52 Men

by Louise Wareham Leonard

Overview

From a writer who master poet Seamus Heaney described as one “who risks much both stylistically and emotionally” comes 52 Men. Taut, spare and highly compressed autobiographical fiction for the mobile age, it is immensely funny and sexually charged.   In contemporary literary miniatures from a few lines to a few pages, Manhattan-raised Elise McKnight describes the men in her life who gradually reveal her: high-profile cultural leaders, writers and celebrities, as well as the down-to-earth waiter, student and police officer. Fifty-two strange, romantic and sexual interludes and relationships spark to life and disappear in the wind, leaving the reader always asking: What is Elise’s power? What does she want and will she ever get it? Does she have a secret and if so, what is it?   With surprising, sometimes shocking and moving cameos by figures from tabloids and the news: Jay Carney, Jonathan Franzen, Lou Reed, Michael Stipe; and encounters with artists, financiers, and a boxer who reads Neruda at the Turkish baths.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781597095303
Publisher:	Red Hen Press
Publication date:	08/15/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Louise Wareham Leonard writes with such rare intensity, rage, sadness and ferocious love, she lights up a world where expectancies and experiences of desire, sexuality and authenticity are redefined and exploded. Both devastating and, often, laugh-out-loud funny, her work has a savage purity—forgiving both all and nothing—demanding truth, wresting us from darkness to the ethereal, offering both solace and change. Born in New Zealand, she moved to Manhattan at age twelve, attended Columbia College and has received, amongst other awards, the James Jones Literary Society First Novel Award. She lives in upstate New York.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“I’m not sure I’ve ever read a story of a life that’s both so moving and told with such breathtaking economy and precision. 52 Men gave me goose bumps again and again.”

—Kurt Andersen

“A haunting and haunted book…harsh and sweet and very funny, in spots as hard to read as it is hard to put down.”

—Will Eno

“Recollections, elegant in their precision, range from hilarious to heartbreaking. . . . 52 Men captures what is most beautiful and elegant about growing up and seeking intimacy. The sex is both great and terrible. These vignettes ask readers to re-examine memory, hurt and healing, and the myriad ways we can, cannot, and long to be loved.”

—Shakespeare and Company

“Lavishly gifted.”

—Darcy Cosper, Editor-in-Chief, The Offing

“A fantastic book. Certainly told, teasingly engaged in celebrity, seemingly tough . . . but tender, quietly sad, tragic. One of the lightest/heaviest books I’ve read in some time.”

—Sean Bernard, author of Studies in the Hereafter

“THIS IS A BOOK I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE WRITTEN: think of your life—peopled with your objects and subjects of desire/love/lust/curiosity. Give each one at least a paragraph. Distill the essence with details and/or impressions. What did each one teach you? How did each one (in some cases) harm you? What were you searching for on that sea of beds? What Leonard understands.. is how we remember these often brief encounters—as a phrase, a scent, an embarrassment, a surprise. . . . and Part Two is a revelation of a possible theme running throughout her experiences in a minor key. . . . a too-young exposure (and many of us can relate) . . . which “colonizes desire” (from a great film Things Behind the Sun ). Leonard took a risk with this book and dealt out her deck of 52–I’m very grateful she did . . .”

—Binnie Klein, Author, Radio Producer of A Miniature World

“Striking and disorienting and sexy and sad and, to me anyway, somewhat frightening.”

—Alva Noe, Professor of Philosophy at Berkeley, author of Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature

“So powerful and unsettling and so gorgeously written, it haunts me.

An astonishing book.”

—Caroline Leavitt

“Whip-smart, original and refreshing.”

—Elissa Bassist

“A profound and emotionally charged book that has pissed off quite a few men, and thrilled and empowered even more women.”

—Kaylie Jones

“An extraordinary book revealing 52 very different experiences with 52 very different men, love, despair, contempt, anger, bemused affection. Beautiful, precise sentences, unique yet understandable revelations, and now and then a twist of the knife which shows the pain experienced and never forgotten. A haunting work, a tremendously valuable volume.”

—Stephen Policoff

Editorial Reviews

52 Men suggests that our identity is at least in part a product of our romantic past, and that the particulars we choose to depict that past are significant, comprising a kind of personal psychobiography. . . . Leonard’s focus is zoom-lens tight: she describes the various men, zeroing in on what they said and did—and how she responded—in a pivotal moment. . . . She suffered a grievous early trauma . . . and she’s wounded. Yet she’s also slyly, coolly observant and has transformed her experiences into art. . . . We know her, ultimately, through the book she has written. The narrative specifics she selects to describe the men are hers, as is the deadpan humor; all of it arises from her artistic consciousness. . . . Although in style and tone 52 Men differs from either Elizabeth Hardwick’s Sleepless Nights or Renata Adler’s Speedboat , it is, like both of these books, a novel of impressions unified by the author’s sensibility.”

—Amanda Fortini, Los Angeles Review of Books

From the Publisher

2015-05-12
Neither fish nor fowl, these short pieces of "autobiographical fiction" detail the author's romantic conquests and her earlier abuse. Maybe we don't always have to know what's true and what isn't to enjoy autobiographical fiction, but this slim collection from Leonard (Miss Me A Lot Of, 2007, etc.) straddles the line in a way that is irritating and perplexing. Among the 52 men described in Part I are guys named Michael, Jonathan, and Lou. These are clearly Stipe, Franzen, and Reed; in case you don't figure it out, their last names are given in the copy on the back cover. In addition to the public figures (there are more), other pieces describe men who have since died, giving verifiable dates and causes of death. More reality: in Section 22, the author refers to a list of words for sexual intercourse she made with a man named Sergio. A facsimile of this fascinating list is included in an appendix. So, believe it: men are mad for "Elise" (look, it's fiction). She's showered with expensive gifts, tortured letters, and declarations of love. As "the world's most famous North American novelist" says, "the best thing about this city is you." Though the writing has its moments, there's no attempt to present these vignettes in a way that adds up to a story. Then there's the 53rd man, the subject of a longer piece of writing in Part II. This is Elise's stepbrother, who started sexually abusing her when she was 9 and did so for years without their parents' knowledge. This section further complicates the issue of factuality. Meanwhile, the book is dedicated to two of the author's brothers "in particular," two who aren't in the story. You're probably not supposed to be worrying about all this. Good luck. A bad idea for a book.

Kirkus Reviews