Closer

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 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 show more "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. show less

Dennis Cooper's 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 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 than any of the overt violence or scatology. This book is an intense analysis of teenage nihilism and the psychosexual makeup of American culture.

Closer’s plot is irrelevant. This book is a masterpiece in character study. Cooper vivisects disenchanted gay teens, exposing their fragility and humanity like a mad doctor ripping the nervous system from his subject with abject fascination. Blatantly honest yet poetically beautiful. Cooper is far ahead of his time.

Reminds me a lot of Bret Easton Ellis--disaffected and ennui-filled teens doing drugs engaging in casual sex + increasingly disturbing extreme activities trying to feel emotion but too alienated from their selves and each other to do so. If you liked Less Than Zero, Rules of Attraction, and/or The Informers you'll like this.

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 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.

An extremely disturbing portrayal of gay men, especially teenagers. Given that it was written after the discovery of HIV, its portrayal of various forms of unsafe sex among teens is unfortunate. Gay men killing other gay men and taking a power saw to behinds for sexual satisfaction is way beyond the pale.

A fascinating albeit gross and disgusting book. A little like living in a forbidden freudian land of shit handling.