Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Exquisite Corpse

Is it weird to say that this book was...beautiful? Terribly deranged, and so sick and twisted, but the writing was *chef's kiss*. Brite has such a way with language that even the most horrific descriptions read like poetry. If you are a logophile like myself, this book is a must-read. That being said, expect all of the triggers (except those about women--to be honest, there are few to no women characters in this book). Brite somehow makes you fall in love with all of the characters--flaws, sins, and all--in a way that keeps the story devastating and strong. While this book is about serial killers, it's also about the AIDS crisis of the 80s and 90s and how brutally it affected the queer community, and about the intimate lives and fears of the queer community of the time. This book will live on my shelf forever and will forever on be one of my favorites.

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legere_libros's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

In its gore, this book finds beauty. In its vulgarity, this book finds honesty. In its rawness, this book finds meaning. There is something so blossomingly beautiful about "Exquisite Corpse" and the way it makes all its characters infinitely detestable and reluctantly enjoyable to read about. I didn't expect to like this as much as I did, and my heart ached for Tran (only actually likeable character I fear) but there is definitely something profound here. I do think the beginning was maybe stronger than the end, which is largely tension and shock whereas I feel the beginning has more substance, and there are certain moments where the writing feels a bit clunky - I may have cringed a little when i saw "orbs" used fully unironically in a published work - but this is definitely a sure add to the "disturbing social commentaries" book iceberg.

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hippieonsteroids's review

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challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This novel is very much a fictional story based off the life of Jeffrey Dahmer. The author includes an excerpt from Jeffrey Dahmers trial, giving the readers an automatic insight on what this book will be delivering. The story is extremely dark, the chapters each being from a different characters perspective was an interesting tactic for this author to use. The characters all meet at some point so their stories overlap but the author does this by switching midway from third to first person. But it would always be third person from Jay to Andrew Compton. Who because of this the reader would know that Andrew Compton was the main character. The book didn’t do this immediately, it did this when Andrew crossed paths with Jay and Luke, but oddly enough not Tran. This book was challenging in content wise not reading difficulty. Towards the end you get one last chapter in Tran’s third person perspective and it is painful. What this book does is exemplify how homophobia and racism was a major factor in why Jeffrey Dahmer got away with his murders for a number of years. This novel very much resembles Jeffrey Dahmer and his possible perspectives while also providing the perspective of the victims and the victims loved ones.

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eris_in_chains's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Thoroughly enjoyed this book though I must say that it's very much a product of its time (cannot tell whether the author intented to fetishize East Asian men here.) An interesting Jeffrey Dahmer fanfic.

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erica_reads_things's review

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dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is one of the "oldest" horror books that I have read on my journey so far and it did not disappoint! I could have gone for even more gore, personally, but I did really enjoy the intense emotional stories of the characters Tran and Luke. The inclusion of the AIDS epidemic and the societal commentary was a pleasant surprise amongst my expectation of a gory horror novel. This was just overall a pretty great, quick read and a must for horror fans.

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