Myra Breckinridge
by Gore Vidal
I said to someone recently that I need plot and/or characters, I don't really like books where all they have going for them is prose. Of course getting back to MB I immediately realized I was wrong - the writing is the main draw here, campy and outrageous, with a very strong individual voice for each of Myra and Buck (and Myron even).
Naturally, the Vietnam exercise appeals enormously to the students. "I mean," said one of them, "if we don't stop them there you know, where they are now---they'll be right here in L.A." To which I answered, "This city could not be worse run by the Chinese than it is by the present administration and, frankly, if the Chinese could be persuaded to take on the job---which is doubtful---I think we should let them."
The plot, well, yikes. Someone else said that GV was just trying to piss everyone off. I don't know that much about him or the literary milieu of his time, but I buy it. I just read a few bits after it got to the first explicitly detailed sexual assault, and skimmed the last few chapters (in which it becomes even clearer Vidal did zero research on how medical transition works, not because it made the book better for it to work his way, I think he just didn't care?), and I'm counting this read. So sue me.