About My Life and the Kept Woman: A Memoir

by John Rechy

Book Overview

The untold personal life story of the novelist whom Gore Vidal has hailed as 'one of the few original American writers of the last century.' John Rechy's first novel, City of Night , is a modern... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802118615
• ISBN13: 9780802118615
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

An Awesome Presence

Novelist. Playwright. Essayist. Hustler. John Rechy has been all those things and much, much more. He has written, deeply, about a range of subjects - male-perpetuated myths of `fallen women' (Our Lady of Babylon), an immigrant's descent through Los Angeles (The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gómez) - and has crafted his work in a breadth of masterful styles. This includes the sexually explicit works - Numbers, Rushes and, most famously, City of Night - that have defined him for generations of readers. With fierce vulnerability and brave delicacy, his memoir About My Life and the Kept Woman depicts his poor childhood in El Paso's Mexican enclave; years in the numbing U.S. Army; life as a street hustler; and - always - of the alluring woman who intrigues, and then shadows his life, for forty years. Here is how he first encounters the Kept Woman at his sister's wedding: "When my head resisted being turned away from the kept woman, my mother's hands directed it back to the nuptials, but not before I knew that my life had been invaded by an awesome presence." The memoir takes its rightful place alongside Proust (an influence) and the best works of speculative fiction.

JOHN RECHY IS NEVER PREDICTABLE

"About My Life and the Kept Woman" is a very candid memoir, that seems to combine fiction and non-fiction, with this literary star and author of "City of Night" describing growing up Mexican-American in the racially divided city of El Paso, Texas, reflecting on his fascination with a notorious kept woman, his ethnic heritage, and his growing understanding of his sexual differences unpredictably leading him to a famous writing career. For anyone with knowledge of San Francisco, the narrative has a surprising twist with the late Herb Caine (the famous columnist) and one of his several wives. She is not the "kept woman" in Rechy's memoir but the lady's niece. Like Rechy, this woman is a character of reinvention and masquerade. Here is a moving, powerful story of a life that is witness to some of the most unruly changes of the past century. Booming with intense individuality and complete frankness, it is as much a study of intolerance as of a human being who rebelled against it to create his own very unique path. The great thing about Rechy and the last thing you can say is that he's predictable. If you attempted to sell his life as a TV Movie or film pitch to hackneyed Hollywood they would say: "there's no basis on reality and who do we root for?" Mr. Producer: we root for John Rechy! He drops out of an Ivy League university to become a male hustler and turn it into the tour de force "City of Night" which became a major best seller, one of the most influential American novels according to Gore Vidal and then Rechy goes onto to be the first novelist to be honored by a lifetime achievement award from PEN. This is a life so filled with awakenings and discoveries that it is anything but convention and contracts deeply with the clichéd debris we see on TV and at the movies. So be impulsive, never predictable, and order "About My Life and the Kept Woman" now. It is a must read and belongs on every bookshelf along with all of John Rechy's unpredictable works.

What a Life Story!

Rechy, John. "About My Life and the Kept Woman: A Memoir", Grove Press, 2008. What a Life Story! Amos Lassen My generation knows John Rechy and for many of is his "City of Night" was a very, very important book. Rechy was a hustler who became a bestselling author and he wrote what many only whispered about. In "About My Life and the Kept Woman", he tells the story of his life in great detail. Rechy's search for identity is both filled with humor and laced with heartbreak. Gore Vidal said that John Rechy was "one of the few original writers of the last century" and if you are not sure what that means then you must read this book. This memoir begins when Rechy was raised in Texas as a Mexican-American and then moves onto the place he really called home--the street. These streets were to become the major characters in his written work. Rechy writes about his life and as he does he is filled with the knowledge that he is accepting himself. Rechy shows that as he matured, he became more fascinated with the feelings he had for kept women. He also gained awareness that he was different from others in regard to his sexuality. He felt two slaps against himself--his Mexican heritage and his homosexuality. Even when he had sex with those that picked him up on the street, he never bothered to either define himself or to be defined by others. He found himself being the target of intolerance by family and society and that is what this book is really about--hatred and disrespect against a person who was who he was and did his own thing. Rechy is a hard person to categorize because he fits into many and really doesn't fit any. As he relates what really was going on his life while he wrote "City of Night", his autobiographical novel, his prose and honesty captures the reader. His life was one of changes going on around him--wars, assassinations, radical movements and others and he writes about all of thus with great candor and does nor hold back. Rechy was and remains an individual even when society frowned upon individualism. Rechy's life fascinates and mesmerizes and is laden with meaning. He inspires and he shocks and does a fine job of retelling his life.

An amazing read of a fascinating life story.

I recently read Rechy's novel "City of Night" and this new epic memoir takes you on the true life journey of the "youngman" hustler that became the controversial author. This autobiography roams from his Texas childhood through his years in the army and on to the hustling venues that would become so famous in his first novel. I found the book powerful and entertaining in suprising ways as well as shockingly honest. It allowed me to see the real people Rechy used as charactors in his novels and they proved every bit as fascinating. I found Rechy's story daring, funny and finally very inspirational.

A Haunting Memoir

[[ASIN:0802118615 About My Life and the Kept Woman: A Memoir This book chronicles in unflinching detail the story of the extraordinary life of this groundbreaking author. Humor and sadness are inextricably linked in this compelling narrative. This is no trite coming of age story; it is a definitive and powerful tale of self discovery and identity. Love of family and home are powerful themes. This book is a treasure.