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Summary: The incomparable Myra
Review: As part of her plans to conquer Hollywood, Myra Breckinridge arrives at her late husband Myron's uncle Buck's drama academy to stake her claim. She turns heads and wreaks havoc all in her efforts to get where she wants to be. Myra takes no prisoners in any venture, especially in terms of sex. When Buck confronts her with the lack of evidence of her marriage to Myron and of the demise of Myron, Myra is forced to reveal her true nature. Ultimately Myra gets what she wants, but not in the way she planned, after a hit-and-run accident nearly destroys her. Challenging the 1960s' attitudes about gender and sexuality, "Myra Breckinridge" is not as scandalous now, but it's still shocking and campy. This is #23 of the 100 Best Gay and Lesbian Novels, as selected by the Publishing Triangle. Picking up several years after "Myra Breckinridge", "Myron" finds the banal man living with his wife in a nice California town, when suddenly he finds himself inside the movie "Siren of Babylon", during its filming in 1948. Myron struggles to find out what's happening to him as well as figuring out a way back, but the revitalized Myra is determined to seize control of the body they share and conquer the Hollywood of 1948, thereby recreating the world according to her wishes. Even more outrageous than its predecessor, "Myron" is loads of fun and showcases Vidal's wit, intelligence, and wild imagination.
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Summary: I didn't expect Vidal to be so funny !!
Review: I had always been intimidated by Vidal. His intelligence and class are well known but WHO WOULD HAVE EXPECTED this sassy and irreverent book about a transexual !! I absolutely loved Myra and Myron B.. Vidal's intelligent humor made the naughty vulgarities acceptable. Read it . You'll love it, too
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Summary: Required reading against the cliched Burroughs/Gen X set
Review: I have had this novel for some time, and if only more people were able to understand the full extent of what Gore is trying to say, then the world wouldn't be the over-populated, over-pompous, conceited place that it has become. I have always suggested his satirical books for people who need a break from the self-help, pro-active, New-Age, political correct mess that has become people nowadays.....and now, if only they would reissue the movie with Raquel Welch...now that would be something....pick up this book..you will like it...
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Summary: Crazy, but enjoyable
Review: I never quite got a firm grasp on what these stories were about, but I loved every minute of reading them.
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Summary: Too late to be shocked, but still enjoyable...
Review: I supposed had I actually read the book when it was first published, then I would have been able to appreciate the shock value of the story. As it was, it's a bit like watching "Psycho" for the first time so long after it's originally been released: even if you've never seen it, you still know the 'surprise' ending.However, having said that, Gore Vidal is still Gore Vidal always enjoyable, witty, and always pushing the envelope. If I disagreed with his philosophies on life, sexuality and politics, I might find stale the fact that his entire body of work includes references to all of them, but since I don't, I just take heart that they are being represented time and again by such a gifted author.
Rating:
Summary: Too late to be shocked, but still enjoyable...
Review: I supposed had I actually read the book when it was first published, then I would have been able to appreciate the shock value of the story. As it was, it's a bit like watching "Psycho" for the first time so long after it's originally been released: even if you've never seen it, you still know the 'surprise' ending. However, having said that, Gore Vidal is still Gore Vidal always enjoyable, witty, and always pushing the envelope. If I disagreed with his philosophies on life, sexuality and politics, I might find stale the fact that his entire body of work includes references to all of them, but since I don't, I just take heart that they are being represented time and again by such a gifted author.
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Summary: Once upon a time, when there was no such thing as PC....
Review: It's wonderful to go through the various reviews and realize that this book, written in part in 1968 and then, the "sequel", in 1973, stirrs the same controversy it did when it was published. And I'm sure Gore Vidal, one of the most remarkable American writers and thinkers of the previous century, is having a great deal of fun out of it. In a way (and not in every way), Gore Vidal is a great writer/thinker resembling the way Voltaire was one: it's not necessarily any specific work that makes him *the* thinker/writer of his age (well, in the case of Voltaire, "Candide" does weaken my argument...), but it is his combined output that makes him the unabashed, non-PC voice of his generation. And Gore Vidal does it with great panache in Myra Breckinridge/Myron. There are few issues that remained untouched - anything from linguistic deterioration (the Californian drowning in the ocean yelling : "like, Help!"), film theory, sexuality, politics (Nixon is an important protagonist), what not. And mud is slung in all dierctions, and the goal justifies any means... It is hilarious from beginning to end, and even if one is not familiar with the dozens of B-movies and their actors mentioned in the book, and allowing for some repetitiveness here and there - reading this book is a wicked joy. A previous review rightly mentions that this book is not for everyone: the sexual and surgical activity (sometimes combined) are very explicit, and Myra has on her agenda young and healthy all-American dudes to be anally penetrated (for some very good reasons, as we learn...), but if you wish to make sure that there's still someone looking at this world with X-ray glasses - read Gore Vidal, and read Myra/Myron.
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Summary: Bewildering
Review: Myra Breckenridge is a vicious novel. I did not see any humor in a novel about a transexual who sexually harasses her male student, sodomizes him, and then steals his girlfriend by lying. Throughout, there are wild speculations about sexuality, novels and movies. The whole thing appears to have been made up to provoke people but to what purpose? Vidal reminded me of a certain type of very intelligent person who exists who says outrageous things just to get attention and a charge out of people. Since they are insincere in what they say, once you catch on to the game they turn out to be bores and pretty pathetic. Myra herself typifies the kind of fascist mentality that would never allow her, a transexual, to exist. I didn't laugh once at this one. Myron had a few laughs, however. Again, this pretentious transexual causes havoc (mainly on a movie set) but some of it is so juvenile that it is funny in places.
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Summary: Two unforgettable novels with one amazing, twisted character
Review: MYRA BRECKINRIDGE moves to Hollywood in order to collect the inheritance left by her husband Myron. The one problem is Uncle Buck Loner who stands between her and the property - a profitable school for would be actors run by Buck. Myra is certain that everything will turn out her way, as she is the New American Woman. Every man wants her, but none may have her. However, there is a twist to Myra that will throw her plans into turmoil if anyone finds out.
This is a darkly comic book with one of the most intriguing of characters in Myra Breckinridge. She is self-confidant (perhaps overly so), knows how to control and manipulate both men and women to fulfill her wishes, and determined not to let anything stop her. She is ready to change the world to suit her. In other words, a force to be reckoned with. I also liked that she patterned herself after movie heroines and relates to people as though they were characters in a movie, shown for her benefit.
The novel itself is written as a series of diary entries, written by Myra as events happen. This gives an immediacy to the story and makes the reader feel as though he/she is a part of the action. The twist in the story is definitely a shocking one; I admit that it threw me for a loop. I can only imagine its impact when the book was published in 1968 with the sexual revolution just underway. An incredible book.
MYRON: This sequel to "Myra Breckinridge" follows poor Myron as he battles against Myra, only this time they've somehow become stuck in the 1948 movie "Siren of Babylon." It's a strange world, the Hollywood of 1948, and Myron tries frantically to return to 1973 and his beloved Richard M. Nixon while Myra has plans of her own to both bring back the glory of MG Studios by fixing "Siren" and to curb the human population growth by re-forming man in her image - strong, sterile Amazonian woman. Her one problem: Myron and how to keep him from escaping the film.
It's a totally bizarre and wonderfully campy look at Hollywood of the 1940s but seen through the eyes of the 1970s. And, like its predecessor, is written in journal entries so you're in the action as it happens from the characters' perspectives. A great piece of fantasy fiction.
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Summary: Funny 1/2way Thru, Then Turns Vicious
Review: Not being a particular fan of transsexuals, I still found this book to be insulting to them. Every character in this book is despicable, the story goes nowhere, and even though it was funny in many parts, it was a mean-spirited kind of humor.
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