Baise-Moi (Rape Me) [Paperback]

Virginie Despentes (Author), Bruce Benderson (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2003

Baise-Moiis one of the most controversial French novels of recent years, a punk fantasy that takes female rage to its outer limits. Now the basis for a hit underground film which was banned in France,Baise-Moiis a searing story of two women on a rampage that is part Thelma and Louise, part Viking conquest. Manu and Nadine have had all they can take. Manu has been brutally raped, and determines it's not worth leaving anything precious lying vulnerable -- including her very self. She teams up with Nadine, a nihilist who watches pornography incessantly, and they enact their own version of les vols et les viols (rape and pillage) -- they lure men sexually, use them up, then rob and kill them. Drawing from the spiky cadences of the Sex Pistols and the murderous eroticism of Georges Bataille or Dennis Cooper,Baise-Moiis a shocking, accomplished, and truly unforgettable novel.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A small revolution." -- Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly

"An underground favorite that will be talked about for years." -- Francesca Miller, Female FYI

"Fuses triple-X porno, New Wave abandon, and feminist revenge fantasy. . . Risky and different." -- Glenn Lovell, The Mercury News

"Pure payback . . . subversive and exhilarating." -- Karen Durbin, Elle

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; 1 edition (February 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802138705
• ISBN-13: 978-0802138705
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,038,236 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You've misunderstood, December 13, 2004

By 

Position "Vis-a-Vis" (Paris) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baise-Moi (Rape Me) (Paperback)

Virginie Despentes is an anti-stylist. In her prose, she tries to capture the rhythm of the popular, nonliterary mind. She's against aestheticism and the literary aesthetic, much like the avant-garde writer Cathy Acker was. What she hopes to do in this book is to enter directly into the minds of alienated, abject characters, without poeticizing them. This is a very difficult task, and she succeeds beautifully. The translator tried to match this naked, gritty voice as exactly as possible. Those readers who didn't like the book or its style obviously didn't get it, or had to shut their minds off to this harrowing experience of alienation. But this is a very human, deeply touching book. It's brave and uncompromising. The French understood this, but the book has been sadly neglected in this country.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not impressed, July 11, 2006

By 

Shannon Barber "nudemuse" (Seattle, Wa) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Baise-Moi (Rape Me) (Paperback)

"Baise-Moi" (Rape Me), is billed as shocking and exhilarating however, I found it to be neither. Virginie Despentes' writing style (perhaps due to being translated) holds no shocks or punches. This novel is decently paced if at times it seems to be reaching for the shock value. At times the main characters, Nadine and Manu come off as caricatures of bad girl archetypes that are neither inventive nor are they new. I hope (and to give credit to Despentes) that when read in the original language the book retains more of a literary punch. Overall I was unimpressed with both the book and the hype.

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Shocking and incendiary, but that's the point, January 17, 2004

By 

C. Miller "Knitter and bookworm" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Baise-Moi (Rape Me) (Paperback)

Virginie Despentes is a bit like the A.M. Homes of contemporary French literature--a young woman writer who doesn't really care who she offends with her work. She has another agenda, even if it's not immediately apparent to most readers.

This is the story of two young French women, Nadine and Manu, who live in the squalor of "les HLMs," the government-subsidized housing projects outside major French cities. Les HLMs are breeding ground for every kind of corruption--drug use, crime, violence, rape.

The two main characters finally snap when one of their friends is brutally raped, so they start off on a campaign of a little raping and pillaging of their own, seducing men, killing them, then stealing their money.

Despentes doesn't let anyone off the hook, neither the alleged victims or the alleged aggressors. Her point, it seems to me, is that people today can't help but be a little bit of both.

The style isn't particularly interesting or groundbreaking, but then again, it is a translation. Despentes isn't trying to be subtle and artful here, she's more interested in making a point.

This is the kind of book you'll either hate or appreciate for the point she's trying to make about contemporary French society and contemporary human beings.