{"product_id":"9781555847289","title":"The Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens: A Novel","description":"\u003cb\u003e“A funny, sexy, far-fetched coming-of-age story” from the award-winning, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e–bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eCity of Night\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Loosely inspired by Fielding’s \u003ci\u003eTom Jones\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Life and Adventures of Lyle Clemens\u003c\/i\u003e 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” (\u003ci\u003eThe Los Angeles Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “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.” —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)","brand":"Grove\/Atlantic, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47132820144368,"sku":"9781555847289","price":11.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781555847289_p0.jpg?v=1763754980","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781555847289","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}