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The Child Paperback – September 1, 2008

by Sarah Schulman (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 20 ratings
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“Schulman crafts a piercing investigation into desire, mores, and the law.”—Publishers Weekly

“An important work of American literature. That this is probably not how the book will be handled, reviewed, shelved, sold and read makes the novel all the more necessary and true.”—Lambda Book Report

“Sarah Schulman is one our most articulate observers.”—The Advocate

“In true Schulman form, the book has a gleaming intelligence and chilled anger. It’s beautifully blunt and plainspoken.”—L.A. Weekly

“A thought-provoking story on a controversial subject. . . . To her credit, Schulman forces the reader to question common societal assumptions.”—Library Journal

The Child, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, is the eleventh and perhaps most controversial book by acclaimed lesbian writer Sarah Schulman, available for the first time in paperback. This novel explores the parameters of queer teen sexuality against a backdrop of hysteria and sanctioned homophobia, based on the 1997 sexual assault and murder of an eleven-year-old boy by a fifteen-year-old.

Stew is a lonely teen who discovers love on an adult website. But when his older boyfriend is arrested in an Internet pedophilia sting, his proclivities are revealed to his family and friends, to his horror. Devastated by these revelations and left to fend for himself, he ends up committing murder.

Brazen and daring in its themes, The Child is a powerful indictment of sex panic in America, and a plaintive meditation on isolation and desire.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Arsenal Pulp Press
  4. Publication date
    September 1, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    5.6 x 0.7 x 8.1 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1551522438
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1551522432
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Schulman crafts a piercing investigation into desire, mores, and the law." -Publishers Weekly "An important work of American literature. That this is probably not how the book will be handled, reviewed, shelved, sold and read makes the novel all the more necessary and true." -Lambda Book Report "Sarah Schulman is one our most articulate observers." -The Advocate "Unputdownable." -Out magazine "In true Schulman form, the book has a gleaming intelligence and chilled anger." --LA Weekly

About the Author

Sarah Schulman is the author of eleven previous books, including eight novels, the latest being The Child (2006). As a journalist, her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, and Interview. She has won a Guggenheim Fellowship and two American Library Association Gay & Lesbian Book Awards. She lives in New York.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arsenal Pulp Press (September 1, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1551522438
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1551522432
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.6 x 0.7 x 8.1 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 20 ratings

About the author

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Sarah Schulman

Sarah Schulman

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Sarah Schulman is the author of novels, nonfiction books, plays and movies. Forthcoming in May 2021, LET THE RECORD SHOW: A Political History of ACT UP, NY 1987-1993 (FSG). Her most recent novels are MAGGIE TERRY and THE COSMOPOLITANS,(The Feminist Press) which was picked as one of the "Best Books of 2016" by Publishers' Weekly, and a nonfiction book CONFLICT IS NOT ABUSE: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility and the Duty of Repair (Arsenal). She recently published ISRAEL/PALESTINE AND THE QUEER INTERNATIONAL from Duke University Press, THE GENTRIFICATION OF THE MIND: WItness to a Lost Imagination by University of California Press, the paperback of TIES THAT BIND: Familial Homophobia and Its Consequences and the paperback edition of her novel THE MERE FUTURE from Arsenal Pulp.Previous novels are THE CHILD, SHIMMER, EMPATHY, RAT BOHEMIA, PEOPLE IN TROUBLE, AFTER DELORES, GIRLS VISIONS AND EVERYTHING and THE SOPHIE HOROWITZ STORY. Her nonfiction titles are TIES THAT BIND: Familial Homophobia and Its Consequences, STAGESTRUCK:Theater, AIDS and the Marketing of Gay America, and MY AMERICAN HISTORY: Lesbian and Gay Life During the Reagan/Bush Years. A working playwright, her productions include: CARSON McCULLERS (published by Playscripts Ink), MANIC FLIGHT REACTION and the theatrical adaptation of Isaac Singer's ENEMIES, A LOVE STORY. As a screenwriter, her films include THE OWLS (co-written with director Cheryl Dunye)- Berlin Film Festival 2010, MOMMY IS COMING (co-written with director Cheryl Dunye)- Berlin Film Festival selection 2011. and JASON AND SHIRLEY, directed by Stephen Winter (Museum of Modern Art). She is co-producer with Jim Hubbard of his feature documentary UNITED IN ANGER: A History of ACT UP. As a journalist, her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, and Interview. She has won a Guggenheim Fellowship in Playwrighting, a Fullbright in Judaic Studies, two American Library Association Book Awards, and is the 2009 recipient of the Kessler Prize for sustained contribution to LGBT studies. Sarah is Distinguished Professor at the City University of New York, College of State Island, a Fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities at New York University. A member of the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace, Sarah is faculty advisor to Students for Justice in Palestine at The College of Staten Island. She lives in New York.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
20 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Linda in Santa Cruz
5.0 out of 5 stars It is how close each of us are to reaching across those fears and lies and coming to love and reconciliation
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2016
Verified Purchase
After reading Schulman's books, I always feel more sane for understanding the world we live in as I do. If you are reading reviews, you may think that The Child is about "a controversial subject," that is, pederasty. I think this book is about another contorversial subject, and that is how fear and lies make us crazy. It is about how fear of women and gays and artists spin lies about us. It is how close each of us are to reaching across those fears and lies and coming to love and reconciliation. The good outcome is so close to us. And yet, in this world we live in, our loved ones choose again and again to believe the lies and remain in a delusional bubble of fear.

And that is why I loved this book. Why it gave me hope. To know that I am not alone in being optimistic, in how if we stand in our courage, we can reach across and understand why our loved ones have hurt us; why we have hurt those we love, and find connection and love, and belonging.
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Traveling Librarian
3.0 out of 5 stars Worthy writing but could be better
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2023
Though this novel is courageous, I think it would have been more effective had the child been portrayed as a more likable person. His pathologies so overwhelm whatever else he may be that it's almost impossible to empathize with him. On the other hand, while this does not by itself negate the over-arching question of the story (i.e., How can a fifteen-year-old be considered both an adult and a minor in concurrent, though separate, cases?), the question is not explored fully enough. I think more of the novel should have centered around Stew (the child) and less development should have been devoted to the other characters. Stew, after all, is the most interesting character in the book. I wanted to know him better, and I wanted the question of his child vs adult identity to be more than merely suggested.

THE CHILD has potential but I don't think it measures up. On the other hand, Schulman is a good writer, and the book is a compelling, if not satisfying read.
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Bob Lind
4.0 out of 5 stars Great approach to a controversial subject.
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2007
Verified Purchase
Stewie Mulcahey is a shy and troubled 15 year old gay boy from a dysfunctional home, who finds his only acceptance and comfort in the arms of David, a 39 year old man he met through an internet chat room. When his parents find out, Stewie is coerced by the police into testifying against the adult, although the boy insists he always initiated their contacts and was not forced into anything. His home life deteriorates further, with his parents and sister making it clear they want him out of the house, and they become upset when a social worker refuses to send him to a juvenile detention home. The situation escallates until an episode in which he is charged as an adult with murder in the death of his young nephew, whom they suspected him of molesting.

One of the two attorneys for David, the adult charged in the molestation, is Eva Krasner, who is simultaneously going through some tough times with his lover, Mary, and facing a possible health crisis. She is working with gay attorney Hockey Notkin, who seems a bit bitter and distracted since losing his lover to AIDS. They struggle with the dilemma of creating a defense for David without simultaneously pushing more of the blame on Stewie who, while he is not their client, they feel is more of a victim of his family's and the justice system's homophobia than anything else.

Sarah Schulman is a well-known lesbian writer who has a reputation for edgy works, and this is no exception. She tackles a difficult and controversial subject head on, but with a skillfully light touch that doesn't prejudge or challenge the opinions of the reader. The novel reads like a crime mystery, and catches the readers attention every step of the way.
9 people found this helpful
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WordsWithDucks
1.0 out of 5 stars I wanted to like this book
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2008
I wanted so much to read this book. The existence of an incisive novel about the terrible unfairnesses which gay youth commonly face seemed to promise the telling of a difficult but necessary story. There is still too much discomfort and nervous throat-clearing around the idea that anyone younger than college age could possibly be gay, or have romantic or sexual urges of any stripe. But despite two attempts, I couldn't get beyond the first twenty or thirty pages of The Child because of Sarah Schulman's difficulty in making most of the characters in this book at all believable. I know she does have the ability to write well and do justice to a character; the inner monologue of Eva waiting in line at the health clinic was sharp and satisfying and fully-rounded. But this only emphasized the strange contrast to the clunky lines spoken by Stew and his lover and his parents and the police and most of the other characters. It seemed that Schulman was possibly unfamiliar with how a high-school-aged boy might talk, and the parents and other adults seemed like caricatures designed to get the reader to dislike them as quickly as possible. Trying to be charitable, I found myself thinking "Well, this is a noble effort for a first-time writer," only to find that Schulman had published seven previous novels.

I've seen nothing but praise for "The Child," and for Schulman in general, wherever I've looked, and indeed the subjects she addresses are serious and well worth considering. Perhaps my aversion to her writing style is a peculiar matter of taste, but after finding myself for page after page mentally re-working every line of dialog I read, or trying in vain to imagine those written words actually coming spontaneously out of the mouth of any real person, I finally, with heavy heart, had to give up.
6 people found this helpful
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