A review by pithingcontest
Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite

dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.25

[2.5/10] WOW this was disappointing. I was so excited because I absolutely LOVE Hannibal and Killing Eve but this was... not great. Some of the prose is beautiful! ...and sometimes you have to read the words "sugar candy asshole" and you reconsider your entire life up til now. Maybe as a lesbian I was not the target audience for this, but this REEKED OF FETISHIZATION, and not in a good or interesting way, in a "makes-you-flip-the-book-over-and-glare-at-the-straight-white-woman-on-the-back-who-wrote-this" way. I am SHOCKED that the synopsis on the back doesn't mention HIV because it comprises the vast majority of the book, and while there are plenty of stories I love that focus on the AIDS epidemic, something about Exquisite Corpse just does not sit right with me. It's not the horror or gore aspect, I fucking love horror and have a stomach of steel; it just felt like reading niche erotica for a fetish that I am NOT into that also felt somehow homophobic despite having like 1 straight character. Plus I didn't like a lot of the writing choices—I really appreciated the double wordplay of the "Lush Rimbaud" bit, but it was a bit ruined when she went into detail explaining who Rimbaud was, in case you didn't read the name and notice it was different from "Rimbaugh" I guess? (Which also feels weird, a straight woman using FUCKING ARTHUR RIMBAUD's life as well as both his first and last names.) Some of the monologues feel like blog posts in the worst possible way, and while most of the time it's based, I cannot emphasize enough how jarring it is. The pacing is also ATROCIOUS, it's so fucking slow and drawn out until you FINALLY get to what the synopsis promised and it BARELY picks up, and then the last 50 pages are so quick it feels incredibly rushed. I'm not a romance fan to begin with, but the romance(s) were SO superficial, especially the main one! No build up or tension once they meet—which might be the difference that makes me hate this and love Hannibal/Killing Eve. Really disappointed, I thought I'd love this! Reads like the fantasy of a woman who gets her rocks off on gay men dying. Doesn't feel deep or profound, just insulting & disrespectful Jeffrey Dahmer fanfiction. Gross, in the wrong way.