Exquisite Corpse (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Sometimes a man grows tired of carrying everything the world heaps upon his head..." (more)
Key Phrases: white cop, New Orleans, French Quarter, Lush Rimbaud (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You've probably heard that this love story about two cannibalistic serial killers (loosely modeled after Dennis Nilsen and Jeffrey Dahmer) is over the top. You've been warned about the lovingly meticulous descriptions of murder and necrophilia. But the novel also features a keen look at the AIDS plague, in a setting almost worth dying for: Brite's doomed aesthetes dance in a sweet, heady New Orleans of milky coffee and beignets, alligators, Billy Holiday tunes, scented candles, pirate radio, swamp French, andouille sausage and one bar for every 175 people. And the structure is the tightest of Brite's books so far. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Blood-soaked sheets, cannibalism, rotting, half-dissected corpses: this gruesome psychological horror novel has all the grue a reader might?or might not?want. Brite (Drawing Blood, 1993), the reigning queen of Generation-X splatterpunks, pulls out the stops in this ghastly tale of two serial killers who find true love over the body of a murdered and mutilated boy in the historic French Quarter of New Orleans. Londoner Andrew Compton, imprisoned for the necrophiliac slayings of 23 young men, escapes from prison by (rather unbelievably) faking his own death and killing the coroners gathered to autopsy his body. Fleeing to Louisiana, he hooks up with Jay Byrne, slacker scion of a wealthy old family, a man whose murders are even more fiendish than Compton's own. Brite is a highly competent stylist with a knack for depicting convincing, if monstrous, characters. Her plot development rests too heavily on coincidence, however, and on an excess of details drawn from the life of real-world serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer. Though Brite shifts point of view throughout, she always returns to Compton's first person. This technique gives the narrative rhythm and emotional force but also seems aimed toward intimating the reader in Compton's acts of dehumanization ("the aesthetics of dismemberment") and depravity. And so what Brite really presents here is, ultimately, yet another crimson leaf in the literature of the pornography of violence.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (August 20, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684836270
• ISBN-13: 978-0684836270
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (161 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #190,597 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Proceed with extreme caution, May 26, 2000

By	Cheyenne Lang "raptuer" (Eau Claire, WI) - See all my reviews

So you're a Poppy Z. Brite fan? Read Drawing Blood? Read Wormwood? Read Lost Souls? Consider yourself able to handle anything she could possible deal out? Think again. Do not read this book just because you loved her other work, and certainly don't read it if you've never read her other works. There are things in this book that you can never un-read; she makes you feel things you can never forget. Granted, all you hardcore fans out there won't head this warning- I certainly wouldn't have. So do go right ahead, and when you are done you will know what I'm refering to. All of which is not to say that this is not an incredible book- as always, Poppy Z. Brite is the master of descriptions so vivid that they make you feel, smell, or taste her words. And that is what makes this book so profoundly disturbing and so utterly unforgettable.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gross and Intertaining, November 15, 1999

By A Customer

The few things I've read by this author in the past have not impressed me -- more splatterpunk than anything else. I was browsing through the mystery section at the book store and stumbled across this (obviously this book was in the wrong place). The back made is sound good, so I decided to read a few pages -- I was hooked! One of the serial killers describes a young man he picked up who had a tatoo across his neck that said "Cut Here" so the serial killer merely had to follow the directions! (this is on the 2nd page!)

The book is extremely gory -- for those of you who have a weak stomach you might want to pass on this one.

AIDS is a theme throughout the book. I found myself thinking how true some of her points were about the amount of research being done to find a cure and the extremes some people might feel like going to so that a cure could be focused on.

This is the best book I have read by this author -- and ranked in my top books I have read. This book is a must read for anyone who is into horror -- but it might spoil you for others...

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Piece of Art!, April 26, 2006

By	Maurena M. Ellis (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been a huge fan of Mrs. Brite's work for quite some time now. My first book that I read of her's was Lost Souls, Drawing Blood, and then Wormwood. I had picked this one up about 2 years ago but never really got into it. I sat down one day and decided to give it another attempt. The moment I started I couldn't put it down, it is a must for those that love dark literature with twists of homosexuality as well as cannibalism and murder. Truely amazing piece of work, love the descriptions of such sinful acts..her work is awesome! Soon to start on the next three of the newer "series"!