Reviews

Try by Dennis Cooper

motifenjoyer's review

dark reflective

4.0

"The kid was worried how stupid his screaming would look in the video."

s0on_'s review

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

iantaylor's review

3.0

Each book of the George Miles Cycle shares the same grotesquely fascinating nature, as well as characters you can’t help but wish could escape from the hellish circumstances they exist in, but this particular volume was especially nauseating… like, in the literal sense. As in: I feel ill. I wanted so badly for Ziggy and Calhoun to be okay, but at the same time I don’t think I could ever pick this book back up… Which to a degree, is probably a portion of the point.

tcgarback's review

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Critical Score: B-
Personal Score: C

Lacking the horror and eroticism of Cooper’s best work, this one falls into the slush. It reads like a slightly more comprehensible version of Guide—which was published right after this one in the George Miles Cycle—and lacks bite.

The writing basically never moved me. His style works best when it’s blunt, bombastic, and appalling, not when it’s evasive, puzzling, and languid.

Having finished the cycle, I’ll rank them best to worst, and that’s easy to do because the gaps in quality between each are wide.

Frisk: a masterpiece

Closer: good literature

Try: underwhelming but serviceable

Guide: confusing, aimless, and forgettable

Period: far, far too avant-guard for me

lea_fuchs's review

4.0

Paedophilia, Abuse, Drugs, it‘s everything that you could want from a Dennis Cooper book.

grimondgalgmod's review

2.0

So I've read Dennis Cooper before and knew what I was getting into but wasn't ready to be annoyed by every character or the "authentic teenage language." Maybe I'm just too old now for this brand of edginess but, to quote the protagonist, um...whatever.

cwzw's review

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Like watching a kid claw at the walls of a bottomless pit, but they're slick with the heinous shit that grows in those dark places. Escape may be impossible, but he can still try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Incest, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Addiction, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Excrement, Fatphobia, Rape, Trafficking, and Vomit

Minor: Transphobia

faynebrio's review

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

hm. could have done without the graphic pedo rape/sa scenes but coopers writing is truly addictive. there were many moments i thought of closing the book and not finishing it because of the gratuitous content….but i just kept reading because of how much i enjoyed the main char, ziggy.
sooo would i recommend reading this? umm no probably not, unless you are already a fan of dennis cooper i dont think its going to be a fun read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Child death, Addiction, Incest, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship

vern31's review

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Mental illness, Rape, and Toxic relationship

nickreallylovestoread's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Dennis Cooper is not for the faint of heart. The third entry of the George Miles Cycle focuses on the emotional response, mainly to sexual abuse/pedophilia. Graphic sex and uncomfortable descriptions run rampant in this story, but Ziggy shines through as a complex, emotional character who shines in a world bent on snuffing him out and reducing him to a husk. 'Enjoy' isn't the word to describe this, but Cooper effectively communicates complex themes through the voicing of teenaged characters acting out either creatively or in self-destructive facets. There are some incredibly morally reprehensible characters in this piece, be warned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Torture, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Incest, Gore, Grief, Gaslighting, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Cursing, Child abuse, Child death, Body horror, Blood, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, and Addiction