Scan barcode
A review by romehsaur
The Sluts by Dennis Cooper
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- 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
Let me preface this review by telling how I found this book. I recently read "Things have gotten worse since we last spoke" by Eric Larocca and I saw a review of another user reccomending this one book because according to them Eric's novella was trying to be "The Sluts" without getting what made it great.
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
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
Minor: Abortion