Rating: 
Summary: Art imitating life?
Review: This was the first Brite novel I read. Many times I had heard her compared to Anne Rice, after reading this book the only comparison I would dare make about the two author's is the New Orleans connection. While this novel wasn't the worst I had ever read it certainly was one of the most disturbing, the author re-wrote a dark chapter in the life of Dharma and added a sick side kick. I felt she trivialized the horror of being murdered and suggested that the victims of Dharma and other serial killers actually enjoyed being murdered. Overall, this novel is not very original as it is a fictional rendition of Dharma.
Rating: 
Summary: I couldn't sleep after reading this book!
Review: I love Poppys' work and have read everything i could get my hands on. I am also a fellow New Orlenaian and I enjoy reading books about the city. This book was so well written and graphic that i could not sleep after reading it. She writes in a way that keeps you enthralled even when the material is very gory and disturbing. I dont think i can read it again, but i do reccommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Mistress of the Macabre creates a disturbing vision
Review: It has been said that Poppy Z. Brite's regular publishers would not accept this book. It's not because of the content, its because of the quality. But before you resolve not to read "Exquisite Corpse," let me finish.In this novel, the setting is the mid-1980's a time where fear of AIDS was riding high, and people were dying right and left. In this bare, unemotional world, we meet two serial killers. Jay and Andrew murder for the joy of it, reveling in the corpses that they construct. The murders are graphic and gory, the prose clinical and restrained. Fans of Poppy's flowing poetic prose will find a different thing all together this tome around. "Exquisite Corpse" was written in this way because it suits the mood of the novel. A world where people are dying from a ravishing disease, and embrace death as an escape. Where we are thrust into the minds of murderers of the most sickening sort. A literal hell on earth, this novel is without love, without hope, without any semblance of normalcy. Poppy took a chance on writing this novel, and I praise her for it. "Exquisite Corpse" is relatively short, which some will think of as a blessing. The ending is too fast and unsatisfying, as if Poppy just got tired of living in the nightmarish world of depression and depravity that she created. Still, this novel is worth a look for hardcore Poppy fans only. I would read "Lost Souls" and "Drawing Blood" before delving into this book, though.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the worst books I've ever read
Review: Alright, I have read numerous books and stories by Poppy Z. Brite, but I was NEVER more disgusted. This book is terrible, tasteless, bland and just plain gross. I was really let down and it really was a waste of money.
Rating: 
Summary: GO THERE IF YOU DARE!
Review: All the while I was reading EXQUISITE CORPSE, Poppy Z. Brite's most recent full-length novel, I kept asking myself what I would say if a stranger on the subway asked me what I was reading. Would I lie? Would I say, "Just the latest murder mystery"? How could I possibly describe this book to my mother without having her hide the cutlery and cry herself to sleep over the tortured state of my mental health? Would my adult siblings forever ban me from spending time alone with their children if they knew the horrors I had witnessed - and in which I had vicariously participated - while strolling between the covers of this harmless looking paperback? Is there anyone in the world to whom I could feel wholly comfortable recommending this book? Probably not, if I were honest with myself. My squeaky clean could not withstand the stress. As with her previous novels, Poppy Z. Brite is as uncompromising on theme as she is on imagery. Forget Anne Rice! Brite shines darkly as the unchallenged Maven of the Macabre. Her prose is virtuosic - she lures you in with a sweet scent and then devours you with a heady, but often painful bite. Yet even though the actual words printed on the pages of this book paint bloody images of torture, grisly serial murder, heinous acts of cannibalism and unbounded necrophelia, EXQUISITE CORPSE might very well be one of the most powerful statements about the consequences of hate, bigotry and loneliness to ever survive the mass-market censors. Yes, it lurid! By all means, it's WAY over the top. But it clearly gets your attention - like a pick-axe right between the eyes. Surely, EXQUISITE CORPSE is one of the most significant - and maybe the most accurate - statements about the hopeless destiny to which we relegate those "undesirables" in our society that we so casually and carelessly discard. It makes the reader confront his or her own bigotry ... come face to face with his or her own dark side ... own up to the horrific potentials that lurk in the hearts of men - and obviously, dear Poppy, of women too. If you have the courage to face your own demons, forget everything you've read about this book and take a walk down the forbidden path. If you're afraid of what lurks behind your own shadow, maybe you should take the well-lit road and read the latest bodice ripper instead.
Rating:
Summary: Unsettling
Review: This book was unsettling in the way of making you go to bed as soon as possible because you couldn't handle all the pondering (the ending doesn't leave you hanging exactly, but sure does leave you hanging off a cliff just above a green mist of despair), and then waking up, immediately remembering, and being all disturbed again. Kind of in the way that the movie The Talented Mr. Ripley might. I won't speak about the plot, you can read that elsewhere. It does however, move quickly and keeps you rapt (and horrified, both at the actual plot and the fact that you can't stop reading the gory stuff) . . .and ends in a way that is perfect, but makes you wish for the cheap consolation of a happy, bright, all is well finale. So that's why I gave it four stars. I will treasure this book along with Lost Souls and Drawing Blood because it was just too good, but I think I'm too much of a pansy to really like it. If you're more than hardcore than me, you won't be disappointed at all. Give it a read.
Rating:
Summary: Poppy Does It Again
Review: This is considered to be Poppy's most controversial novel yet. Her American publisher did not want to touch it, nor did her British one. She had to send out the manuscript to other houses, and finally got Simon&Shuster to publish it here, and another notable UK publisher over there. It is a serial killer novel with traces of Jeffrey Dahmer. Poppy likes to jump between characters, setting up their stories that are at first seemingly unrelated, and have them come slowly then crashingly together at the end of the novel. She has never done it so effectively as in this novel. A serial killer in England escapes from prison in the most extrodinary way (I won't give this away, but it was very original!); another similar killer in New Orleans is still practicing his habit of killing drifters, but never locals; and indulging in their seasoned and cooked flesh; a young New Orleans boy of Vietnamese heritage has problems between his family finding out he is gay and his ex-boyfriend with HIV who wants him back; finally there is the young man stricken with HIV whos only enjoyed passtime is the pirated radio station he runs with two friends. All of these people have their own problems, but all come together as one in a thrilling climax. This is a gruesome, suspensive, and poetically written novel not to be missed.
Rating:
Summary: The only book I ever purposely threw away...
Review: ...and I am loathe to throw away a book. The only reason I read it through was because I blew 11 bucks on it. I have no rational idea as to why she's spoke of being in the same league as King and Koontz. One can only stomach so much trite and sad perversion. Save your money, I wish I had.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing writer
Review: A wonderful book, Poppy Brite definitely stands out from the mainstream horror best-selling american authors, I mean, she is a REAL writer, the book is beautifully crafted and surely makes you nervous. There had been a long time since I had read a horror book that I considered horrible (in a good sense of course) and this is it. Brite is very good at building characters, and really gets you in them, even though you do or don't like them, you can understand them. Poppy Brite sure gets the contradiction in human nature and describes it with good literature. If you haven't read this book, read it!
Rating:
Summary: Well, It'll Make You Think, Anyway
Review: The disturbing story of a serial killer, his cannibalistic lover, and the young boy they've targeted, Exquisite Corpse, if nothing else, will challenge the value which its readers place on human life, perhaps making it stronger. Youthful, angst-ridden nihilism is subtly challenged as young lead character Tran dabbles with his dark side and with risk taking, but always flees at the first sign of any real danger (if, that is, he can even open his eyes to the danger before him.) The grisly, unforgiving murders detailed in this book's often purple prose have led to dismissal of it as a disgusting, amoral glorification of killing. This conclusion is somewhat simplistic; Brite has much to say on more pervasive forms of "acceptable" murder in today's society--toxic dumping in communities, corrupt police who turn the other way in abusive situations, etc. Unfortunately, however, the message does come off more like a smokescreen for Brite's obvious bloodlust than any real exposure of societal hypocrisy.
|
