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Caleb Watson is not like the other children at his Washington, D.C., private school. Having skipped a grade—and being younger and smaller than the rest of the boys—he finds that his Southern accent and sensitive, reserved nature set him even further apart. Caleb simply does not belong.
But on a field trip to the art museum, Caleb discovers his hero—his icon—when he is exposed to the art of Andy Warhol. In the beauty of the things that don't fit, in the art and philosophy of Pop plus the glorious camp of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and its creatures of the night, Caleb will find sanctuary, transforming himself and the eccentric friends he meets along the way into his own little version of Warhol's Factory.
In this idiosyncratic bildungsroman set to a Britpop beat, an effeminate teenage boy coming of age in the '80s finds salvation in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and, especially, Andy Warhol. Born in Texas but raised in Washington, D.C., where he attends a series of exclusive private schools, Caleb Watson grows up feeling different until a seventh-grade field trip to the Hirshhorn Museum proves a life-altering experience when he is mesmerized by Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe's Lips. He quickly changes his appearance to resemble his new idol and begins to make Warhol-style movies with a crew of his own, including the beautiful Aaron, who is Caleb's partner in gay exploration; Sonia, his own personal Edie Sedgwick; and Brit, a young Marilyn look-alike and Rocky Horror aficionado who is really a runaway boy. Unfortunately, Caleb's story-his experiments with acid, suicide and sexual fetish-lacks cumulative dramatic power. Instead, the novel works best as a series of snapshots of the glammy 1980s and a depiction of the teenage outcasts who made Georgetown their hangout. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Seventh grader Caleb Watson has always felt different than his family or his schoolmates at the exclusive private academies he has attended. He has never been quite able to understand why he feels this way or explain it to anyone including himslef; he just does.
That changes on a field trip to the Hirshhorn Museum where he sees Andy Warhol's homage to Marilyn Monroe's Lips. Caleb begins to worship the pop icon who as the lad learns was born a sickly effeminate Czech in Pittsburgh but died a legend. He changes his look so that he appears as close to Warhol as possible and begins making strange movies like his hero did. Caleb soon has groupies that include his gay partner Aaron; his Sedgwick in Sonia, and his Monroe in runaway male Rocky Horror fan Brit. They test the Warhol existence to the limit and beyond as "turn on, tune in, and drop out"; which means acid, cross dressing, suicide and fetishes.
This is an interesting look at teen outcasts in Regan Era Georgetown. The fully developed, alienated in different ways, characters drive the story line as each of the Warhol-Rocky quartet seek a reason to belong and think by emulating the late artist or the movie they are achieving this. Although the plot reads less like a novel and more like a biography, fans will enjoy the desperate antics of Caleb and crew as they turn to the world of Pop for salvation.
Harriet Klausner
Anonymous
Posted February 7, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted June 2, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted February 10, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
Caleb Watson is not like the other children at his Washington, D.C., private school. Having skipped a grade—and being younger and smaller than the rest of the boys—he finds that his Southern accent and sensitive, reserved nature set him even further apart. Caleb simply does not belong.
But on a field trip to the art museum, Caleb discovers his hero—his icon—when he is exposed to the art of Andy Warhol. In the beauty of the things that don't fit, in the art and philosophy of Pop plus the glorious camp of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and its ...