Reviews

The Sluts by Dennis Cooper

ribbenkast's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is not for everyone, and definitely not for the faint of heart. People are quick to say that about a lot of horror, but this time please heed the warning. 

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

snailantix's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

zenjief's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

1.0

snaxwelll's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

elionthesun's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

5.0

danimacuk's review against another edition

dark fast-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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Confinement, Physical abuse, Torture, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Trafficking

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Excrement, and Drug abuse

Minor: Abortion, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Racism

thelovvecats's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

3.5

mikewardevrybdy's review against another edition

5.0

Not for everyone (I don’t even know if it’s for me to be honest) but what an ambitious and creative way to tell a story. Was like a walk down memory road to the message board days of the internet (But obvious a lot more twisted).

twosunflowers's review against another edition

3.5

i have no idea what to think about this book... it sure was gory and very disturbing and it made me feel queasy on a couple occassions even though i'm pretty used to reading/watching gore and fucked up stuff. the narrative started very strongly but then it kinda became more and more vague and convoluted as it went on, which i guess was the whole point, but still it made the story pretty difficult to follow. the fact that there were so many characters and that the only way to tell them apart was by their handles made this book even more confusing. unfortunately, the ending also wasn't very gratifying considering what a pain in the ass it was to even keep up with everything what was going on. still, i definitely see the potential in this story and it was very interesting (and mortifying) to be given insight into the extremely corrupt underworld of hustlers, dark web and sick pedos. i don't think i will ever feel the need to reread this one tho

martyrcore's review against another edition

4.0

it’s a great book really but i had a horrible time w it ‘cause it’s too vile & disgusting for me… couldn’t stop reading though