There’s also a love story between Juanito and Daniel, younger runaways whom Angel (as she’s called here) and Venus take in and teach to walk a ball and work the street. Cassara’s debut novel imagines them as runaways fleeing impoverished, unsupportive, or abusive homes ball circuit stars embodying the glamour they craved loving sisters and mothers to needy gay teens and each other and grieving, jonesing, dying women. Bringing together a community of individuals forged on mainstream society’s periphery, Cassara blends tragedy and hope in a story of love, family, and the dynamism of the human spirit.Angie and Venus Xtravaganza were key members of the New York drag ball scene made famous to outsiders by the 1991 film Paris is Burning. Told with wit, rage, tenderness, and fierce yearning, The House of Impossible Beauties sings with the authentic voices of 1980’s New York LBGT underground scene. All are ambitious, resilient and determined to control their own fates, even as they hurtle toward devastating consequences. The Xtravaganzas must learn to navigate work, addiction and persistent abuse, leaning on each other as bulwarks against a world that resists them. Into the house come Venus, a whip-smart trans girl who dreams of finding a rich man to take care of her Juanito, a quiet boy who loves fabrics and design and Daniel, a butch queen who accidentally saves Venus' life. When she falls in love with Hector, a beautiful young man who dreams of becoming a professional dancer, the two decide to form the House of Xtravaganza, the first-ever all-Latino house in the ballroom circuit. Burned by her traumatic past, Angel is new to the drag world, and has a yearning to help create a family for those without.

'Cassaras's propulsive and profound first novel, finding one's home in the world - particularly in a subculture plagued by fear and intolerance from society - comes with tragedy as well as extraordinary personal freedom.' - Esquire It's 1980 in New York City, and nowhere is the city's glamour and energy better reflected than in the burgeoning Harlem ballroom scene, where seventeen-year-old Angel first comes into her own. One of the most eagerly-anticipated debuts of 2018, Joseph Cassara’s gritty and gorgeous novel is inspired by the real House of Xtravaganza made famous by the seminal documentary Paris Is Burning.

The house of impossible beauties review