My Pinup

Hilton Als’s new book, My Pinup, is concerned with Als’s past selves and past loves, refracted through and tested against the pop icon. The memoir weaves between accounts of and encounters with Prince, as well as two boyfriends—the first white, a later one “colored”—who cannot be separated in Als’s mind from the mysteries embodied in the singer. Much of the writer’s work pulls at the knot of sex, gender, and race. Barring a great rupture, these things can’t be definitively unwound. It makes for a world of difficult loves and lovers.