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jade_smith's review
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This book was disgusting. Sick to your stomach, edge of your seat kinds of disgusting. "Exquisite Corpse" follows a young woman, Lena, who dies of tuberculosis and a doctor who, driven by obsession over her beauty, attempts to preserve and resurrect her corpse.
Thematically, this book was an incredibly powerful exploration of bodily autonomy, consent, and the entitlement men feel toward women and their bodies. The four sections (each with a different POV) were of varying strength, with the best being Part III, from the voice of Lena's ghost. It was visceral, skin-deep, body horror, grounded perfectly in the reality. Part II from the POV of Dr Dance was at times perhaps a bit cartoonishly villainous, but also... I one-hundred percent bought it. I didn't struggle to believe in this man's deluded and single minded obsession with this young woman, and Peričić never strayed so far as to break the suspension of disbelief.
And that's the thing. There's no part of this book that I had trouble believing. Loosely based on a real life case, "Exquisite Corpse" feels like the kind of story that would be told in a true crime podcast, and indeed -- a core theme of this novel is how the exploitation of victim's bodies is interpreted, reinterpreted, and narrativised by the public. The romanticisation of male violence and entitlement, and the tendency of spectators to reinvent the victim as a "lover" is something that's prolific both in fiction and real life.
Uncomfortable. Disgusting. Thought-provoking. This is worth a read.
Thematically, this book was an incredibly powerful exploration of bodily autonomy, consent, and the entitlement men feel toward women and their bodies. The four sections (each with a different POV) were of varying strength, with the best being Part III, from the voice of Lena's ghost. It was visceral, skin-deep, body horror, grounded perfectly in the reality. Part II from the POV of Dr Dance was at times perhaps a bit cartoonishly villainous, but also... I one-hundred percent bought it. I didn't struggle to believe in this man's deluded and single minded obsession with this young woman, and Peričić never strayed so far as to break the suspension of disbelief.
And that's the thing. There's no part of this book that I had trouble believing. Loosely based on a real life case, "Exquisite Corpse" feels like the kind of story that would be told in a true crime podcast, and indeed -- a core theme of this novel is how the exploitation of victim's bodies is interpreted, reinterpreted, and narrativised by the public. The romanticisation of male violence and entitlement, and the tendency of spectators to reinvent the victim as a "lover" is something that's prolific both in fiction and real life.
Uncomfortable. Disgusting. Thought-provoking. This is worth a read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Vomit