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juushikaTitle: Exquisite Corpse
Author: Poppy Z. Brite
Published: New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1996
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 340
Total Page Count: 69,634
Text Number: 201
Read For: fan of the author, checked out from the library
Short review: Serial murderer Andrew Compton escapes prison and makes his way to New Orleans where he discovers serial killer Jay Bryne, who against all expectations has surpassed Compton in the art of death. The two fall in love and set their sights on the perfect victim to share between them, a young man name Tran. Dense with murders, necrophilia, and cannibalism described in loving and gruesome detail, Exquisite Corpse takes its premise to the limit, and it's an addictive ride. Still, the book is not as enjoyable as Brite's other novels, nor is it particularly meaningful. Moderately recommended.
The other Brite books I have read balance the gruesome against the beautiful, and so they have a gritty gothic beauty which is a (guilty) pleasure to read. Exquisite Corpse forgoes that balance, jumping into the deep end of gore and including only enough beauty to provide contrast. As such, it's less of a gothic guilty pleasure, but still addicting—bloody and dirty and disgusting, the book demands the reader's attention and never lets it go. And so, behold: the first book ever to make me sick to my stomach, which is no small task. It is as gruesome as one could imagine: Brite writes sex, suffering, disease, mutilation, murder, decomposition, necrophilia, cannibalism all with loving, sickening detail. Yes, it's over the top; yes, it's disgusting. Reader be warned: Brite doesn't hold back. But if that's what you've come for, neither will she disappoint.
Whether or not that makes the book good, however, is another story. The violence is fascinating, but the serial killers are less so: unlike Brite's usual beautiful and tragic protagonists, Jay and Andrew are psychopaths, discomforting and dry, too strange to identify with, too simple to be fascinating. The more comprehensible secondary characters are interesting, but this is not truly their book. AIDS haunts the book as another serial killer and an indicator of how character view death, but the subject feels somewhat unexplored. In the end, Exquisite Corpse is attention-catching, addicting, and unusual—but not entirely fulfilling. It's not as enjoyable as Brite's other books, nor does it have a strong enough final statement. I still enjoyed it, in a perverse way, and it's unusual enough to warrant a recommendation, but the book is not exceptional nor is it Brite's best.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Poppy Z. Brite
Published: New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1996
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 340
Total Page Count: 69,634
Text Number: 201
Read For: fan of the author, checked out from the library
Short review: Serial murderer Andrew Compton escapes prison and makes his way to New Orleans where he discovers serial killer Jay Bryne, who against all expectations has surpassed Compton in the art of death. The two fall in love and set their sights on the perfect victim to share between them, a young man name Tran. Dense with murders, necrophilia, and cannibalism described in loving and gruesome detail, Exquisite Corpse takes its premise to the limit, and it's an addictive ride. Still, the book is not as enjoyable as Brite's other novels, nor is it particularly meaningful. Moderately recommended.
The other Brite books I have read balance the gruesome against the beautiful, and so they have a gritty gothic beauty which is a (guilty) pleasure to read. Exquisite Corpse forgoes that balance, jumping into the deep end of gore and including only enough beauty to provide contrast. As such, it's less of a gothic guilty pleasure, but still addicting—bloody and dirty and disgusting, the book demands the reader's attention and never lets it go. And so, behold: the first book ever to make me sick to my stomach, which is no small task. It is as gruesome as one could imagine: Brite writes sex, suffering, disease, mutilation, murder, decomposition, necrophilia, cannibalism all with loving, sickening detail. Yes, it's over the top; yes, it's disgusting. Reader be warned: Brite doesn't hold back. But if that's what you've come for, neither will she disappoint.
Whether or not that makes the book good, however, is another story. The violence is fascinating, but the serial killers are less so: unlike Brite's usual beautiful and tragic protagonists, Jay and Andrew are psychopaths, discomforting and dry, too strange to identify with, too simple to be fascinating. The more comprehensible secondary characters are interesting, but this is not truly their book. AIDS haunts the book as another serial killer and an indicator of how character view death, but the subject feels somewhat unexplored. In the end, Exquisite Corpse is attention-catching, addicting, and unusual—but not entirely fulfilling. It's not as enjoyable as Brite's other books, nor does it have a strong enough final statement. I still enjoyed it, in a perverse way, and it's unusual enough to warrant a recommendation, but the book is not exceptional nor is it Brite's best.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
