Guide

Rating:
Summary: Kiddie Porn, LSD Trips and other uplifting themes
Review: Cooper is a good writer and a -self acknowledged- very sick man. His only value, nice prose.

Cooper is very much into violent descriptions of his own -dreamlike- homosexual activity.

Basically this is an account of Cooper's violent sexual urges and activities involving runaway, drug addicted boys.

It's not really that good...

Rating:
Summary: Fine, if you like shock value
Review: Decent, but not excellent writing. Relies too much on shocking depictions of sex. I think it would have been more successful had it been toned down just a bit.

Rating:
Summary: A brave, original, and shocking novel
Review: Dennis Cooper is an incredibly brave and original writer. His books, however, are not for the faint of heart. "Guide", which is part of a five book cycle that also includes "Closer", "Try", "Frisk", and "Period", is my favorite of his novels because he dares to include himself in the middle of his usual tales of drugs, abuse, exploitation, violence and depravity. He ingeniously draws from an article he wrote for "Spin" magazine about a handful of teenage runaways, and blends reality, fiction and fantasy to create a shocking and original novel. Is what takes place in "Guide" a truthful look into Cooper's own fantasy life? Or is it merely his way of showing how society sexually exploits and degrades young people? It's up to the reader to decide.

Rating:
Summary: sick, wrong fun
Review: I don't think there's anything profound about Dennis Cooper. As far as I can tell from having read this book and "Frisk", he writes the exact same book again and again, just changing the characters and circumstances slightly. Dennis has an agenda, and that's to make you squirm, if not with his nihilistic political worldview, with his graphic depictions of all manner of sexual expression, from remarking on the prettiness of pre-adolescent boys to rape, drugging, and dismemberment.

"Guide" is, as widely dicussed, probably the most celebrated piece of fanfiction ever written. Cooper gets props for writing a thinly disguised interlude wherein Alex from "Slur" gets picked up, stuffed full of roofies, and used as an amusing pawn in someone's fantasy life. It is extremely funny if you know anything about fanfiction, and has guaranteed him hundreds of sales from Blur fans desperate to pick up anything even vaguely smacking of their messiahs. (I am a fine example of this, as well as being interested in Cooper's oeuvre, and wondering if I could get through another of his books).
"Guide" is a little funnier than "Frisk", and that makes it a lot easier to get through. If you are even slightly upset or traumatized by the concepts of gay sex, pedophilia, or sexual violence, you would be well advised to stay away. However, if you think "Naked Lunch" is charming and brilliant, and you enjoy the smellier bits of "Le Chants de Maldoror" or "Our Lady of the Flowers", you'll totally dig "Guide", because it is really funny, if totally offensive to pretty much every slightly healthy member of society.

Rating:
Summary: This book changed my life
Review: I read this book back to back with another that was dedicated to the author. I'd never heard of Dennis cooper so I didn't know what to expect. I was going to give it three stars but then I realized that was only because it was so upsetting. Along with how well written and engrossing it is, that's actually a reason to rate it higher, so I did. It was my own fear getting in the way. The real frustration was the absence of a moral stance. It's like Bret Easton Ellis that way - you have to make up your own mind about what's going on. You realize you're just getting angry because there's no re-assurance provided, you're totally immersed in a world with no ethical designations. This book is one of the more powerful I've read for that. I'd say this is about as transgressive and gutsy as writing gets. Glad I found it.

Rating:
Summary: blown away
Review: I read this book back to back with another that was dedicated to the author. I'd never heard of Dennis cooper so I didn't know what to expect. I was going to give it three stars but then I realized that was only because it was so upsetting. Along with how well written and engrossing it is, that's actually a reason to rate it higher, so I did. It was my own fear getting in the way. The real frustration was the absence of a moral stance. It's like Bret Easton Ellis that way - you have to make up your own mind about what's going on. You realize you're just getting angry because there's no re-assurance provided, you're totally immersed in a world with no ethical designations. This book is one of the more powerful I've read for that. I'd say this is about as transgressive and gutsy as writing gets. Glad I found it.