Reviews with content warning for Rape - Exquisite Corpse

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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erica_reads_things's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-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

4.5

This is one of the "oldest" horror books that I have read on my journey so far and it did not disappoint! I could have gone for even more gore, personally, but I did really enjoy the intense emotional stories of the characters Tran and Luke. The inclusion of the AIDS epidemic and the societal commentary was a pleasant surprise amongst my expectation of a gory horror novel. This was just overall a pretty great, quick read and a must for horror fans.

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motor's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-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

2.0

The premise is an interesting take on true crime and it’s written really well, but the content is awful. Many people would be deeply disturbed by this, I could push through as I wanted to know what happened next but there’s a lot of unnecessary themes added. Necrophilia, a lot of it, which I guess makes sense for serial killers but also, an Asian fetish. Very clearly the authors fetish as the way Tran is described is disgusting and the words used to describe him are dehumanizing, Luke’s personality revolves around his Asian fetish. Lots of slurs that I’m almost 100% sure the author cannot use in real life, all of it unnecessary. Genuinely who thinks of stuff like this, 2 stars because it’s unfortunately written well.

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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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erkkmoon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

i love this book so much it's unreal

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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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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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