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A review by grimoires
The Sluts by Dennis Cooper
4.0
4.5
My first thought finishing this is: jeeeeeesus christ.
This book is visceral and disgusting. It captures the vulgarity of niche internet communities, the things they draw out of people with their relative anonymity quite well. There was no flinching away from anything even when I almost wished it would--but even at the most depraved moments, it grips you to continue on to try to answer the question: is this real, or not? Who's lying? Who's exaggerating? Who do you wish was lying, but isn't?
The ending, after all that fervor, is almost anticlimactic. However, I felt that to be kind of fitting. This story is about the building up of mythos, the kind of community fever and personal fantasies that build and morph and grow with each new voice added, divorced from the original context, not needing or in many cases even wanting the truth--because ultimately, will it live up to the idea? Will reality ever satisfy like a fantasy? The myth of Brian and Brad was the site's story, not their own. Getting a glimpse of what is, perhaps, the truth, leaves us feeling as hollow as I imagine the avid Brad Saga audience felt reading that last update.
My first thought finishing this is: jeeeeeesus christ.
This book is visceral and disgusting. It captures the vulgarity of niche internet communities, the things they draw out of people with their relative anonymity quite well. There was no flinching away from anything even when I almost wished it would--but even at the most depraved moments, it grips you to continue on to try to answer the question: is this real, or not? Who's lying? Who's exaggerating? Who do you wish was lying, but isn't?
The ending, after all that fervor, is almost anticlimactic. However, I felt that to be kind of fitting. This story is about the building up of mythos, the kind of community fever and personal fantasies that build and morph and grow with each new voice added, divorced from the original context, not needing or in many cases even wanting the truth--because ultimately, will it live up to the idea? Will reality ever satisfy like a fantasy? The myth of Brian and Brad was the site's story, not their own. Getting a glimpse of what is, perhaps, the truth, leaves us feeling as hollow as I imagine the avid Brad Saga audience felt reading that last update.