Ugly Man: Stories (P.S.) [Paperback]

Dennis Cooper (Author)

Book Description

Series: P.S. | Publication Date: May 26, 2009

A short story from the collection Ugly Man by Dennis Cooper.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The cult novelist's collection of short stories plumbs veins of dark humor amid the sex and gore his fans have come to expect. The contents range from short shorts—a rumination on The Fifteen Worst Russian Gay Porn Web Sites and an abortive episode entitled One Night in 1979 I Did Too Much Coke and Couldn't Sleep and Had What I Thought Was a Million-Dollar Idea to Write the Definitive Tell-all Book About Glam Rock Based on My Own Personal Experience but This Is as Far as I Got—to longer pieces in which sadistic male characters explore their preoccupations with the murder, mutilation and rape of nihilistic teenaged boys. Stories of the latter group often feature text pared down to dialogue alone or resembling scripts complete with stage directions. The lighter fare, such as it is, provides much needed comic relief, as in the case of The Anal-Retentive Line Editor, which proceeds through interstitial edits upon a series of drafts of a piece of gay erotica, forming a running conversation and problematic seduction between author and editor. This is classic Cooper: explicit, unconventional and, to the uninitiated, alarming. (June)
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Review

“Potent and humorous….As always, the need for connection—even if experienced at the level of unspeakable yet intimate violence—as well as the need to expose what lies underneath are Cooper’s main preoccupations.” (New York Times Book Review )

“But even in these moments of intense melancholy, Ugly Man has a lightness that Cooper hasn’t achieved elsewhere. Though the collection deals with topics that are shocking, even abhorrent, it is certainly this highly talented author’s most accessible work to date (Time Out New York )

“Dennis Cooper, God help him, is a born writer” (William Burroughs )

“A disquieting genius.” (Vanity Fair )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; Original edition (May 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061715441
• ISBN-13: 978-0061715440
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,155,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great from Cooper, May 26, 2009

By 

Dale Murphy (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ugly Man: Stories (P.S.) (Paperback)

I don't quite understand the one star review that a reviewer placed on this book. Wouldn't a supposed "long time Cooper fan" have some inkling of what to expect, some idea of what subject matter might be discussed? Apparently not. No long time fan of Cooper will be offended by this book. It is a brilliant book, Cooper's funniest. It would be hard for me to pick a favorite from this collection, therefore, I won't. Many fans have sensed Dennis Cooper's humor from early on (like, for example, "Try" and, later, "The Sluts"). The humor in "Ugly Man" is quite clear and a part of the forefront of the book. And, no, the subject matter might not be for everyone. But, then again, a lot of great literature isn't for everyone. In short, this book is not, as the aforementioned reviewer stated, 'deranged'. To say that and to simultaneously claim to be a fan of Dennis Cooper is, well...deranged.

--Jesse Hudson

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING, November 19, 2009

By 

C. Reding (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ugly Man: Stories (P.S.) (Paperback)

All I can say is that Dennis Cooper is a genius and this collection is a testament to that statement, quality Cooper fiction. It is a must buy!! I <3 Dennis Cooper

1.0 out of 5 stars BEWARE THE SINGLE SHORT STORY PURCHASE, January 22, 2012

By 

Jose Sotolongo (Kingston, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ugly Man (P.S.) (Kindle Edition)

If you buy just the one short story that gives the collection its title (for a $1.99 in January of 2012), you will probably feel cheated, as I was. It is a single story, as expected, but rudimentary to say the least. I thought I was reading a synopsis of a story instead of the whole thing. I took exactly 90 seconds to read, and had no development whatsoever. I am not sure I will pursue reading this writer further.