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aecardenas · 07-11-2013, 10:35 PM

A review of Poppy Z. Brite's Exquisite Corpse

Rating: Four Stars

I used to buy multiple copies of this book and keep them on my shelf for the sole purpose of giving them to friends and acquaintances, telling them "You should read this book". I wanted to see if they ,too, would experience what I did, which was to become utterly and irrevocably fascinated with the appalling beauty of this book. I had been a fan of Poppy Z. Brite's work for a while but Exquisite Corpse was and remains her best work.

The novel is about two serial killers, operating on different prey, who inevitably cross paths and form a--I hesitate to use the word "romantic"--perhaps we should call it a "Necromantic Relationship". The subject matter is a sublime gore-fest. There are scenes of such unabashed violence and carnal destruction that it's almost a Feast of Death. But what sets this book apart from other splatter punk works is the beauty of Brite's language. I don't think I've ever seen such beautiful descriptions of graphic violence, of sexual terror, of human dissection, of blood…the prose is a heady mixture of poetry and clinical facts. At one point when a dead man is cut open…the horror of his disease-riddled innards and entrails is a veritable banquet of succulent and devastating power to the killers who performed the act.

For those who feel that this matters: the (necro)romantic relationships in this book are primarily homosexual in nature. So if this offends you, then best go elsewhere. Actually, I think this may have been intended by the author. For she seems intent of supplying an endless variety of things that most conventional readers would find offensive--human cannibalism, homosexual serial killers, insane violence and intense graphic sex and violence. She seems to want to put the reader through the meat grinder and see what comes out on the other side.

And so what you have is a book that is gleefully perverted, resolute in breaking taboos, and perhaps one of the most wonderfully sexually explicitly novels in the genre. It's a book that will divide its readers between extremes of Love and Hate. There will be no in-betweens here.

My only complaint with this book, and what prevents me from giving it a 5 Star rating, is that the ending feels altogether rushed and unsatisfying. It's as if Brite simply didn't know where to go or how to end her macabre masterpiece and so just gave up. I don't blame her, really. I had no idea where the story would go, either. But despite the flawed ending, the book itself is an incredibly powerful work of horror and deserves to be experienced.

07-11-2013, 10:35 PM	#1
aecardenas Kafkaesque Posts: 104 Karma: 1149770 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: California Device: Kindle	EXQUISITE CORPSE by Poppy Z. Brite - A Review A review of Poppy Z. Brite's Exquisite Corpse Rating: Four Stars I used to buy multiple copies of this book and keep them on my shelf for the sole purpose of giving them to friends and acquaintances, telling them "You should read this book". I wanted to see if they ,too, would experience what I did, which was to become utterly and irrevocably fascinated with the appalling beauty of this book. I had been a fan of Poppy Z. Brite's work for a while but Exquisite Corpse was and remains her best work. The novel is about two serial killers, operating on different prey, who inevitably cross paths and form a--I hesitate to use the word "romantic"--perhaps we should call it a "Necromantic Relationship". The subject matter is a sublime gore-fest. There are scenes of such unabashed violence and carnal destruction that it's almost a Feast of Death. But what sets this book apart from other splatter punk works is the beauty of Brite's language. I don't think I've ever seen such beautiful descriptions of graphic violence, of sexual terror, of human dissection, of blood…the prose is a heady mixture of poetry and clinical facts. At one point when a dead man is cut open…the horror of his disease-riddled innards and entrails is a veritable banquet of succulent and devastating power to the killers who performed the act. For those who feel that this matters: the (necro)romantic relationships in this book are primarily homosexual in nature. So if this offends you, then best go elsewhere. Actually, I think this may have been intended by the author. For she seems intent of supplying an endless variety of things that most conventional readers would find offensive--human cannibalism, homosexual serial killers, insane violence and intense graphic sex and violence. She seems to want to put the reader through the meat grinder and see what comes out on the other side. And so what you have is a book that is gleefully perverted, resolute in breaking taboos, and perhaps one of the most wonderfully sexually explicitly novels in the genre. It's a book that will divide its readers between extremes of Love and Hate. There will be no in-betweens here. My only complaint with this book, and what prevents me from giving it a 5 Star rating, is that the ending feels altogether rushed and unsatisfying. It's as if Brite simply didn't know where to go or how to end her macabre masterpiece and so just gave up. I don't blame her, really. I had no idea where the story would go, either. But despite the flawed ending, the book itself is an incredibly powerful work of horror and deserves to be experienced.