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A review by rachelsearcey
Necrophilia Variations by Supervert
5.0
I was actually afraid to read this because of the title. Some authors would have taken this title literally and just written a gross out collection about why necrophilia is so great.
But it's not like that at all. It's a series of short, present tense, first person POV with direct address (sometimes) stories that cover a variety of topics. But they all have a common thread: a presumably white, very selfish, misogynistic male narrator. Each short covers the complex relationship between love and lust, death and life, and society's fascination and repugnance with both topics.
The narrator's unhealthy and toxic relationships with himself and a variety of women take center stage. Often the women wise up to the man's shenanigans and ditch him, or call him out. Sometimes things take a darker turn, others veer into dark comedy.
One of my favorite stories, towards the end, is about a married man with children who has some foolish idea of "going out with a bang" before he kills himself, by spending the night with a variety of escorts. But each one tries to either help him or ignores his pleas for help as he descends into self pity. He's worried about catching an STD from the prostitute but at the same time was planning to kill himself, so maybe he doesn't really want to die?
Another one was about a complete asshole who gets locked in his lover's tomb and starts imagining that he'll be trapped in there forever. So he starts doing crazy shit like eating a rat, taking off his clothes, and imagining that he's some sort of survivor for "adapting" so well to his stupid situation.
There are also a couple of stories told from unusual perspectives, like a necrophiliac imagining how a cadaver would "appreciate" being dug up and spared from laying in a coffin and rotting. Or from the POV of a death's mask left on a table during a party.
I just loved this book from beginning to end, and was relieved that it wasn't just some gross out collection.
But it's not like that at all. It's a series of short, present tense, first person POV with direct address (sometimes) stories that cover a variety of topics. But they all have a common thread: a presumably white, very selfish, misogynistic male narrator. Each short covers the complex relationship between love and lust, death and life, and society's fascination and repugnance with both topics.
The narrator's unhealthy and toxic relationships with himself and a variety of women take center stage. Often the women wise up to the man's shenanigans and ditch him, or call him out. Sometimes things take a darker turn, others veer into dark comedy.
One of my favorite stories, towards the end, is about a married man with children who has some foolish idea of "going out with a bang" before he kills himself, by spending the night with a variety of escorts. But each one tries to either help him or ignores his pleas for help as he descends into self pity. He's worried about catching an STD from the prostitute but at the same time was planning to kill himself, so maybe he doesn't really want to die?
Another one was about a complete asshole who gets locked in his lover's tomb and starts imagining that he'll be trapped in there forever. So he starts doing crazy shit like eating a rat, taking off his clothes, and imagining that he's some sort of survivor for "adapting" so well to his stupid situation.
There are also a couple of stories told from unusual perspectives, like a necrophiliac imagining how a cadaver would "appreciate" being dug up and spared from laying in a coffin and rotting. Or from the POV of a death's mask left on a table during a party.
I just loved this book from beginning to end, and was relieved that it wasn't just some gross out collection.