Thursday, June 20, 2019
The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara
The library celebrates various heritage months throughout the year, and I always try to read one or two book related to the heritage month theme. This was one of my picks for
Pride Month 2019.
A drag queen named Angel falls in love with a gay man named
Hector. Both rejected by their families,
together they decide to create an all-Latino house for other gays and
transgendered people from the Harlem ball scene. The House of Xtravaganza will provide them with
the home and support that a family would give them. The characters are based on actual people and
events from the 1980’s ball scene with the specter of AIDS on the horizon. Heartbreaking in many ways - the people from the ballroom culture lived dangerous lives, often working in the sex trade, and many died young either from AIDS or violence.
If you want to know more about the Harlem ball culture, the documentary “Paris is Burning” is available on YouTube. It's a little over an hour long and features a number of the characters from the book.
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