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The Show That Smells (2008)

by Derek McCormack(Favorite Author)

3.59 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1550228552 (ISBN13: 9781550228557)

languge

English

genre

Paranormal Fantasy

publisher

ECW Press

review 1: I was given this as a completely unexpected Christmas present from my sister, who knows well my affinity for strange books. Though it took me a bit to get into the rhythm of the writing, I got hooked on the outrageous cast of characters, typographical visuals, and the overall ridiculousness of the premise. The splashes of humor come unexpectedly, and are juxtaposed with the overall darkness of the story so that the reader is left with a perpetual sense of bewilderment. This is not a bad thing--I would much rather have a story leave me bewildered than leave me with no feeling at all. It is a book that is highly creative and extremely weird, and I don't know if I'll ever find something quite like it again.
review 2: This book was a delicious, delicious surpri... morese. I picked it up after reading the plot summary on Dennis Cooper’s blog (the book is published by Cooper’s “Little House on the Bowery” series). I expected a delightful, quirky and enjoyably subversive summer read. I was completely unprepared for what “The Show That Smells” really is: startling, funny, full of unexpected twists and morsels of horrific glee. It is almost a novel in verse, and reading it is more like the experience of watching an unusually wonderful contemporary silent film than anything else. It smells like Edward Gorey, Kathy Acker, Ed Wood, Guy Maddin, and Jean Genet all at once, but is really its own singular work full of punning vampire queens, sexual slapstick, Lon Chaney and righteous queer carnie power. I can’t wait to read it again. less

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