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saarahrust's review against another edition
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
miskaa13's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lizzietherebel's review against another edition
4.0
Because this is a collection, I have to rate it as a whole- overall, I throughly enjoyed it and many of the included pieces were brilliant and moving. The pieces by Melissa Febos, Roxane Gay, Zeyn Joukhadar, Vanessa Clark, and Brandon Taylor were amongst my favorites. This book is raw, unsurprisingly intimate- but in ways that may be surprising- and often profound. It speaks to the experience of being other, of being marginalized, of being queer and trans and the horrors and beauties that accompany it, and of the ways that kink can destroy us as well as make us whole. Not every story is “kinky” in the way you might expect; in fact, most are not. This is not a book of erotica, but a book of life and sex and the ways that sex changes us and defines us- and also does not define us. I did not love every story, and of course, the longest stories ended up being the ones that I found mostly a waste of my time. I did not particularly enjoy the pieces by Garth Greenwell or Carmen Maria Machado and found portions of them unnecessary and under-edited. That being said, I can understand their inclusion and enjoyment is not the sole purpose or even necessarily a purpose of reading these stories. I still found a worthwhile takeaway from these pieces though they were not my favorite. The piece I had a real issue with was Chris Kraus’, and I find it incredibly baffling that the editors chose to close the collection with this. Kraus’ writing is pretentious and uncomfortable; I had to force myself to finish her story and I truly wonder that it was included among the rest of these brilliant artists. Perhaps that’s why it was at the end, because if it had been at the beginning or even towards the middle, I might have stopped reading altogether, or at least stopped for a while. I cannot stand the way Kraus talks about queer people and “hets,” especially being of the latter category herself as far as I can tell (including using the words dyke and fag, which would be fine if she was queer but she’s not so it’s fucking weird and icky. Especially because the queer authors barely use those words in their own pieces.) A lot of the writing and terminology feels weirdly self-conscious, self-indulgent, grossly privileged, and outdated. She includes an afterword (the only author who does this) and mentions she wrote the piece 20 years ago- we can tell, and in a bad way. She switches between voices, presumably writing about herself both in first and third person, and then interspersing frequent random and unbearable word vomit about art and philosophy. The afterword was actually the only part of her story I enjoyed or connected to. I really wish this piece hadn’t been included and hadn’t been the conclusion of such an excellent collection because it left a bad taste in my mouth after I voraciously inhaled the rest of this book. Of course, you can always choose to skip it if you pick this up, which is part of the beauty of a short story collection, and which I would highly recommend that you do. Without this piece, Kink would have been a much stronger and near-perfect and representative collection.
riotsquirrrl's review against another edition
2.0
An entire collection about kink and yet the vast majority of pieces waver between pretentious and a deep unsexiness. I can't tell if it wants to be an erotica collection or it's just a collection of literary fiction trying to be edgy. Deeply unsatisfying.
kaiannepepper's review against another edition
3.0
A mixed bag. Some were standouts that truly captivated me and others seemed to blend into one another. Even though each story was written by someone different, all of them read from the same voice.
This anthology may be “groundbreaking” for vanilla people. But really everyone’s gotta bit of kink and I think the book does a good job of reaching across the sexual spectrum, while still keeping the book succinct.
This anthology may be “groundbreaking” for vanilla people. But really everyone’s gotta bit of kink and I think the book does a good job of reaching across the sexual spectrum, while still keeping the book succinct.
itsolivia's review against another edition
4.0
The deal: It’s an anthology of short literary stories revolving around the central theme of love and desire, BDSM, and sex from writers like Alexander Chee, Roxane Gay, and Carmen Maria Machado. (Sidenote: I received an ARC from Netgalley.)
Is it worth it?: If that premise has you intrigued, absolutely. If you’re hesitant, probably not (although it’s worth noting that these are not merely erotica — kink isn’t only about sex, but rather trust, power, and consent, among other things). I really enjoyed this, but it’s definitely not for everyone. The stories are a bit uneven, but I actually think that’s a good thing in this case in that it offers a natural ebb and flow.
Pairs well with: I read this at the same time that I was watching S2 of Netflix’s “Bonding,” which was excellent. The showrunners brought on consultants in response to S1 criticism from the BDSM community, and it absolutely shows!
B
Is it worth it?: If that premise has you intrigued, absolutely. If you’re hesitant, probably not (although it’s worth noting that these are not merely erotica — kink isn’t only about sex, but rather trust, power, and consent, among other things). I really enjoyed this, but it’s definitely not for everyone. The stories are a bit uneven, but I actually think that’s a good thing in this case in that it offers a natural ebb and flow.
Pairs well with: I read this at the same time that I was watching S2 of Netflix’s “Bonding,” which was excellent. The showrunners brought on consultants in response to S1 criticism from the BDSM community, and it absolutely shows!
B
emilymreads's review against another edition
3.0
This was a really unique short story collection and not at all what I expected. Each author uses desire and sex to explore human relationships and how we interact with one another. I didn’t love the stories that seemed more like erotica, but I loved the stories with deep character analysis. Kink doesn’t have to just be about the physical acts; it’s about the intimacy and the wants of both involved. I recommend this collection if you want to read something different and sexy with some good characters!
balletbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
A really interesting, diverse, and wide-ranging collection of stories about kink - all sorts of kink. Some feel more confessional, some more fantastical. I really liked RO Kwon's story Safeword, which explored what felt like a mis-match in a couple, where the wife wants to explore kink as a submissive so they visit a dominatrix for lessons and the husband appears to be the one who wants to use a safeword. Garth Greenwell contributed "Gospodar" which also appears in his novel Cleanness and it is one of the best parts of the book (a bit terrifying at the end, but so beautifully written). Kim Fu contributed the amazing story Scissors, about a performance artist, where the writing is so sensual you can almost feel it.
I didn't particularly like the last story - Emotional Technologies. It wasn't bad, it just felt more like I was reading an art criticism essay (which was probably the point?) and it didn't do much for me after reading so many excellent stories earlier in the collection.
I didn't particularly like the last story - Emotional Technologies. It wasn't bad, it just felt more like I was reading an art criticism essay (which was probably the point?) and it didn't do much for me after reading so many excellent stories earlier in the collection.