Closer: A Novel

Eye-opening and sometimes disturbing, "Closer" presents a vivid and dark glimpse into the life of a teenager trying to find his way in a harsh world. George Miles is a young and beautiful man, trying to maneuver his way through high school. He befriends those whom he also finds attractive: a punk

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artist, a self-involved singer, a teacher. They all use him -- either as a subject for art, a partner to get high with or to have sex with. Their perceived promise of relieving his frustration doesn't go as planned, leaving him more confused and empty of all feelings except for death. Then George meets Philippe, a man with unusual tastes, and he's finally given the opportunity to make a decision for himself.

The world in which Philippe and his "friend" Tom live is a dark, perverted space, and at times, I felt uncomfortable reading as George allowed himself to experience it. But I think that's what "Closer" was about: we yearn so much to experience everything -- good and bad -- just to make us feel like we're truly alive. George was looking for that to make him feel something other than the boredom and dullness of his daily life.

Not an easy story to get through at times, this is still tells a good story and is definitely worth a read.

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Dennis Cooper'a minimalist prose style and his fluid and personal sense of voice disarms the reader and leaves them vulnerable as they are sucked into the winding and shadowy tunnel of this refreshing but alarming story. We are led through the book by several different narrative voices, all tied

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together by the thread that is George Miles, who also narrates several sections. We are shown how these men and boys use George for love, sex, and violence. There is a certain sort of detachment exhibited by all the characters here that is more unsettling then any of the overt violence or scatology. This book is an intense analysis of teenage nihilism and the psychosexual makeup of American culture.

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I found it boring. Pretentious. Any and all characters completely unrelatable and unrealistic. Not worth my time.

Boring, gross, etc. I mainly read it because of Cooper's Paris Review interview and I wanted have a transgressive-lit marathon of Cooper/Bataille/Acker, but this is sort of disappointing. I was hoping for something similar to that perfectly structured hallucination that is The Marbled Swarm, but

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this reads more like a gay teenager's acid-induced nightmares that he decided to novelize for his intro to creative writing class. I should be kinder, since this was his very first book, but I think I'll pass on future Cooper, or at least on the rest of the George Miles cycle.

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Closer: A Novel (Cooper, Dennis) is pornography in my opinion. I like some pornography but this was scatalogical. Over the top for me without redeeming features in the story.