{"product_id":"the-house-of-impossible-beauties-a-novel-isbn-9780062676993","title":"The House of Impossible Beauties: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNAMED A RECOMMENDED BOOK OF 2018 BY \u003cem\u003eBuzzfeed • The Wall Street Journal • The Millions • Southern Living • Bustle • Esquire • Entertainment Weekly • Nylon\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e• Mashable • Libary Journal \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e• Thrillist\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“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.” -- \u003cem\u003eEsquire\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA gritty and gorgeous debut that follows a cast of gay and transgender club kids navigating the Harlem ball scene of the 1980s and ’90s, inspired by the real House of Xtravaganza made famous by the seminal documentary \u003cem\u003eParis Is Burning\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt’s 1980 in New York City, and nowhere is the city’s glamour and energy better reflected than in the burgeoning Harlem ball scene, where seventeen-year-old Angel first comes into her own. Burned by her traumatic past, Angel is new to the drag world, new to ball culture, and has a yearning inside of her to help create family for those without. 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 Harlem ball circuit. But when Hector dies of AIDS-related complications, Angel must bear the responsibility of tending to their house alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs mother of the house, Angel recruits Venus, a whip-fast 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’s life. The Xtravaganzas must learn to navigate sex work, addiction, and persistent abuse, leaning on each other as bulwarks against a world that resists them. All are ambitious, resilient, and determined to control their own fates, even as they hurtle toward devastating consequences. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTold in a voice that brims with wit, rage, tenderness, and fierce yearning, \u003cem\u003eThe House of Impossible Beauties\u003c\/em\u003e is a tragic story of love, family, and the dynamism of the human spirit. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003eIt’s 1980 in New York City, and nowhere is the city’s glamour and energy better reflected than in the burgeoning Harlem ball scene. Seventeen-year-old Angel, burned by a traumatic past, comes into her own in the drag world and falls in love with a beautiful young dancer named Hector. The two establish the groundbreaking all-Latino House of Xtravaganza—but when Hector dies of AIDS-related complications, Angel must tend to their house alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs mother of the house, Angel helps the Xtravaganzas navigate sex work, addiction, and persistent abuse in a world that resists them. All are ambitious, resilient, and determined to control their own fates, even as they hurtle toward devastating consequences.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTaking inspiration from the real House of Xtravaganza, made famous by the documentary \u003cem\u003eParis Is Burning,\u003c\/em\u003e Joseph Cassara has crafted a gritty and gorgeous debut. Told in a voice that brims with wit, rage, tenderness, and fierce yearning, \u003cem\u003eThe House of Impossible Beauties\u003c\/em\u003e is a tragic story of love, family, and the dynamism of the human spirit.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“Exceptional...The writing is erotically luscious, lyrically intense, forthrightly in your face, and pitch-perfect in the dialog, and the suspense comes from wondering what’s going to happen to these people...A grittily gorgeous work for readers who don’t go for cozies.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A marvelously serious, deep, artful, humane read. I’m really knocked out by this…[Cassara] managed to put actual, living, breathing \u003cem\u003ehuman\u003c\/em\u003e beings on the page….There’s so much downright gorgeous prose here, so many beautifully and \u003cem\u003eprecisely\u003c\/em\u003e observed images, subjects, emotions. Beautiful because \u003cem\u003etrue\u003c\/em\u003e.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePaul Harding, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Tinkers\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In \u003cem\u003eThe House of Impossible Beauties\u003c\/em\u003e, Joseph Cassara’s characters live between the twin poles of the dark underworld of the Christopher Street piers and the glittering Harlem Ball Scene. They are so young, so full of longing to love and be loved as their true selves; at first the House of Xtravaganza offers a refuge. But nowhere is safe for long. In a voice both intimate and dazzling, Cassara allows his readers to experience these tumultuous lives. The result is a novel full of desire and suspense and heartbreak.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMargot Livesey, author of Mercury\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Cassara has done a superb job of reimagining a world that will be foreign and even exotic to many readers, while creating fully developed characters to populate it. The tone is singularly apposite....A compassionate story, which is altogether moving and unforgettable.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Fierce, tender, and heartbreaking.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Vividly imagined. . . . Riveted by their stories, you are so struck by the Xtravaganza’s strength and determination, by their vibrant spirits and humor, by their creativity, by their sensitivity to beauty and their capacity to give and receive love.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Cassara immerses us in a New York that we may think we know from countless other novels and films, but which is, in fact, significantly more complex (and more urgently relevant to us today) than previously imagined.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Millions\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Simultaneously tender and tragic, Cassara chronicles the House’s inception, its role in cultivating family for outcasts in the community, and spotlights the wholly original personalities that brought it to life.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTown \u0026amp; Country\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Infused with glitz as well as heart, the story explores life as racial and sexual minorities—the pains and the triumphs, the grit and the thrills—in a way that feels personal, even for those who never walked the ballroom scene.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHarper's Bazaar\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This debut novel will absolutely blow you away.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBustle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Vivid and engaging. . . . The novel feels like an anthropological plunge into another era, enhanced by rhythmic, urban prose littered with slang and Spanglish.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A vivacious debut.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eO, the Oprah Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“ [An] exceptional debut...The book’s social truth is unsettling, its dialog deft, its characterization affecting, and its language both gritty and luscious.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“You might crack open \u003cem\u003eThe House of Impossible Beauties\u003c\/em\u003e because why wouldn’t you want to know (more) about the underground queer ball scene of 1980’s Harlem or the ins and outs of the piers at the end of Christopher Street? Underneath the grime and glitter, \u003cem\u003eBeauties\u003c\/em\u003e is quietly about necessity and defiance, about love and death, about characters who ache to be alive and seen in a world that mirrors back nothing but rejection and violence.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNami Mun, author of Miles From Nowhere\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Underneath the grime and glitter, \u003cem\u003eThe House of Impossible Beauties\u003c\/em\u003e is quietly about necessity and defiance, about love and death, about characters who ache to be alive and seen in a world that mirrors back nothing but rejection and violence.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNami Mun, author of Miles From Nowhere\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A novel so beautiful it’s hard to believe it’s a debut... As you meet each narrator, the book reveals the raw, heartbreaking stories behind the glamor we associate with the ballroom scene.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMashable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Passionate...empathetic and vibrant.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“It’s impossible to not feel utterly transported, to feel the hum of the music in your cells, to vibrate with the energy of the time and place, with all its attendant exhilarating highs and devastating lows.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNylon Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Cassara’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.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEsquire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A heartbreaking novel that burns brightly.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBuzzfeed\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Joy and loss clutch hands in \u003cem\u003eThe House of Impossible Beauties\u003c\/em\u003e. It is a tragic book, a lyrical book, a defiant book, and ultimately a loving book. The heroines and heroes hold fast to love and Cassara clearly has deep love for every character who struts across these pages.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Harmless Like You\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e “This is a definitive LGBTQ family story, of the sweep and intimacy that’s typical in family sagas while also steeped in the trauma and sass specific to its milieu.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ecco","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44888471470309,"sku":"NP9780062676993","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780062676993.jpg?v=1730229156","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-house-of-impossible-beauties-a-novel-isbn-9780062676993","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}