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audreychamaine's review against another edition
5.0
I had never heard of the magazine Morbid Curiosity before picking up this book, but now I wish I had. The sample of odd essays I found in this volume made me want more. I kept imagining the odd things from my life that I would write about if Morbid Curiosity was still being published. Topics in this book range from exploring a Nazi concentration camp to finding your landlord dead to offering up your body for a medical experiment that removes 2/3 of your blood and replaces it with saline solution. The essays are sometimes touching, sometimes humorous, but always fascinating. I'll be buying a copy of this for my morbid father.
sadiemay7's review against another edition
4.5
One year I only read "true" things (blame Seneca), mostly memoires and biographies. This must have come up as a recommendation so I decided to go for it.
leilaniann's review against another edition
4.0
A fun, fast read. And a good representation of the magazine as a whole (which a decent collection should be)!
caitlinxmartin's review against another edition
2.0
This was terribly disappointing. The annoyances were numerous including, but not limited to:
- The format of the book - It's printed in newspaper type with two columns per page as if it were still a zine. It makes reading it difficult.
- The introduction - This is printed as in a regular book and starts out okay, but quickly devolves into self-congratulatory drivel. Yes, yes, you are the coolest, gothest ever. We all bow to your amazingness.
- The writing - Almost universally mediocre. These were the 40 best items?
- The illustrations - If you had a goth friend in high school who doodled cartoons in their notebook, you'll recognize these.
Out of 298 pages and 40 or so essays only one of them was worth reading - Souvenir of Hell by Brian Thomas - about visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau. Thank you, Mr. Thomas, for writing about this experience in an intelligent and honest way.
This book got two stars because of Mr. Thomas' essay - a long-winded way of saying you might as well skip this.
- The format of the book - It's printed in newspaper type with two columns per page as if it were still a zine. It makes reading it difficult.
- The introduction - This is printed as in a regular book and starts out okay, but quickly devolves into self-congratulatory drivel. Yes, yes, you are the coolest, gothest ever. We all bow to your amazingness.
- The writing - Almost universally mediocre. These were the 40 best items?
- The illustrations - If you had a goth friend in high school who doodled cartoons in their notebook, you'll recognize these.
Out of 298 pages and 40 or so essays only one of them was worth reading - Souvenir of Hell by Brian Thomas - about visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau. Thank you, Mr. Thomas, for writing about this experience in an intelligent and honest way.
This book got two stars because of Mr. Thomas' essay - a long-winded way of saying you might as well skip this.
ediesuperstar's review
3.0
Made up of select contributions from the defunct magazine Morbid Curiosity this collection feels a little uneven. I have to admit that the story about Auschwits will stick with me. That story really bothered me on a number of levels.
xterminal's review
4.0
Loren Rhoads (ed.), Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues (Simon and Schuster, 2009)
One of my favorite books of the nineties was Apocalypse Culture, the Adam Parfrey-edited compendium of the weird and wonderful. I'd never found another book quite like it, and while Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues doesn't entirely qualify, it's about the closest I've seen in the past couple of decades, and that's good enough for me.
This is a collection of personal essays (for the most part) that appeared in Morbid Curiosity magazine during its all-too-brief existence. (It's the “personal” aspect of the essays that differs from the more—I hate to use the word “scholarly”, but there you go—aspect of Apocalypse Culture.) Rhoads breaks the essays up into loose conglomerations of subject, but had they used a different grouping, you probably wouldn't notice. It doesn't matter what these people are writing about, it's usually fascinating. The subject matter ranges from a young boy wandering around an asylum by himself to the exploits of a chap who like to hang out in mausoleums for a year or so to tales of paranormal activity to spinal surgery, and a lot of places in between. Some of it is less fascinating than other bits (and what parts fascinate me may bore you to tears, and vice versa, so we won't go there), but the good definitely outweighs the bad. And you should probably jump at any chance you get to expose yourself to the work of cabaret artist Jill Tracy, who contributes my favorite essay here; it has nothing to do with music and it's still awesome. How cool is that?
I have no idea whether it will actually cure your blues or not. I do know that it will make you want to read pieces of it again and again, just like Apocalypse Culture does (and if you don't have a copy of that, then my god, what are you waiting for?). Definitely one to pick up. ****
One of my favorite books of the nineties was Apocalypse Culture, the Adam Parfrey-edited compendium of the weird and wonderful. I'd never found another book quite like it, and while Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues doesn't entirely qualify, it's about the closest I've seen in the past couple of decades, and that's good enough for me.
This is a collection of personal essays (for the most part) that appeared in Morbid Curiosity magazine during its all-too-brief existence. (It's the “personal” aspect of the essays that differs from the more—I hate to use the word “scholarly”, but there you go—aspect of Apocalypse Culture.) Rhoads breaks the essays up into loose conglomerations of subject, but had they used a different grouping, you probably wouldn't notice. It doesn't matter what these people are writing about, it's usually fascinating. The subject matter ranges from a young boy wandering around an asylum by himself to the exploits of a chap who like to hang out in mausoleums for a year or so to tales of paranormal activity to spinal surgery, and a lot of places in between. Some of it is less fascinating than other bits (and what parts fascinate me may bore you to tears, and vice versa, so we won't go there), but the good definitely outweighs the bad. And you should probably jump at any chance you get to expose yourself to the work of cabaret artist Jill Tracy, who contributes my favorite essay here; it has nothing to do with music and it's still awesome. How cool is that?
I have no idea whether it will actually cure your blues or not. I do know that it will make you want to read pieces of it again and again, just like Apocalypse Culture does (and if you don't have a copy of that, then my god, what are you waiting for?). Definitely one to pick up. ****
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