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A review by praalgraf
The Necrophiliac by Gabrielle Wittkop
fast-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
3.5
going to recommend this as a book with a bisexual polyamorous main character just for fun.
i liked this, but any comparison to poe or nabokov seems a bit rushed. yes, this was poetic (and, at times, funny) and macabre and relied on sexual shock, but it did not seem particularly interested in actually developing any of its motivations. losing his mother at a young age was a first necrophilic experience, sure, but we see no actual development between age 8 and age ?? when lucien is fucking corpses left and right.
likewise, wittkop toys with the idea of lucien (or, the necrophiliac more broadly) actually being in love, but does not particularly dwell on this, making lucien textually much closer to the man he runs into defiling a nun, who he "accuses" of the opportunity making the thief rather than "an inveterete necrophiliac".
it's an interesting novella, to be sure, with wonderfully macabre language, but i wish it had done more with it.
i liked this, but any comparison to poe or nabokov seems a bit rushed. yes, this was poetic (and, at times, funny) and macabre and relied on sexual shock, but it did not seem particularly interested in actually developing any of its motivations. losing his mother at a young age was a first necrophilic experience, sure, but we see no actual development between age 8 and age ?? when lucien is fucking corpses left and right.
likewise, wittkop toys with the idea of lucien (or, the necrophiliac more broadly) actually being in love, but does not particularly dwell on this, making lucien textually much closer to the man he runs into defiling a nun, who he "accuses" of the opportunity making the thief rather than "an inveterete necrophiliac".
it's an interesting novella, to be sure, with wonderfully macabre language, but i wish it had done more with it.