Exquisite Corpse

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More About This Book

Overview

To serial slayer Andrew Compton, murder is an art, the most intimate art. After feigning his own death to escape from prison, Compton makes his way to the United States with the sole ambition of bringing his "art" to new heights. Tortured by his own perverse desires, and drawn to possess and destroy young boys, Compton inadvertently joins forces with Jay Byrne, a dissolute playboy who has pushed his "art" to limits even Compton hadn't previously imagined. Together, Compton and Byrne set their sights on an exquisite young Vietnamese-American runaway, Tran, whom they deem to be the perfect victim.

Swiftly moving from the grimy streets of London's Piccadilly Circus to the decadence of the New Orleans French Quarter, and punctuated by rants from radio talk show host Lush Rimbaud, a.k.a. Luke Ransom, Tran's ex-lover, who is dying of AIDS and who intends to wreak ultimate havoc before leaving this world, Exquisite Corpse unfolds into a labyrinth of murder and love. Ultimately all four characters converge on a singular bloody night after which their lives will be irrevocably changed — or terminated.

Poppy Z. Brite dissects the landscape of torture and invites us into the mind of a killer. Exquisite Corpse confirms Brite as a writer who defies categorization. It is a novel for those who dare trespass where the sacred and profane become one.

Editorial Reviews

James Marcus

With a resume that includes such titles as Drawing Blood and Swamp Foetus, the 29-year-old Poppy Z. Brite is a rising star in the world of horror fiction. However, Exquisite Corpse is the first of her books to be issued by a mainstream trade publisher. Has the author softened her approach in hopes of winning a wider audience? Not for a single blood-spattered page.

The protagonists of Exquisite Corpse are Andrew Compton, an English serial killer, and Jay Byrne, an American serial killer with an impressive collection of pickled and frozen corpses in his backyard. Not surprisingly, their activities make for plenty of throat-slitting, disembowelment and necrophilia. Cannibalism, too, gets its due, particularly when Jay feels like snacking: "He sank his teeth into flesh that had gone the consistency of firm pudding. He ripped at the edges of the wound, pulling off strips of skin and meat, swallowing them whole, smearing his face with his own saliva and what little juice remained in this chill tissue."

There is, to be fair, an unmistakable intelligence at work here, and a grisly sense of rightness when these two killing machines meet in a New Orleans gay bar and fall in love. But the unrelenting gore grows monotonous, and Brite seems deaf to the black-comic undertones of what she's doing. Instead she's drawn to the earnest and aesthetic side of serial murder -- there may be human viscera on display everywhere, but the book itself is oddly heartless. -- Salon

Publishers Weekly
Blood-soaked sheets, cannibalism, rotting, half-dissected corpses: this gruesome psychological horror novel has all the grue a reader mightor 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. (Aug.)
More Reviews (2) Fewer Reviews
Library Journal
Acclaimed horror writer Brite (Drawing Blood, LJ 10/1/93) has never been one to mince words, but even the most hardened among us will cringe when reading this latest, which easily surpasses Brett Easton Ellis's American Psycho on the gore-o-meter. English serial killer Andrew Compton, who killed 23 boys before being caught, escapes from prison and makes his way to Louisiana, where he inadvertently teams up with another fellow who shares his appetite for dismemberment and necrophilia. Young Tran, a gay Louisiana teen who is evicted by his Vietnamese father, foolishly proffers himself to our vicious pair. Tran's only hope for surviving the encounter with all limbs intact is his ex-lover Luke, a tough but AIDS-weakened writer who rants about heterosexual America on a pirate radio station, using the name "Lush Rimbaugh." All in all, Exquisite Corpse is a rub-it-in-your face novel that is all the more terrifying because of its author's razor-sharp prose. Purchase wherever Brite has a following.Mark Annichiarico, "Library Journal"
Susan Larson
Poppy Z. Brite is the mistress of the gruesome but unforgettable image.
—The Times Picayune (New Orleans)

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780684836270
  • Publisher: Touchstone
  • Publication date: 8/28/1997
  • Edition description: Reprint
  • Pages: 240
  • Sales rank: 566,487
  • Product dimensions: 5.40 (w) x 8.00 (h) x 0.60 (d)

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 50 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(29)

4 Star

(11)

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(4)

2 Star

(3)

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(3)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 50 Customer Reviews

  • Posted March 24, 2010

    Very Good

    I had read several other Brite stories before I picked this one up and always loved them. My first read of Exquisite Corpse however was pretty shocking. I couldn't decide whether or not I loved it, or wanted to put it behind my desk and forget I bought it. Fortunately, I decided to give it another try and reread it a couple weeks later. Once I got over the initial shock value of this book it immediately became a loved book. Though it is not a book for everyone (most of my friends included in that category), if you are a lover of Poppy you should really enjoy this book.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 24, 2005

    Left Speechless

    When I got this book, it was almost by accident. I was bored out of my mind and it was just sitting there, so i picked it up and started reading. The first character you meet is Andrew. A killer in captive. The first hints about his love of men caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting him to be gay. Then as you read the rest of the story, you can't imagine it any other way. It's perfect. The characters are fantastic and irreplacable. I keep telling all my friends about this book, and even my choppy renditions throw them into story-stupor. It's wonderful. Definitely suggested.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 1, 2012

    Epic

    This is the most amazing story. I really loved it. If you have an open mind i think you would love it also.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 25, 2011

    One of my favorite books

    The changing point of view keeps the novel fresh and exciting. Every detai is amazing and in the end I felt oddly connected to each character.

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  • Posted July 11, 2011

    With stood the test of time!

    I first got this book when I was a sophmore in high school when I stumbled across it. Quickly became my all time favorite book. 13 years later it still engrosses me with every read. I have lent this book to other and none of them have been able to handel it but I LOVE LOVE LOVE this booklr

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  • Posted April 24, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    Bad fiction

    Susan Larsons's review which states that Brite is the mistress of the unforgettable grotesque image is hyperbole at it's worst. Arthur Machen wrote, in The Hill of Dreams, a scene of black human cruelty without blood and entrails flying in all directions that Brite has rarely reached without excessive violence. While I am a fan of Brite's earlier published work, I cannot praise this work.

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  • Posted July 14, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Shock Value with Substance

    This is car crash kind of disturbing, but I couldn't stop reading! Devilish and dirty and addicting!

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  • Posted March 12, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    9780440212812

    Dark and Delightful

    I love the vivid scenes that Poppy paints in all her books, but this is definitely one of my favorites. Not for the feint of heart (or stomach). It is dark, ghastly, intense and engrossing. Highly recommended.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 31, 2005

    Grotesque

    This was probably the most disturbing book I have ever read. It focused more on gortesqueness and homoeroticism than plot compared to an Anne Rice or Stephen King novel. I actually cringed several times when reading this book. However, if you are used to such shocking material then this may bore you, since shock value seemed to be the main point of this novel.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 29, 2004

    This book won't be appearing on Reading Rainbow

    My favorite book! It's equally compelling and disturbing with in your face characters. Don't read this if you're offended by homosexual relationships, serial killers, pirate radio stations, necrophilia, blood, guts, drugs, alchohol, incest, canibalism...(did I leave anything out?)

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 26, 2004

    Not for the WEAK...

    This is a great book. I was stuck from the get go.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 9, 2004

    WONDERFUL NOVEL!

    this was one of the best books i have ever read! it really touched me. it is like a peice of art or something. the wonderful feeling i had whenever i would read it, it would stimulate my mind. i recomend this book to anyone! i had friends who thought 'ew, that is gross' when i told them what it is about, but when i let them just start reading it, they got hooked! it was truely amazing. there is no other book like this, that is for sure!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 15, 2004

    Good, but not Great

    If you've ever read Lost Souls, or Drawing Blood, you would know that there is a darkness brewing behind every emotion in Poppy Z. Brites work. In this book, however, the dark recesses of the mind are prominently displayed through acts of murder, cannibalism, and disembowelment. If you love gore, you will love this. However, if you long for passion and love and death twining together in a sick, twisted homage to gore, this book is not necessarily for you. Exquisite Corpse fits nicely along with Poppy's other novels, but it has none of the deathly romanticism.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 25, 2004

    Not ur usual horror

    Truly one of the best books I've read. As a teen being into the japanese animation and comic scene the homo-erotic theme was much a shock. Brite is a brilliant and imaginative artist who had inspired me. I hope to find some more of her books in the near future. I only hope there as good as Exquisite Corpe.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 18, 2003

    a reviewer

    i read this book when i was 12 it was the first book i read by Poppy Z. Brite i really liked it. i recommend this book if you like Poppy Z. Brite. after i read Exquisite Corpse i had to go out and find as many of her books as i could which let me tell you is not easy.the book is well writen, Andrew Compton and Jay Byrne are based on serial killer Jeffery Dahmer. its like your in their minds. i liked how every chapter was a different character. i liked Tran his character was will writen you could feel his emotions. really good book.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 3, 2002

    Good Plotline

    But a little disturbing if you are new to homo-erotic novels

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 3, 2002

    another great book from poppy

    poppy is an outstanding writter and really puts you in the shoes of her charectors.. In EXQUISIT CORPSE she really keeps you on your toes and on the edge of your seat

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 14, 2001

    Wonderfully sick

    I recently was told to read Lost Souls, I'll love it, so I did, it was okay. But then I read Exquisite Corpse and couldn't put it down the entire time! It was so sick, it grabs your attention and won't let go until you've finished it. I'm making my boyfriend and all my friends read it now.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 24, 2001

    holds you tell the end!!!!!!

    this book was so good. i don't read very much and when i do it's usally cause i have to. but brite has a way of grabing your attention and never letting it go. i want to read more of her books.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 18, 2000

    Could It Really Be Any Better? ? ?

    I've always liked Poopy Z. Brite's books. Ive read every book she's written or editted. I liked this one alot. It has a great plot, cool characters, and a good ending. Ive recommended this book to several friends that also enjoyed it. Its a great book.

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