Fiction Review: The House of Impossible Beauties

My first audio book for Big Book Summer was The House of Impossible Beauties, a novel by Joseph Cassara, a book that's been sitting in my audio backlog for far too long. I'm so glad I finally listened to this heartbreakingly beautiful story of a group of gay and transgender young people who become a family in 1980's New York City.

The novel begins by peeking into the childhoods of each of the main characters. Angel is an older Puerto Rican teen who has always felt female and finally begins to dress the way she feels outside of her home. She takes a big chance one morning when she comes home to the apartment she shares with her mother and brother, Miguel, still dressed in her gown from the night before. Thomas is only eight years old as his story begins, living in a small apartment with his mother and Italian grandmother. He spends a lot of time with his grandma while his mother is out, and he loves dressing up in her clothes. When he's just a teen, both his mother and grandmother are arrested, and Thomas sets out on his own, fully inhabiting his new female persona of Venus, as he tries to earn a living on the streets. Juanito lives with his mother and secretly adores the old Barbie doll he found. At just eight years old, he finally gets to spend a summer with his father in Puerto Rico, but when his father sees the Barbie doll, he takes out his rage on little Juanito in horrific ways. Angel eventually falls in love with Hector, and the two dream of starting their own house, as a part of the Harlem ball circuit. After Hector dies of AIDS, Angel continues their House of Xtravanganza, fulfilling her dream of being a Mother. She recruits Venus from the streets and gives her a home. Juanito and a butch queen named Daniel follow. The close-knit group forms a loving family and supports each other in beautiful ways, but the pressures of street life, addiction, and AIDS provide devastating challenges.

This is a completely immersive novel that pulled me into this world I was unfamiliar with, with trans balls, Houses, and lives made more difficult by addiction and often-necessary prostitution to make a living. Each of the characters is carefully drawn, and by starting in childhood, the reader really gets to know each of them as an individual. All of them suffered lives touched by poverty, abuse, and/or crime as very young children, and many of them were also rejected by their families. The way they form their own inclusive, loving family is heartwarming, but their lives are still marred by heartbreaking circumstances, including abuse, AIDS, addiction, and death. I was stunned to learn after I finished it that the novel is based on the real-life Angie (Angel) and her House of Xtravaganza, and that many of the characters in the book are based on real-life people. It's a very powerful novel that had me laughing out loud at times and tearing up at others. The audio production was wonderful and part of what made the story feel so real and compelling to me. This moving, tragic story about finding community and family covers it all: joy and sorrow, love and life.

416 pages, Ecco

HarperAudio

NOTE: Paris Is Burning is a documentary film chronicling the 1980's NY ball culture and featuring Venus as one of its storylines.

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Alphabet Soup Challenge - H

Diversity Challenge + June mini-challenge: LGBT+

Big Book Summer Challenge

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

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Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible (or Amazon).

 

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