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doriangraysbih 's review for:
Exquisite Corpse
by Poppy Z. Brite
A solid 3.5 for me. The prose is gorgeous and visceral, but I feel it struggles organization-wise. Jay and Andrew feel more compelling and developed in the beginning of the story while Tran and Luke less so, and it switches towards the end in a way I’m not sure lands the way it’s meant to. Although I appreciated more depth on Tran and Luke, I felt the premise of the story promised a much deeper look into the complicated relationship between two killers with the same bloodlust and hunger, and it didn’t deliver as well on that end.
I also thought that though the book was definitely disgusting and disturbing at parts (especially the end) I couldn’t really “get into” the horror and was more shocked than frightened because I feel the author is very much playing into our imagination of what that kind of brutality and horror would look like. I feel the horror could have been more creative and nuanced in a sense, even though this aspect of the book is the most lauded or talked about in the reviews.
What I didn’t see in the reviews, which honestly shocks me—is the discussion of racism in the book and how it allows people of color, especially queer people of color, to be much more likely victims of crimes. While I know this isn’t a book attempting to make any kind of real commentary on the subject, it makes too many comments on Luke’s preference for “Oriental boys” and Tran is described in a way by Jay and Andrew that very much plays into (racist) stereotypes and views of young Asian men that not directly mentioning this or even being brought up in Tran’s own POV chapters feels both irresponsible and inept. This should have been heavily alluded to for the reason why Tran isn’t rescued by the police force and why people care even less about what happens to him outside of the men who have an unhealthy hyperfixation on him (and men SPECIFICALLY like him.) This wouldn’t be to the detriment of the book if Brite did not write SEVERAL POV chapters with Tran and be able to effectively weave in commentary on the impact of AIDS on the gay community while failing to mention the added complexity of Tran's identity as an Asian man. If Brite didn’t feel qualified to write about the racism, she shouldn’t have included a character who essentially dies because of it. That’s all.
I also thought that though the book was definitely disgusting and disturbing at parts (especially the end) I couldn’t really “get into” the horror and was more shocked than frightened because I feel the author is very much playing into our imagination of what that kind of brutality and horror would look like. I feel the horror could have been more creative and nuanced in a sense, even though this aspect of the book is the most lauded or talked about in the reviews.
What I didn’t see in the reviews, which honestly shocks me—is the discussion of racism in the book and how it allows people of color, especially queer people of color, to be much more likely victims of crimes. While I know this isn’t a book attempting to make any kind of real commentary on the subject, it makes too many comments on Luke’s preference for “Oriental boys” and Tran is described in a way by Jay and Andrew that very much plays into (racist) stereotypes and views of young Asian men that not directly mentioning this or even being brought up in Tran’s own POV chapters feels both irresponsible and inept. This should have been heavily alluded to for the reason why Tran isn’t rescued by the police force and why people care even less about what happens to him outside of the men who have an unhealthy hyperfixation on him (and men SPECIFICALLY like him.) This wouldn’t be to the detriment of the book if Brite did not write SEVERAL POV chapters with Tran and be able to effectively weave in commentary on the impact of AIDS on the gay community while failing to mention the added complexity of Tran's identity as an Asian man. If Brite didn’t feel qualified to write about the racism, she shouldn’t have included a character who essentially dies because of it. That’s all.