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ribbenkast's review against another edition
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
However, I do have to give this book 5 ⭐️. It just does everything right. First there is the mystery: the book mainly consists of forum posts on an gay escort rating website in the early 2000's. There is no way to verify which accounts are real and which accounts are fake (even though the poor webmaster does try). Dennis Cooper does not take the reader by the hand. You have to do some detective work and decide for yourself what is real and what is fake.
Secondly, it uses gore and violence effectively within the story. (So many times in extreme horror, gore is just simply there for the shock value. I find that rather overdone and boring). Some of the described acts are so vile, I had to put the book down for a bit. Whether these things actually happened or whether these were just the perverted ramblings of someone getting their weird rocks off remains to be debated. (Although we get some answers in the end.)
When does a fantasy cross the line? What is ethical even if someone supposedly concented? It is a cruel account of what happens when people egg each other on to live their most perverted fantasies. This book written in 2004 is an important early conversation about Internet safety and mass delerium when people can hide in anonymity.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cancer, Alcohol, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, Excrement, Gore, Slavery, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Body horror, Classism, Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, and Drug use
j_yarbrough's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Stalking, Abortion, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Addiction, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Vomit, Blood, Death, Hate crime, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Chronic illness, Drug use, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Medical content, Cancer, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Slavery, and Violence
angelicardale's review against another edition
Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Self harm, Rape, Alcohol, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Domestic abuse, Death, Chronic illness, Addiction, Pedophilia, Blood, Trafficking, Violence, Terminal illness, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Medical trauma, Child death, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Body horror, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Hate crime, Gun violence, and Drug abuse
josephsand's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
the last third is some of the nastiest, most stomach turning stuff i’ve ever read. my jaw was agape the entire time. totally vile & expertly told, what a story…
the content warnings are not a joke this book is filthy.
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Addiction, Gun violence, Murder, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Blood, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Gore, Kidnapping, Body horror, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Vomit
fluoresensitive's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I need... I'm gonna write another substack, an addendum to Filthiness is Next to Godliness.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Trafficking, Addiction, Confinement, Excrement, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Torture, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Violence, Death, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Medical content, and Vomit
nadletab's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, Addiction, Terminal illness, Vomit, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
romehsaur's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Now that I have read it, I agree. What makes this work a great piece of literature is not the degeneracy and the desire of destruction of the characters. But the fact that it plays with its own framing in a masterful way, squeezing every single drop out of the fact that this is supposed to be a online review forum in which people will go for drama, scam and sockpuppet. Even the fact that the site admin keeps reminding people that they will lock the thread if this keeps derailing is a good touch that adds so much.
But yeah, this book gets fucking dark and fucked up, but in a sense in which it works when you think that this is internet bs in a sex worker forum in the early 2000's
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Torture, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Murder, Medical content, Gun violence, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Death, Confinement, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Cancer, and Body horror
Moderate: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Vomit, and Ableism
Minor: Abortion