I Must Confess

by Rupert Smith

A stinging satire of tell-all showbiz memoirs starring a self-deluded gay icon who has managed to ride every pop culture trend of the last forty years. Marc LeJeune has had a remarkable career in the entertainment business. Despite the carping of critics, cruel twists of fate, and the treachery of former friends who were blind to his exceptional dramatic and musical talents, he has remained true to his unique artistic vision. From his early days as...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1573442895
• ISBN13: 9781573442893
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Cleis Press
• Length: 263 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

A Comic History of Culture

Smith, Rupert. "I Must Confess: Celebrity Tells All", Cleis, 2007. A Comic History of Culture Amos Lassen Rupert Smith has created a brilliant comic character, Marc LeJeune, the hero of "I Must Confess". He has had quite a career in entertainment even though the critics have not always liked him and he has suffered some cruel twists of fate and friends who have tried to curtail his success. What he has done was to stay honest to his artistic vision. But for LeJeune to tell his story he has had to come out of the closet and he does it beautifully. Rupert Smith writes with great wit and he gives us a very funny look at a celebrity who is flamboyant to say the least. The best adjective that I can think of to describe this book is outrageous. We get a look at a period of history that was revolutionary and the satire of Smith is just wonderful if not a bit over the top. Our hero, Marc, is a step ahead of his time in everything. His life began in a small town outside of London and he managed to find himself in the wake of every cultural activity of the time. He was mod during the 60's, he was active in avant garde cinema and theater, and he starred in gay porn and then became a television icon. He was around during the hippie years and dropped acid; he was involved in the New York underground and survived the devastation of AIDS. We see all of this through Marc's eyes and he is tenacious in everything he does. He tells all and does so in a way that makes reading this book pure fun. "I Must Confess" is a great look at what was, when life seemed so easy and there were no Brittany Spears or Lindsay Lohans.

MUCH MORE THAN A SATIRE

According to the publicity, both on the cover of the book and the web, Rupert Smith's I MUST CONFESS is a scathingly witty romp through the last half of the twentieth century. This fictitious autobiography of flamboyant celebrity Marc LeJeune is said to be incredibly funny and ambitious, and Marc is heralded as a brilliant comic creation. Frankly, I think the remarks do this novel a disservice. While I can't deny the book's lighter moments or its ambition, the truth is I MUST CONFESS is an honest, if sometimes outrageous, look back at incredibly revolutionary times, and shouldn't be dismissed as mere humorous fiction. Don't get me wrong I have the utmost respect for well written, tongue in cheek satire, but this novel is much more than that, and should be publicized as such. Marc LeJeune is a trailblazer, ahead of his time in everything he undertakes. From his humble post World War II beginnings in a small town on the outskirts of London, to his eventual international celebrity status, Marc's been on the cutting edge of every major cultural trend. He was the original image of the mod swinging sixties, a forging member of the British and American avant-garde theatre and film movements, a seventy's pop music sensation, a gay porn superstar, and eventually a world wide television icon. He's survived the hallucinogenic hippie era, the sex and drug crazed New York underground club scene, and the devastating AIDS crisis. Through Marc's eyes the reader experiences the social upheaval of these turbulent times, and one can not help but admire his tenacity. Marc holds nothing back, and through his revelations offers a poignant history of our often trivialized recent past. First published in 1998, I MUST CONFESS has recently been reissued, losing none of its relevance. From early rock and roll innocence to throw away pop sensationalism Rupert Smith accurately captures the decadence of the last five decades of the twentieth century, and provides a sometime humorous but always heartfelt story. This is a novel to be enjoyed by fiction aficionados and history buffs alike, and earns our due respect.