Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Chaperos by Dennis Cooper

13 reviews

encyclopedia's review against another edition

3.0

Don't you realize what I'm giving you? Brad isn't just some cute, masochistic piece of ass who's here to help a bunch of stupid leather men get their sadistic rocks off. He's a fucking legend. I expect you to show some respect.

I wanted a heavy experience, not to have my life changed forever.

A fucked-up, graphically violent early-aughts Internet novel. I guess it's a mystery novel, but it has more in common with Borges in that the mystery is the nature of truth and identity itself. A genuinely interesting commentary on trust, the Internet, sex, power, fantasy. It's well written and even funny at times, it's just really fucking graphic (not that surprising if you know what you're getting into with ol' Dennis).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, and Murder

jemmers's review against another edition

Too many characters and a convoluted storyline. I thought it was cool at first trying to piece this, albeit fucked up, mystery together from escort reviews and discussion board posts. But there are WAY too many characters to keep track of. My brain felt like that Pepe Silvia meme. The mental work to figure out who snuffed who, if any snuffing actually occurred at all, is not worth it, imo. Like I just don’t care enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ribbenkast's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is not for everyone, and definitely not for the faint of heart. People are quick to say that about a lot of horror, but this time please heed the warning. 

However, I do have to give this book 5 ⭐️. It just does everything right. First there is the mystery: the book mainly consists of forum posts on an gay escort rating website in the early 2000's. There is no way to verify which accounts are real and which accounts are fake (even though the poor webmaster does try). Dennis Cooper does not take the reader by the hand. You have to do some detective work and decide for yourself what is real and what is fake. 

Secondly, it uses gore and violence effectively within the story. (So many times in extreme horror, gore is just simply there for the shock value. I find that rather overdone and boring). Some of the described acts are so vile, I had to put the book down for a bit. Whether these things actually happened or whether these were just the perverted ramblings of someone getting their weird rocks off remains to be debated. (Although we get some answers in the end.) 

When does a fantasy cross the line? What is ethical even if someone supposedly concented? It is a cruel account of what happens when people egg each other on to live their most perverted fantasies. This book written in 2004 is an important early conversation about Internet safety and mass delerium when people can hide in anonymity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

junebug333's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Check the trigger warnings before reading. It is a graphic and dark book, pretty descriptive. but everyone has certain limits on what they want to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

j_yarbrough's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

chucksbooks_'s review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

it was very intense. was not for me. it felt like there was an onslaught of information from the get go and i couldnt keep up with who was who within 10 pages of starting. it felt like it went to the extremes for the sake of it and didnt feel like there was any reason behind any of the novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

wormariwood's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

tbrnichols's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A truly sick book, some of the most depraved things I've ever read. I think my main problem with it is that the violence depicted didn't seem like a caring and sexy sort of violence? Or even like a personal, domineering sort of violence, instead it felt impersonal and rote, meaningless and horrible. I think this book may have temporarily ruined violence in sex for me by inserting the doubt that those doing violence to me are doing it without the attachment and value it deserves. I think there actually is a way to write about this sort of thing in a hopeful way, and there are definitely glimpses of that here, but being surrounded by such depravity and hatred can make it hard to sift those out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Vomit, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

horrorhayleigh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

fran_njoroge's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria