Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Le corps exquis

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Le corps exquis by Poppy Z. Brite

95 reviews

eris_in_chains's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Thoroughly enjoyed this book though I must say that it's very much a product of its time (cannot tell whether the author intented to fetishize East Asian men here.) An interesting Jeffrey Dahmer fanfic.

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everyotherpageorso's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

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

I don’t know how I can give this a star rating.
Well written but it’s a book you endure rather than enjoy, which I guess is the point.

Allusion to Konerak Sinthasomphone at the end was really heartbreaking. If you aren’t familiar with the case, Konerak was 14 years old when he escaped Jeffrey Dahmer after being attacked, and police were alerted of an injured and naked boy in the area. Dahmer showed up, said they were lovers, and the police allowed Dahmer to take the boy back to his, where he killed him, despite the protestations of many African-American bystanders.
In the novel’s very clear reference to this incident, it is Jay who is allowed to leave with the injured and naked Tran, despite the protestations of an unnamed black musician, who is ignored and berated with slurs.
While I understand the objective of putting a real life example of police incompetence (especially when it pertains to marginalized victims) in the novel, I still think it’s disrespectful to the victim’s memory, as it seemed to me that it was not so much a reference or allusion as it was a line-by-line fictionalization of a real murder, eroticized through the perspective of his murderers. Yes, we do get Tran’s perspective during this as well, but I don’t think this offsets the disrespect of it.

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jully_bean's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

5.0

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sigynmoon's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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bespokecompost's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.0

I don’t think anyone needed to write jeffrey dahmer fanfiction but at least it’s written well. Answering the are these characters loveable question made me laugh out loud tho

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moosereads1's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A story that truly disturbs me and makes me shudder is a rare find, and exquisite corpses did just that. If you want a book that will traumatize you, this is the one. It takes you into the minds of two serial killers who, when combined, come together in a near picture perfect image of Jeffrey Dahmer and it is as utterly horrifying and disturbing as such a story should be. There were moments in which I had no words, just shock - however, in a good way rather than how many extreme horror books sacrifice good writing for shock value. Brite’s writing managed to make even the most disturbing scenes sound eloquent. However, the one issue I had was the synopsis compared to the content - it advertises that the two killers spend their time with the perfect victim, yet there are only a few scenes at the very end of the book in which they do so. Regardless, this was a great disturbing book and I’m going to find something light hearted to feel better about myself and my mental state after choosing this book.

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