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Dennis Cooper
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Guide (Cooper, Dennis) Paperback – August 6, 1998

by Dennis Cooper (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 43 ratings
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Chris is a young porn star who wants to experience death at someone else's hand; Mason has lurid fantasies about members of British pop bands; Sniffles is a teenage runaway whose need for love outweighs his attachment to life. Courtesy of a frankly manipulative author/narrator named Dennis, these characters and more move through a subterranean Los Angeles where hallucination and reality, sex and suicide, love and indifference run together in terrifying ways. Guide, the fourth novel in a projected five-book cycle, continues to explore the boundaries of experience in the manner that has earned Dennis Cooper comparisons to Poe, Genet, and Baudelaire.
Previous page
  1. Book 4 of 5
    George Miles Cycle
  2. Print length
    192 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Grove Press
  5. Publication date
    August 6, 1998
  6. Dimensions
    5.47 x 0.52 x 8.2 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0802135803
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0802135803
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Narrated in a voice that at times may be construed as the author's own, Guide is the story of the conflict between a novelist's fantasy life and his inability to represent it in language. Remembering the clarity and omnipotence he felt during an LSD trip in his teens, "Dennis" drops acid and attempts to write a novel that will make sense of his life, his desires, his friends, and his art, and distinguish what is real from the distortions created by his overactive imagination. Dennis's sexual relationship with Chris - an addict who fantasizes about being killed - pushes him to the very edge of emotions he has only imagined. His platonic love for Luke, an imaginative, but far more innocent, friend, offers possible salvation from his otherwise crazy life. In episodic chapters that criss-cross through time, Guide weaves together Dennis's story with these and other characters, including Goof, a young and amazingly innocent porn star, Sniffles, a teenage runaway whose need for love outweighs his attachment to life, and Mason, whose lurid desires are rivaled only by Dennis's own.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grove Press; 1st Pbk. Ed edition (August 6, 1998)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802135803
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0802135803
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.47 x 0.52 x 8.2 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 43 ratings

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Dennis Cooper

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
43 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Steven Carrier
5.0 out of 5 stars Dennis Cooper, a master
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2020
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Dennis Cooper is an incredible writer who dares to go places very few other authors refuse to touch. His books are shocking, grotesque but also masterfully structured, beautifully written and seem even more vital than ever in 2020. If you can stomach the extreme depictions of sexual violence you’ll find an incredible and indelible voice you’ll never forget.
2 people found this helpful
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Alexandra Ellington
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2014
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Perfect Condition!
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Jemiah Jefferson
4.0 out of 5 stars sick, wrong fun
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2002
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I don't think there's anything profound about Dennis Cooper. As far as I can tell from having read this book and "Frisk", he writes the exact same book again and again, just changing the characters and circumstances slightly. Dennis has an agenda, and that's to make you squirm, if not with his nihilistic political worldview, with his graphic depictions of all manner of sexual expression, from remarking on the prettiness of pre-adolescent boys to rape, drugging, and dismemberment.
"Guide" is, as widely dicussed, probably the most celebrated piece of fanfiction ever written. Cooper gets props for writing a thinly disguised interlude wherein Alex from "Slur" gets picked up, stuffed full of roofies, and used as an amusing pawn in someone's fantasy life. It is extremely funny if you know anything about fanfiction, and has guaranteed him hundreds of sales from Blur fans desperate to pick up anything even vaguely smacking of their messiahs. (I am a fine example of this, as well as being interested in Cooper's oeuvre, and wondering if I could get through another of his books).
"Guide" is a little funnier than "Frisk", and that makes it a lot easier to get through. If you are even slightly upset or traumatized by the concepts of gay sex, pedophilia, or sexual violence, you would be well advised to stay away. However, if you think "Naked Lunch" is charming and brilliant, and you enjoy the smellier bits of "Le Chants de Maldoror" or "Our Lady of the Flowers", you'll totally dig "Guide", because it is really funny, if totally offensive to pretty much every slightly healthy member of society.
20 people found this helpful
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ignacio f.
5.0 out of 5 stars One of America's best novelists
Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2009
This one or "Try" are the novels I usually offer to those of my friends who have not read Cooper yet but may be uneasy about some of the content. What is often missed is his pitch-perfect ear for contemporary dialogue, his wit and marvelously graceful prose. Some compare him to Jean Genet. This is fair, and perhaps a nice thought to have when you begin reading his work, but in fact Dennis Cooper is better than that. Better than William Burroughs as well. He is one writer here now who will definitely be read in one hundred years (if people still by then read -- which I think they will).
2 people found this helpful
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Sam J. Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars Dennis Cooper at his most grounded.
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2008
I just generally love Dennis Cooper, but this book feels grounded and concrete in a way his other books sometimes don't - the people are presented as people, in a community, as opposed to the elegant distanced Genet-esque (Genetian? Genetic?) tone he sometimes strikes.
One person found this helpful
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jeremy
5.0 out of 5 stars blown away
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2000
I read this book back to back with another that was dedicated to the author. I'd never heard of Dennis cooper so I didn't know what to expect. I was going to give it three stars but then I realized that was only because it was so upsetting. Along with how well written and engrossing it is, that's actually a reason to rate it higher, so I did. It was my own fear getting in the way. The real frustration was the absence of a moral stance. It's like Bret Easton Ellis that way - you have to make up your own mind about what's going on. You realize you're just getting angry because there's no re-assurance provided, you're totally immersed in a world with no ethical designations. This book is one of the more powerful I've read for that. I'd say this is about as transgressive and gutsy as writing gets. Glad I found it.
13 people found this helpful
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Ray Jarvis
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2017
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in line with other works
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StacyIsLiterate
4.0 out of 5 stars Brave and Important
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2012
Mr. Cooper has a gift of making extremely controversial and uncomfortable subject matter compulsively readable. His books are obviously not for everybody, but his genius isn't hard to see if you can stomach the contents.
This is brave and important writing.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Ralph
2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I would call an entertaining read. The reviews show people like it but it left me cold. My copy went to a charity shop.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 26, 2016
Verified Purchase
This book has some very good reviews. I read it from start to finish. There was a story there but frankly I had lost interest by the end of the book. Its a short read but really I did not enjoy the book and I will hesitate in reading anything else by Dennis Cooper.
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