Reviews

Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite

em815ily's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

amessina3399's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Is it weird to say that this book was...beautiful? Terribly deranged, and so sick and twisted, but the writing was *chef's kiss*. Brite has such a way with language that even the most horrific descriptions read like poetry. If you are a logophile like myself, this book is a must-read. That being said, expect all of the triggers (except those about women--to be honest, there are few to no women characters in this book). Brite somehow makes you fall in love with all of the characters--flaws, sins, and all--in a way that keeps the story devastating and strong. While this book is about serial killers, it's also about the AIDS crisis of the 80s and 90s and how brutally it affected the queer community, and about the intimate lives and fears of the queer community of the time. This book will live on my shelf forever and will forever on be one of my favorites.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Grief

astronutty's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

2.5

kirstenm707's review against another edition

dark tense 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

4.0

jedihendrix's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

stlake's review against another edition

The murder parts were good and the AIDS analysis was very compelling. 

But unfortunately, these instances of violence (which contained the best writing and most beautiful inquiries into humanity, morality, and consciousness) were paced too far and few. Between them, the author switched perspectives and focused on different characters— which had I known going into it, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to read it, since I really don’t like that structure. Not all the characters mattered at all to me…
The momentum just really lacked for me. I’m sure this book contains more of the good though,  if I were to trudge along. 

kmaio728's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

4.0

olgapataki's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

bonescraps's review against another edition

tried for a few months on and off to read it but it never grabbed my attention

mtrics's review against another edition

4.0

The Dahmer profiling was beautifully done and well distributed between the two MCs, the gore was accurate, and the prose was masterfully written. However:

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Spoiler

The re-imagining of Konerak Sinthasomphone's murder rubbed me the wrong way, especially considering he isn't acknowledged in the book, thus his real existence is reduced to a mere plot point and his death is bent out of shape for 'shock' by the author — either re-imagine everything or speak his name;

- The synopsis spoils the entirety of the book;
- One character is completely irrelevant, until, whoops, he is important! And then he isn't anymore;
- What the heck was that epilogue?

If it wasn't for the buddy-reading of this one and sharing the experience with friends, I'd have either dnfed (I'm just a poor girl) or been really vexed by the aforementioned things.

Also this book was so expensive? Where do you get off making people pay 20$ for a 200 pages kindle ebook from the 90s??? world has gone mad.