculous day of Amalia Gómez, and to a lesser extent, The coming of the night, but The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens, although clever in it's structure, was disappointing. This book just didn't work for me. I can appreciate that many readers will absolutely love the humor and comedy in this, but for me, it unfortunately, just fell flat. Part of the problem is perhaps that Rechy's dialogue just lacked sparkle and sharpness. The narrative works well as a type of "sit-com" situational comedy loosely modeled, of course on Henry Fielding's 18th-century classic The History of Tom Jones. But I just felt that the dialogue between the main characters lacked sharp acid wit, that we should expect from a writer such a Rechy. His writing seemed rushed and hurried, and I wanted him to take more time with his story; maybe relax and really consolidate his characters more securely in their time and place.
    Lyle Clemens is indeed an endearing character, and there's an incredible sexual innocence to his character. Born in Texas, to the beautiful, but forsaken Silvia Love, who takes to drink when Lyle's father dumps her, and her hopes of becoming Miss America are crushed by her fundamentalist mother. Lyle is tremendously naïve and blissfully unaware of his good looks, lustiness and sexiness. People fawn around him like flies - there's Maria, the Mexican beauty, and Rose who teaches him about sex and how to seduce a virgin with confidence. Silvia's best friend Clarita - a rather staid stereotype of an older Mexican-American - who helps to raise Lyle and remains loyal to Silvia. There are lots of other minor characters that meet Lyle and help him along on his adventurous journey through life. Sister Matilda, is a gospel singer who befriends Lyle, the aging starlet Tarah Worth, the crooked evangelists Brother Bud and Sister Sis, and a couple of pornographers who have suspiciously well recognizable names. It's nice that Mr. Rechy has incorporated some gay content into his story with the character of Raul, a gay boy who falls in love with Lyle and falls into the "devilish" clutches of the evangelists.
    Generally though, I felt that Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens read too much like an afternoon soap opera, rather than a satire of our contemporary age, which is what the story is supposed to symbolize. I'm sure die-hard fans of Rechy will love this - and they generally due judging by some of the other glowing reviews. But if you want the best John Rechy, I would venture into some of his earlier work, particularly City of Night.
    Michael
    9 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Paul Seguin
    1.0 out of 5 stars definitely not one of john Rechys best books, in fact the worse!
    Reviewed in Canada on June 5, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Its about this cowboy stud, it has alot to do with some kind of religious thing..very little sex, oh Hell its God Awful...John Rechy this one is a dude!!!! I tossed my copy in the garbage
    Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report