Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Da Capo Press (2005), Edition: Reprint, 304 pages
Description
"Cooper deserves reassessment . . . this compelling page-turner ought to remind adventurous readers that important transgressive literature needn't be something only the French and the occasional perverted American can get behind."-LA Weekly Set largely on the pages of a website where gay male escorts are reviewed by their clients, and told through the postings, emails, and conversations of several dozen unreliable narrators, The Sluts chronicles the evolution of one young escort's date with a satisfied client into a metafiction of pornography, lies, half-truths, and myth. Explicit, shocking, comical, and displaying the author's signature flair for blending structural complexity with direct, stylish, accessible language, The Sluts is Cooper's most transgressive novel since Frisk, and one of his most innovative works of fiction to date.… (more)
Media reviews
Good book! I read it with pleasure
User reviews
LibraryThing member FicusFan
I saw this book on LT. I was intrigued by the extreme nature of the topics. They were extreme and may be offensive to those who don't read in the genre.
The story is told in an epistolary style: a series of emails, though there is a section that could be a chat. The premise is that men are writing
When they write in they use a screen name so its never clear who is who, and some comments could be from the same person using multiple names. The stories could be true, fantasies or complete lies.
The stories about one escort fuel the board, and he becomes the topic of conversation and speculation. Those in California try to 'date' him. The webmaster often steps in to referee, and point out what is true and what isn't. Then dueling customers post different reports and start calling others' reports lies. Everyone in the book is an unreliable narrator. The story follows the escort through real life events, there is a possible murder and investigation, but even that may not be true. One of the 'Customers' hooks up with the escort and begins offering his services, and there are reports that the escort is an impostor. The customer also becomes a topic of speculation.
The book is like a giant game of telephone, except some are deliberately lying. The motivations are never clear, and there are even people who post 'honest retractions' but its not clear if those are any more honest than the 'lies'.
The book looks at the group dynamics of a small number of people who are in a forum that allows them to expand and fuel their sexual fantasies. Some of the fantasies are sick, evil and even illegal. It is to be hoped that people who express their fantasies are not acting on them, and not engendering them in those who had no idea they existed before reading about them. It is interesting, a bit sad, and often gross.
The story is told in an epistolary style: a series of emails, though there is a section that could be a chat. The premise is that men are writing
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in to a web site to rate their dates with male escorts. I don't know if the web sites for men actually exist, but I saw a documentary on high end female sex workers, and they do actually exist for them.When they write in they use a screen name so its never clear who is who, and some comments could be from the same person using multiple names. The stories could be true, fantasies or complete lies.
The stories about one escort fuel the board, and he becomes the topic of conversation and speculation. Those in California try to 'date' him. The webmaster often steps in to referee, and point out what is true and what isn't. Then dueling customers post different reports and start calling others' reports lies. Everyone in the book is an unreliable narrator. The story follows the escort through real life events, there is a possible murder and investigation, but even that may not be true. One of the 'Customers' hooks up with the escort and begins offering his services, and there are reports that the escort is an impostor. The customer also becomes a topic of speculation.
The book is like a giant game of telephone, except some are deliberately lying. The motivations are never clear, and there are even people who post 'honest retractions' but its not clear if those are any more honest than the 'lies'.
The book looks at the group dynamics of a small number of people who are in a forum that allows them to expand and fuel their sexual fantasies. Some of the fantasies are sick, evil and even illegal. It is to be hoped that people who express their fantasies are not acting on them, and not engendering them in those who had no idea they existed before reading about them. It is interesting, a bit sad, and often gross.
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LibraryThing member INTPLibrarian
The material in this book may be disturbing to some readers...
Seriously. It's Palahniuk gruesome, but without the humor.
That being said, this is an amazing mindfuck of a book. I stayed up way too late because I didn't want to put it down. (Such a cliche, I know, but when it's true, it's true!)
I
Seriously. It's Palahniuk gruesome, but without the humor.
That being said, this is an amazing mindfuck of a book. I stayed up way too late because I didn't want to put it down. (Such a cliche, I know, but when it's true, it's true!)
I
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actually wish I knew more disturbed people so that I'd have more people I'd feel comfortable recommending this book to. Show Less
LibraryThing member NativeRoses
This is an extreme portrayal of the lives of a group of gay male escorts and their pimps that is narrated through wildly unreliable sources. Topics include necrophilia, snuff movies, castration, rape, bareback breeding, and prostitution.
LibraryThing member LizaHa
I had kind of a stendhal syndrome reaction to this (or maybe it was something else), and then all the time these sweet-faced 18 year old girls are coming to the place where I work reading it, and it feels like when there are babies on roller coasters just chilling. I liked how this was so
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internet-y and suspenseful. Show Less
LibraryThing member CaliSoleil
Interesting for about ... the first 20 pages. Then it just seemed repetitious. Can't say I was very impressed.
LibraryThing member dogboi
Cooper writes about the intersection of sex and violence. This novel, mostly told through anonymous message boards provides a slew of unreliable narrators. While Cooper is often labeled as a transgressive writer, I really believe he transcends such labels, and it would be reductionist to say that
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his novels are transgressive. I find them wrapped in so many layers of honesty that isn't always present in the works of other transgressive writers. Highly recommended unless you have a low tolerance for sadism. Show Less
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
304 p.; 5.88 inches
ISBN
0786716746 / 9780786716746
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