Exquisite Corpse

After I finished reading Exquisite Corpse, I was struck by the thought that one could, with the benefit of hindsight, make the argument that it is a transitional work in the sense that it represents a bridge between Poppy's earlier writing in horror to her current desire to write realistically about "real life" in New Orleans, as she does in her latest novel Liquor. In other words, EC is a transitional novel in that it contains both the fantastic elements of her earlier work (in this case, sophisticated serial killers) and the realistic concerns of her present day work (in this case, the horrible reality of the AIDS epidemic). Really, the only thing that keeps EC from being a totally realistic novel is her rather romanticized portrayal of the two serial killers. I say romanticized because most serial killers are mindnumbingly prosaic as human beings, and the only thing that makes them "interesting" is the fact that they have managed to kill a lot of people before being caught. I read biographies of both Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, and I found myself depressed by the absolute banality of their lives. They, or most real life serial killers, aren't exactly the real life counterparts of Poppy's Andrew Compton or Thomas Harris's Hannibal Lecter.The horror in Exquisite Corpse is not derived from supernatural sources like with Poppy's earlier novels, such as the vampires as in Lost Souls, or a haunted house in Drawing Blood. Rather, the horror in EC is derived from the sources we find in real life such as violence and disease. EC reminded me of the Depeche Mode song "Fly on the Windshield": Death is everywhere There are flies on the windshield, for a start Reminding us, We could be torn apart, TonightIndeed, the spectre of death pervades the whole storyline of EC. Poppy presents a portrait of New Orleans in EC where the possibility of a painful death either from a violent psychopath or from a debilitating disease is never far away from you. More specifically, the horror in EC comes from the idea of people not only dealing with the horrible reality of knowing they would soon die in the most horribly painful fashion imaginable, but also from the horrible reality of knowing that they only had a finite time left to left-very little or even no more time to spend with friends and family, to accomplish all the goals you wanted to accomplish in life, just time to sit around regretting everything you would miss out on.It is this horrible reality of death that made it a hard novel for me to read on an emotional level. I know that some people had a problem with the gore, and I'm squeamish myself, but the gore isn't what I found the most disturbing about EC. I should mention too that the gore isn't gratuitous. Poppy isn't a hack and she uses it for a purpose. The two serial killers perversely take pride in their 'work', looking at their killing as a craft just as much as anybody else has a sense of pride in what they do. It probably sounds artsy, but Poppy really does present murder and the dead body in an aesthetic light, as other people have said. Indeed, this isn't totally dramatic license on Poppy's part-there's that famous story about how Jeffrey Dahmer (who the serial killers are obviously in part based upon) had planned to construct an altar made out of his victims' skulls and bones in an artistic piece de resistance of his serial killer activities. I should mention also that it is obvious that Poppy based one of the plot turns on what happened to one of Jeffrey Dahmer's victims. When I realized Poppy was doing this I was very uncomfortable and even horrified because I wondered if it was morally okay to use this true life episode as a plot/thematic vehicle in the book since it involved the vicious murder of a real human being. However, I realized as the scene went on that Poppy was using this real life murder to very justifiably criticize some real life idiots who really dropped the ball. Poppy also uses this scene to illustrate the corruption and racism that plagues some institutions in New Orleans. Poppy makes the serial killer subgenre her own, to explore her own interests. In other words, she is decidedly not a poor man's Thomas Harris.EC's storyline is told by shifting between the four characters. Poppy shifts from the first person narrative of serial killer Andrew Compton , to the narratives of other three main characters told in the third person. In fact, when I realized that the narrative of EC was divided pretty equally between four main characters, I worried that maybe the narrative would be spread too thin because at 240 pages EC is a relatively short novel. However, Poppy was able to successfully explore these four characters and their storylines within the novels 240 pages. Considering that Poppy is an American, she also demonstrated considerable courage in writing as an Englishman, and placing the first part of her novel in London. However, Poppy brings this off admirably, even cleverly using British spelling when writing in his voice (i.e., "colour"). Poppy is undoubtedly a very gifted prose stylist. Check this passage out where Compton talks about his victims: "I gave them good food, strong tea, a warm place in my bed, what few pleasures my body could provide. In return, all I asked was their lives." Not bad, huh?EC is a very good novel. My only real "criticism" is that because Poppy is so successful in depicting the horrible reality of death, I'm not sure that it is a novel I'll want to read again any time soon just because it is too emotionally painful to read. Nonetheless, EC is a very interesting and exciting read, and I would recommend it highly.

I bought Exquisite Corpse for my boyfriend on his request and read it myself first. I wasn't at all prepared for what I found. I love this book, and I'm sure I'm going to Hell for it. It's incredibly explicit when talking about sex, death, and sex and death combined. I doubt anyone would read this without knowing what they were getting into, but just in case, be warned: This book isn't for the faint of heart. It's probably not even for the strong of heart. Do NOT read this as your introduction to horror— it's something that should be worked up to.Warnings aside, Exquisite Corpse is a deeply captivating, emotive read. Switching between the points of view of four characters allows a multitude of different stories to be told, all intensely moving in their own ways. There are a variety of themes present: love, both romantic and familial, death, struggles with identity, and the search for self, to name a few. The writing styles vary from character to character, ranging from the eloquent and reflective Andrew Compton to the bitter and rawly emotional Luke Ransom/Lush Rimbaud. Each style serves to accentuate and highlight the characters and their stories and feels as natural as if the people themselves were there with the reader, speaking in their own voices (Which, given that several of the characters are serial killers, may not be a good thing). I'll admit that I got a bit of an illicit thrill out of the book, partly for the lurid erotica but mostly because of how shocking the crimes depicted were. It's the same sort of morbid curiosity that would drive someone to peek into the windows of a crashed car or watch a TV interview with a serial killer.For all of its stunning successes, Exquisite Corpse does have a few faults. Only one of the characters, Andrew Compton, is written in the first person. The other three storylines are all in third person. This was slightly distracting, and it certainly gave a clue about the ending. Also, the descriptions of London and New Orleans, while vivid and spooky, seemed to focus mostly on tourist sites, especially New Orleans's Jackson Square. It was exciting to read about events taking place in a city I've visited and visualize the exact scenes from my memory, but it also made me question Brite's familiarity with these cities (Which seems surprising, given that they live in New Orleans).Overall, however, the flaws were minor. This book will take readers far out of their comfort zone in order to give them an exciting adventure that shouldn't be missed. Exquisite Corpse is an incredible book, and I can't wait to read it again.

This book has been on my list for quite some time and I am so happy to finally getting around to reading it. You really get captured right away and I read it in one sitting. Very dark Humor, beautiful writing style and a fast pace, combined with some quite disturbing imagery evoked by the artful descriptions. A twisted love story, if you will.

Llegó en perfectas condiciones.El libro, exquisito.

For a few years now I’ve been unable to sit down and just enjoy reading a book. I’m either too distracted or the writing isn’t gripping enough.This broke that cycle. The prose is so incredibly gripping and the story is unique and haunting. It’s very pornographic at times and is so incredibly gay in its writing.Without spoiling too much, the book follows four different people who’s paths end up meeting in one way or another. Two of these characters are sadistic serial killers (among.. other things) and their actions are described in grotesque and vivid detail. This is not a happy book, but rather burrows into the writing styles reminiscent of the deranged and perverted writings of Marquis de Sade.While this book is heavily pornographic in nature it’s not necessarily a romance novel. The sex isn’t gentle nor typically consensual. It’s more reminiscent of the popular and infamous “eroguro” genre used in a lot of Japanese fiction where a character ends up sexually abused and graphically murdered.That all being said, if you have the stomach for that and have a good hunger for disturbing media, absolutely buy this book and read it. I promise you that you’ll find it impossible to put down.Also trans rights (the author is a trans man) :D

One of my favorite books of all time; it is difficult to sum up any other way.Many/most human beings will have serious issues with the content of this story: Other than de Sade's "Juliette: Vice Amply Rewarded" (and perhaps "120 Days of Sodom",.. and, certainly, my own personal writing), I have not read anything nearly so gratuitously graphic and obscene as this. There are explicitly detailed descriptions of rape, necrophilia, torture, murder, mutilation, and cannibalism... it is NOT AT ALL meant for casual consumers (only suitable for serious gore-hounds and/or anyone otherwise "into" any of the subject matter above).I didn't find the story to really have much of a developed plot, or to make any sort of philosophical or intelligent point, no matter what the intentions were in writing it. The writing is well done, however, and easy to read and follow. The story IS told from the perspective of a serial murderer, two actually, and also from some other minor (non-serial murdering) characters. It's basically a version of what could happen if Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Nilsen met (and Dahmer was rich , sadistic, and lived in New Orleans [because everything spooky happens there, I guess]). I hesitate to say that the serial murderers were believable as psychopaths (well, Jay maybe... but not all serial murderers are psychopathic anyway, and not every psychopath is a Robert Hare caricature). The characters were static, shallow, and predictable, and made no attempt to be likable or "sympathetic" to the audience (the latter is a bonus to me). I didn't appreciate the seemingly metaphysical nonsense around the beginning. The story was TOO SHORT, overall, to really make much of a point beyond just being a tragic, undeveloped "love" story.For me, the things which saved this book were the violence/gore and the novelty factors of a proudly irredeemable, unapologetically serial murdering narrator and the nearly erotomanic obsessive "love" between two serial murderers.Whoever it was who mentioned a film being made of this, I hope that could happen... I'd definitely watch it.

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