Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite

103 reviews

erica_reads_things's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Body horror, Murder, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Death, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Violence, Grief, Drug use, Sexual violence, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Classism, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Incest and Stalking

everyotherpageorso's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Homophobia, Torture, Addiction, Cannibalism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Drug use, Suicide, and Drug abuse

jully_bean's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Racial slurs, Violence, Rape, Suicide, Sexual content, Body horror, Dysphoria, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, Murder, Excrement, Addiction, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Police brutality, and Terminal illness

erkkmoon's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Blood, Racism, Rape, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Gore, Homophobia, Kidnapping, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcohol

dmcvey2719's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Physical abuse, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Cannibalism, Hate crime, and Homophobia

sigynmoon's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Torture, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicide, Pedophilia, Homophobia, and Infidelity

Minor: Racism, Police brutality, Incest, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Racial slurs

bespokecompost's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcohol, Torture, Chronic illness, Addiction, Cannibalism, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual violence, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Incest

adorableautist's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

If you're looking into William Joseph Martin's (formerly known as Poppy Z. Brite) notorious queer splatterhouse opus, then you likely already have some sense of what you're getting into with this one. Its indulgences in sexuality and gratuitous violence is genuinely difficult to read, and I almost gave up on the book multiple times right up to the last few pages.

Exquisite Corpse lacks the campy revelry, magical realism, or self conscious introspection that marks most of the splatterhouse lit that is actually worth reading. Instead it ambitiously attempts to grapple with the cruel confluenceof queerness and violence that became the dominant culural narrative for gay men in the eighties and nineties. Most characters in the book are HIV positive and nearly all of them have received, witnessed, or inflicted grotesque violence by the end of the book. 

This willfully tasteless literary construction might've amounted to something genuinely compelling if it hadn't undermined itself by depicting its serial killer characters as romantically powerful and hyper inteligent super villains. For all of the literary talent on display, which is by no means meager, the end result feels juvenile in its romanticization of serial killers. The monstrous characters would have better served the the book's emotional and thematic needs, no matter how sweetly nihilistic they might be, if they had been allowed to be altogether more pathetic than enticing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Homophobia, Murder, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Rape

introverted_reads's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.0

well that was fucked up

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Murder, Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Torture, Vomit, Blood, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Rape, Suicide, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

issymaae's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Homophobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Vomit, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence