Reviewed by John Burdett
20th January 2008

Las Vegas is the expression, in glitter and concrete, of America’s brittle
and mutating id. This is not the argument of Charles Bock’s exceptional
Beautiful Children, so much as the fact from which he explores the survival
strategies - usually doomed - of the citizen-mutants themselves. He proves
an expert guide, being a native of the city with an encyclopedic knowledge
of every perverted nook and narcissistic cranny. His ability to share a
deep understanding of America’s million or so lost street kids and their
tormented parents gives the book a whiff of greatness.

The story begins with 12-year-old Newell running away from his home in a
suburb of Vegas. It almost goes without saying that the lad is a
foul-mouthed, cynical, needy, cute, emotionally exhausted,
old-before-his-time product of the city, but what is most impressive is
Bock’s restraint here and throughout the book: Newell is not fleeing
anything like sexual abuse, poverty or starvation. His mom and dad adore
him, and, as his mother reflects, “They had tried to give Newell everything
he had wanted. Where was the crime in that?” In other words, he is spoilt
and given to tantrums. By implication, the motive for his decision to join
the hordes of America’s lost street kids is the impossibility of finding a
path to adulthood in a world which has no knowledge of such a thing. His
parents are not bad but, as damaged goods themselves, have very little
structure to their relationship beyond sex and not much talent in relating
to their child or each other.

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