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Sugarless's Discussions
Who is excited for Glee to be on again this week?
12 Replies
Started this discussion. Last reply by Elyssa Nov 11, 2009.
Theatre-related book reviews
Started Nov 2, 2009
Coming-of-age book about a teen growing up in the '70s whose best friends are Broadway LPs
4 Replies
Started this discussion. Last reply by Ellington Berg Oct 6, 2009.
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- About Me:
- Sugarless
A Novel
James Magruder
“Magruder is a writer of immense gifts, with a voice —smart, playful, lyrical, subtle, unsparing —utterly unlike anyone else’s.”—Tony Kushner, playwright of Angels in America
Things look bad for Rick Lahrem, a high school sophomore in a cookie-cutter Chicago suburb in 1976. His mother’s second husband is a licensed psychologist who eats like an ape, his stepsister is a stoner slut, and his father is engaged to a Southern belle. Rick’s only solace is his growing collection of original Broadway-cast LPs, bought on the sly at Wax Trax.
After he brings two girls in speech class to tears by reading a story aloud, Rick is coaxed onto the interscholastic forensics team to perform an eight-minute dramatic interpretation of The Boys in the Band, the controversial sixties play about homosexuality. Unexpectedly successful at this oddball event, Rick begins winning tournaments and making friends with his teammates.
Rick also discovers the joys of sex—with a speech coach from a rival school—just as his mother, reacting to a deteriorating home environment, makes an unnerving commitment to Christ. The newly confident Rick assumes this too shall pass—until the combined forces of family, sex, and faith threaten to undo him at the state meet in Peoria.
James Magruder’s Sugarless offers a ruefully entertaining take on the simultaneous struggles of coming-out, coming-of-age, and coming-to-Jesus.
“Sugarless is the rough chutes and ladders of adolescence against a realistic and hilarious evocation of the 1970s. If you ever wondered what makes boys tick, or you’ve been in danger of forgetting, this is the book you’ve been looking for.”—Amy Bloom, author of Away
"In this fascinating 1970s coming-of-age story, playwright and translator Magruder introduces readers to Rick Lahrem, a high school sophomore struggling with his sexuality, his loneliness and his new stepfamily. His only solace is the Broadway LPs he buys at the local record store, but when he's coaxed into joining his school's speech team, he finally discovers something he's successful at and a group of friends who actually seem to care about him. Then one day, while record shopping, he meets Ned Bolang, a speech coach from a rival high school, and a sexual affair ensues just as Rick's mother is finding Christ, an irony not lost on the reader. Rick and Ned's relationship is nuanced and complicated: Rick views Ned as the one person who can make him happy, but is the older Ned exploiting his young lover? While this novel may be about a homosexual relationship in the 1970s, the story captures the struggles of teenagers, straight and gay, of every generation." —Publishers Weekly
James Magruder is a playwright and award- winning translator who lives in Baltimore. He wrote the book for the Broadway musical Triumph of Love and has published stories in Bloom, Subtropics, and The Gettysburg Review. He teaches at Swarthmore College and the Yale School of Drama. This is his first novel.
- Hometown:
- Wheaton-Warrenville, Illinois
- My Favorite Shows:
- Company, A Little Night Music, Pippin, Anything Goes
- My Favorite Writer/Composer:
- Soundheim, myself
- My Favorite Show Website:
- http://www.jamesmagruder.com
- High School
- Wheaton-Warrenville
- College
- Cornell
- Other School
- Yale
- Current Occupation
- dramaturge, writer, teacher
Social Media
Sugarless's Blog
Chicago Sun-Times Review of Sugarless!
November 22, 2009
BY MISHA DAVENPORT staff reporter
“Different is the kiss of death in high school,” Broadway playwright and theater teacher James Magruder writes in his first novel, Sugarless (University of Wisconsin Press, 268 pages, $24.95), a coming of age and coming-out novel set in the conservative Christian suburb of Wheaton in 1976.
Anyone who has survived or is currently surviving high… Continue
Posted on November 23, 2009 at 11:05am
Bay Area Reporter Review
Oral interpretations
Books
Published 10/22/2009
by Robert Julian
Sugarless by James Magruder; Wisconsin Press, $24.95
Before you scoff, you should know that the late Gilda Radner was an Oral Interpretation major at the University of Michigan. From such humble beginnings, great things may follow –… Continue
Posted on November 3, 2009 at 11:33am
Critcal Condition Review
Posted on November 3, 2009 at 11:30am
Baltimore Gay Life Interview
http://www.baltimoregaylife.com/ae/oral-interpretation.shtml
Oral Interpretation!
Sugarless, the amazing new novel from acclaimed playwright James Magruder, is a joyous Binaca breath of fresh air from a 70’s gay adolescence where Rick, the queer teen hero, triumphs, finds love and sex and grows to be a man through high school speech contests where he… Continue
Posted on November 3, 2009 at 11:28am
Examiner Review
Are you interested in reading a book in your spare time which has a character who enjoys Broadway (rather than mere Broadway references throughout a novel?) If so, check out James Magruder's Sugarless, a new book where main character, Rick's, "only solace is his growing collection of original… Continue
Posted on November 3, 2009 at 11:22am
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