Previously, I mentioned that I fully expected "Lust for Life" (edited by Claude Lalumiere and Elise Moser) to be weird and twisted. Well, I was right.
I'm halfway through the collection of short stories and so far I've read about a woman who prefers her nymphomaniacal, schizophrenic hallucination to her girlfriend; about a group of guys who cross-dress to catch a would-be serial kisser; and about a support group for suck sluts. I dunno about you, but I think those are some pretty weird topics.
But aside from the novelty of the odd story topics, I'm not sure if I like the collection. On the one hand, the stories make for fairly decent leisure-time reading, but they seem a bit unfinished. Like the story of the nymphomaniacal schizophrenic hallucination really felt unresolved, and it had really piss-poor character development. And the story of the suck sluts seemed like random porn disguised with a thin veneer of art. Only the story about the cross-dressing youth was insightful and had real character development.
So far the book is just a collection of random, mostly mediocre stories that deal, in varying degrees, with sex and/or sexuality. The collection doesn't have the cohesion of "Island Dreams" (also edited by Claude Lalumiere). I'm actually a touch disappointed. But I'm only halfway through, so it might get better.
Curious to hear your further thoughts on the antho. Sorry you're disappointed so far.
ReplyDeleteCheck out these two reviews, who seem to be in tune with what we were trying to do:
http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/commentary/lustforlife.html
http://www.canada.com/cityguides/story.html?id=91515cff-a26b-4152-b37e-a5ef77a9c3c5
It may not change your mind, but it might make you see more where we were coming from.
In any case, I hope you enjoy the rest of the book, and if you want to discuss any of it with me, don't hesitate to drop me a line.
Loved being on your show last year, by the way. That was a lot of fun.