Frisk

I didn't need to rate any of Cooper's books, but I wanted my 5 stars on the record to balance a couple low-star ratings. The reviewer who said this book serves no purpose misses the whole point of Cooper's Frisk-series books. Worse, she compares this work to Brett Easton Ellis, who shouldn't even be allowed to live in the same universe as Cooper. And the reviewer who low-balled Cooper in comparison with Poppy Z. Brite said her work was more brutal and tantalizing. That's funny, considering that what Cooper's real-world characters do and have done to them is far more brutal than what Brite's vampires (which don't exist) do. Brite's characters are broody beings with black & white emotions; Cooper's characters are seriously warped and totally aware of it, much more psychologically complex than Brite's people. If Cooper offends you, you deserve to be offended like this more often. People don't die in war so you can read Gone With The Wind; they die so you can read Cooper.

With his award-winning first novel _Closer_, Dennis Cooper established himself as the Marquis de Sade of the Information Age. Still, I've come to think of _Frisk_ as his most daring novel to date. It begins as a grisly little tale of S/M and sexual psychosis. But Cooper surprises us at every turn, delivering a stunning meditation on art, eros, friendship, fantasy, and the great act of creation.

Ho avuto la fortuna e l'onore di leggere ben due romanzi (Frisk, Ziggy) e un racconto (Sbagliato)di quest'uomo che non esito a definire un genio dei desideri oscuri. Lo ringrazio per avermi dato delle emozioni così viscerali. Lo ammiro così tanto che ho chiamato come Lui il personaggio principale di una raccolta di racconti da me, umilmente, scritta. Non ho parole. Raccomando vivamente a chi vuole godere in modo maligno l'insuperabile e devastante FRISK.

Dennis Cooper keeps taking us further and further into his dark places. FRISK is his deepest exploration yet into the shadow world of lust and death. It is a collection of images loosely tied to a story line. Cooper salivates over James Duvall's beautiful stomach, and then casually recounts an anonymous sex scene between the narrator ("Dennis" who closely resmbles the author) and a young man who may or may not be Leonardo DiCapprio. The most indellible image, however, is a grisly scene in which a dwarf with an attitude enthusiastically and obligingly hacks a gay junkie with a death wish into easily disposable parts. FRISK appears to be a strange concoction of desire and nightmare, with, just maybe, a sprinkling of biography. It is definitely not a book for everyone.

This is Dennis cooper's breakthrough novel, which got him both praise and death threats. The narrator, "Dennis", is obsessed with the connection between sex and death, desire and annihilation. As you read his story, he implicates you in indulging him his fantasy, but he also loves you for listening to him. Don't put it down when it starts to repulse you, because so much is waiting for you at the end.