exquisite corspes? mediocre i thought (Poppy Z. Brite in General)

Member Name: gothygal

Product:	Poppy Z. Brite in General
Date:	11/08/02 (46 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: detailed, interesting

Disadvantages: unoriginal, overly gory

Having read all of the Poppy Z Brite books on the recommendation of reviews as "highly original work" i have to say i was in fact highly disappointed. Im actually singling out one book in particular and this will make more sense to fans(?) if you've read it.

The book is exquisite corpses for those who have read it, you'll remember how it tracks two serial killer in seperate and then thier crimes and progress in tandem along with the personal confusion of a young homosexual teenager Tran.

The reason that Im unimpressed with the book is not because its badly written, far be it from such, Poppy Z Brites writing is highly detailed, tends towards eroticism and has highly develpoed character insights and developments. The main issue that I have with exquisite corpses is how unoriginal it actually is.

The patterns of the serial killers Arthur and Jay are very similar to the murders commited by Jeffrey Dahmer. For a quick refresher lets compare the points in the book with the real life Jeffrey Dahmer...

Jeffrey Dahmer killed young homosexual men with little or no family ties, no-one noticed when most of these young men went missing = Jay and Arthur killed young homosexual men with little or no family ties (Tran was disowned by his family, Jay and Arthur killed a drifter, Arthur killed a tourist)

Jay and Arthur disposed of the bodies by leaving them in vats of acid within the confines of the house = as did Jeffrey Dahmer

Jay kept the mens bodies in the fridge = Jeffrey Dahmer kept parts in his fridge and freezer

Tran was a young teenager (i must confess im not sure of the exact age, he was also vietnamese) and whilst being tortured by Arthur and Jay managerd to escape, he was found by police naked and bleeding, who returned him to Jay as it was told to them that Tran was drunk and Jay and Tran were in the middle of a lovers. In 1991 neighbours of Jeffrey Dahmer called police to his apartment, wh
ere a 14 year old asian boy was found bleeding and naked having actually escaped from Dahmer he was returned to Dahmer by police, who worte off the incident as a lovers tiff.... does this sound familiar yet?

Arthur was a necrophiliac who slept with his dead "boys", Jefrrey Dahmer also was a necrophiliac.

Jeffrey Dahmer killed his vicitms either by drugging them or getting them drunk. Jay was the quarters local dealer who made sure his victims were drugged or drunk.

Both Dahmer and Poppy Z Brites killers ate thier victims...

The thing that most interested me about the book was that although there were many similarities between Jay, Arthur and Dahmer, not one mention of Dahmer was made throughout the book. Nothing at the start or end , even thought the book may have been an unoffical homage or biography of Dahmer but no mention of him at all.

So based on all these similarites i think im justified in saying the the work in this case is hardly "highly original" and if all you have to do to get a best seller on the list is twist the works of a serial killer/cannibal/necrophiliac and change a couple of names, then im in the wrong job...

Summary: