Customer Reviews

Electric Jesus Corpse

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I ended up buying his Satan Burger novel and a photocopied booklet called The Baby Jesus Buttplug instead. I have to tell you I was floored by those two books. Carlton Mellick has to be one of the most outside-the-box authors living today. So I decided to go ahead and buy Electric Jesus Corpse anyway, even though the author himself warned me not to.

Well, I read the book, and FINISHED it (unlike previously reviewers), and have to say that it's better than I expected but a lot worse than I had hoped. One thing to point out is that he was 18 years old when he wrote it, so it's obviously not a masterpiece. It's not a fun and easy read like his other books, but it's still something new and original. I'd rather they publish more books like this than any on the bestseller lists.

PROS: 1) Jesus and his apostles in a Dawn of the Dead style world is a cool idea. 2) The blue women from Satan Burger have cameos in this book (they rule). 3) amazonian homosexuals 4) Lots of action, which is very uncommon in arty books 5) Great ending (makes the book worth finishing). 6) It is written in a very crazy writing style and experiments with language in new and unexpected ways. In one section he even stops writing in English and starts writing in a made up language that doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Of course, you don't know what the heck is happening but I love the fact that he had the balls to do something so absurd.

CONS: 1) Messy plotting. 2) Too many characters. 3) The story sags in the middle. 4) the writing style might be strange, but not as interesting as in his newer books. 5) sometimes he goes a little too far trying to be weird. In one section, one of the characters actually takes a break from being a character in the novel and goes home to his wife to complain about his job as a character in a Carlton Mellick book. I don't know, it was just a little too much for me.

I gave the book 4 stars because I really like the author and think it was a good effort. But without knowing that the author was a teenager when he wrote this I would have given it 2 stars. If you have never read a Carlton Mellick III book than do not I repeat do NOT read this book first.

You can tell Mr. Mellick is a talented author. I'm not a big fan of this book, but his other books are wonderful. I recommend reading "Razor Wire Pubic Hair" instead of this one, but if you're interested in seeing what a brilliant author writes at age 18 (back when he was an amateur) you might enjoy Electric Jesus Corpse. On the other hand, it seems that many people have enjoyed this book so maybe I'm just a snob.

I followed the author's SATAN BURGER with this epic, and let me warn you all: reading Carlton Mellick's books Back-to-Back may be hazardous to your MENTAL health! These books kick so much tail, and its refreshing to see a resurgence in surreal literature, especially with Mellick leading the pack. So, why should you spend your hard earned money on EJC?? Lemme give you a couple of reasons:

1- It's like no other book you'll ever read....seriously. In the world of Carlton Mellick III, things are truly never as they seem, and this novel (epic?) is so original in the style and story departments that you just may throw out every other author's books to start your own CM3 collection.

2- Like to be disturbed? Like to laugh? Like your religion a little on the "weird" side? Then BUY THIS ONE, and prepare to be entertained (and for some, offended!).

Also, I should give one more reason (and an excuse) for buying this book:

3- Carlton Mellick III is the best thing to happen to surreal literature in a long long time (think Vonnegut in his prime), so if you buy this book, you can tell everyone you were reading Calton Mellick's work before he ruled the world!

If you've read anything from Carlton, you know your in for a treat no matter what it is. EJC is Mellick's debut, so you can expect a little amateurish elements throughout. But as a whole, the novel is a great piece of literature.

It's the story of Jesus Christ, retold in a world full of psycho sex-punks and zombies. And the good old JC is a big disco fan. Read it right now!!! Click "add to cart." You won't be sorry.

Make sure and check out Satan Burger, another epic. Perhaps his best.

Adios.

In a brief forward to this "anti-novel" (whatever that is supposed to mean, given that the structure of the book is hardly an antithesis of anything), the author expresses his belief that you, the reader, will hate it. Regardless of anything else you might say about him, at least Carlton Mellick III is truly a punk. Only a punker would consciously attempt to create something that everyone will hate.

Unfortunately, I was more bored with this book than anything else. The prose is either artfully inept or genuinely inept, and after a certain point I no longer had the patience to figure out if there was something--some Joycean sense of wordplay, perhaps--that I was simply missing out on, and was ready to simply call it awful. Whether it went over my head or not, Mellick's style is eventually very tiresome. The plot involves a re-framing of the story of Christ and the Apostles--hardly untrammeled ground--in some semi-apocalyptic future not long from now. Ho-hum. A prominent element is the existence of zombies straight out of "Night of the Living Dead" and every other movie or story with cannibalistic corpses that you've encountered before. Yawn. The characters are uniformly decadent, amoral and despicable. Been there, done that--such an approach can be interesting, but it isn't here.

Maybe I'm just more jaded than Mellick believes to be possible, but I didn't hate this book. I hated only the fact that I spent money on it, in anticipation of something truly subversive. This book isn't subversive, but merely scatological, and worth taking about as seriously as a 12-year-old boy writing obscenities on the bathroom wall. Naturally, devout Christians and anyone shocked by depictions of gratuitous violence, necrophilia and the like will react exactly the way Mellick seems to desire. Everyone else will be puzzled at best.

There is, of course, the possibility that I am simply missing the point; there are any number of critically acclaimed novels that I don't "get" any better than this one. But the point of a review is simply to communicate my own impressions, hopefully with enough detail to provide at least some information, even for those who might not agree. Good luck deciding if you agree or not.

[Addendum and fair notice: unlike the other reviewer currently on this site, I have actually read most of the book. I was unable, however, to muster the energy to finish it completely, although I skimmed through the parts I failed to read thoroughly. It didn't get any better.]

Perhaps a little too wanna-shock-u and vague-of-plot to come of as genuine but still a solid piece for interesting characters and universe.

NOTE: This book does not take place in "an apocalyptic near-future." It takes place in another universe.

This was the first CM3 book I've read. If you read the description and don't like where it's headed, don't buy the book. If none of what is described appeals to you, don't buy it hoping it will flesh itself out and actually be more in depth, it's not. Zombies, unlikable apostles, Jesus is basically a nonentity until the last few chapters, making only brief appearances. The stars are the Zombies and Mellick's playful and disturbed writing style. The semi-illiterate seem to complain of too many characters, but the storylines of each character are distinct enough that the non-ADD afflicted shouldn't have a problem. Worth it if only for the superb ending. Mellick is a fantastic writer who constantly puts enough subtle touches of sadness, well-crafted humor and turn of phrase, and intriguing plot developments to let you know he could have made this a NYTBestseller, if he gave a damn.

This book is okay. It is kind of cute. I like the concept. I like the imagery. I'm glad it exists, but it is very hard to get into and isn't as fun as all of the other books I have read by this author. He wrote it when he was 18 and it shows in the writing. Don't expect a masterpiece. Even in the introduction to the book the author says it wasn't meant to ever get published. Read Satan Burger or The Baby Jesus Butt Plug instead. If you like all of Mellick III's other work and are curious to see what he was doing as a teenager, check this one out. It's interesting to see how his style evolved. But be warned, Electric Jesus Corpse is a chaotic slop of experimentation. Some of it is good and some of it is terrible. It's impressive work for an 18-year-old but it's not even half as good as his newer books. If I picked this book up first I never would have read another book by Mellick III. That would have been a shame because he's probably my favorite author.

This is the fifth book I have read by Carlton Mellick III. I enjoyed it but not as much as some of his other work. Mellick seems to excel writting novellas which are quick and contain a dark sense of humor. It is obvious this is early work and at times it made me wonder if he was writing just to keep writing. There were so many main characters and after a while it was hard to keep track of where everyone was. I was also never able to really feel like I knew any of the characters. The book was a lot stronger in the first half, it read very quickly until it was interrrupted by a segment in which a character went home to his wife to rest before the next scene. This part was definitely bizarre but at the expense of harming the flow of the book. This a problem that occurs several times in the book, The second half really dragged and I was honestly glad it was over by the time that I finished. If this is what he could write when he was eighteen which was almost ten years ago, then I think he may have a good career ahead of him, but I don't really know I'm just an armchair critic. I recommend this book if you are a hardcore Mellick or Eraserhead Press fan, but otherwise save the money (unless you can borrow it from someone else).

This is a book where the author (the brilliant Carlton Mellick the 3rd) completely indulges his every personal whim and interest, and just so happens to create an amazing story at the same time. It's no wonder Carlton Mellick the 3rd seems to have a constantly expanding cult fan base. He writes like the director of a horror film who has spent most of their production budget on making sure the blood sprays long, hard, and far. Electric Jesus Corpse loosely follows the story of Jesus and the apostles, or at least what their story would have been if they lived in a post-apocalyptic, zombie infested landscape. Mellick somehow manages to make you follow him around this world, and effortlessly switches between characters and focus at a whim, while still keeping you hanging on his every word. His sheer enthusiasm and love for this world he has created manages to steamroll you right over any doubt or confusion you have about the story, and instead keeps you completely wrapped up until the oh so satisfying climax. Read this book, and read it now. I urge you, buy a copy for anyone you know this Christmas who likes to read, and tell them they must spent their Christmas morning with a cup of cocoa and their very own copy of "Electric Jesus Corpse" for the one true holiday experience.