Freak Show, by James St. James

[Ulysses]

Billy Bloom may just be the most frustrating character in the history of LGBT/YA novels.

And yet, how could I not love him?

Billy is rich and oblivious. And extremely nelly. And a drag queen. At seventeen. Having been suddenly shipped to southern Florida by his crazy mother to stay with his grouchy, disapproving father in the family’s ancestral mansion, Billy suddenly finds himself in a snooty private school full of blond conformists and jocks.

Not the least of whom is Flip Kelly. Football star. Blond, blue-eyed. The whole nine yards.

But this arch, funny, harrowing and ultimately moving novel is really not about a gay teenager into extreme drag; it’s about agency. James St. James (irritating, assuredly fake name, but OK, I’ll just take a deep breath) has taken a standard LGBT/YA story about a sissy boy falling for a big gentle jock and turned it inside out.

Billy is clueless, but he’s also fierce.He is narcissistic but also kind. He is so oblivious he refers to the one girl in school who’s nice to him as Blah Blah Blah, until he finally learns her name: This is simply one step in Billy’s gradual apotheosis into self-awareness.

“The choice is yours.”

There is violence and teenage meanness of the worst sort in this book. But, as in other YA books, there is redemption and the genuine love of a few good people who literally save Billy’s life. But, in the end, it is Billy who takes charge of his own destiny.

“These moments are going to keep coming, and it’s how you react to them that defines you.”

“But God,” I asked, trembling, “how do I bring reason to the anger and chaos, when its reasons are hidden from me?” And God said: “You forgive.”

Inside the chaotic silliness that is Billy Bloom’s world, there is a powerful soul. It is about survival, not just to survive, but to make the world better with your own insane courage.

Really pretty remarkable.

[Ulysses]

Don wrote: "Great review. I read this book a while ago and loved it. Such an interesting character."
Thanks.