BODIES AND SOULS

by John Rechy ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 22, 1983

A dank diorama of sexual/religious compulsions and degradations in assorted Los Angeles subcultures--as Rechy (City of Night) reaches beyond his usual homosexual milieu, turgid pretensions mixing with the drab quasi-pornography. In about half of the chapters here, we follow three ""Lost Angels,"" teenage runaways who visit the L.A. tourist-attractions while becoming obsessed with Sister Woman, a TV-cult evangelist: the threesome--Hollywood-obsessed Lisa, macho-rebel Jesse James, repressed Orin--eventually achieve trio-orgasm. . . but, when Sister Woman fails to prove that God exists, they turn into freeway snipers. Meanwhile, in alternating chapters, Rechy offers a heavy-breathing, overwritten sideshow of L.A. natives caught in body/soul binds. Porn-film star Amber Haze is fed up with everybody ""reducing my body, my breasts, my sex. . . ."" Manny Gomez, a barrio kid with an over-sexed mother, looks for a sex/religion interface: ""he wanted a naked Christ tattooed on his chest, a Christ with cock and bails."" A black cleaning-woman, already fired with anti-white Judgment Day-dreams, is disgusted by having to clean for homosexuals. (""White sodomites!"") A homosexual striptease-dancer looks for love at a mock slave-auction but winds up with S&M. A bodybuilder prostitutes himself to win a championship. A deranged bag lady with sex/violence fantasies is gang-raped. A gay-hustler who claims to be heterosexual discovers homosexual love. A disturbed policeman lusts for little girls. Etc. And all these characters are brought together in a ludicrous Bridge of San Luis Rey epilogue. Padded out with mini-essays on California lifestyle and verbose thematic musings: a long, lurid, depressing grab-bag of gothic/L.A. familiars--and not to be confused with Nancy Thayer's somewhat more appealing (not entirely dissimilar) novel of the same name.

Pub Date: June 22, 1983

ISBN: 0802138462

Page Count: -

Publisher: Carroll & Graf (260 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10001)

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1983

Categories: FICTION