Following on from the stunning conclusion to his five-book cycle that was Period, Dennis Cooper reemerges with arguably his finest and most thought-provoking piece of writing. At the heart of the work is Larry, a teenager wrestling not only with his sexuality and the implications of a physical relationship with his younger brother but with the purpose and the reason to his existence. He is numb. Dead. Expression cannot contain reality. Yet ... As the book opens, Larry has been paid $500 by a senior high school student to kill a fellow pupil and retrieve the boy's notebook. It seems simple enough. However, once Larry ventures into the notebook, complications arise. Struck at once by both the beauty of articulation and the horror of its content, Larry longs for such an ability to communicate but feels powerless: is there a place for sincerity or concern, or indeed love? My Loose Thread may share the anarchic sensibility of Cooper's earlier works and touch upon such themes as alienation, obsession, inarticulacy, longing, and frustration, but this is a new Cooper and signals exactly where he is heading as a novelist. The writing is sparse, concise yet open, the consequence being that the reader falls into this world and is surrounded, submerged, and potentially overwhelmed by the text. My Loose Thread is a claustrophobic read and a harrowing piece of fiction that is all the more so for the gracefulness of the language. "Dennis Cooper, God help him, is a born writer." -- William S. Burroughs "Cooper is a profoundly original American visionary, and the most important transgressive literary artist since Burroughs.... An American master." -- Salon "[Cooper] has come closer than anyone to reanimating the spirit of Burroughs.... Haunting." -- The Village Voice Literary Supplement "Cooper's synaesthetic subliminal metaphors should be outlawed, so quickly and lethally do they sink into your subconscious." -- Bookforum "A disquieting genius." -- Vanity Fair "Elegant prose and literary lawlessness ... high-risk literature." -- The New York Times
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From Publishers Weekly
Cooper's latest, after a loosely intertwined series of novels ending with Period, stays firmly rooted in the same bleak, volatile landscape as his past works involving neglected, gay teenaged boys. Perpetually distraught teenager Larry, whose mantra is "I'm really confused," joins forces with a friend who has been approached at school by older classmate Gilman Crowe, leader of a Nazi-style teen group, and hired to kill a student for $500 and destroy his notebook, basically a diary containing the boys' personal secrets. The deed is done, but not exactly according to plan, and the violence continues. Larry and his 13-year-old brother habitually sneak into bed with each other, though Larry continues to be at war with his burgeoning homosexuality. An alcoholic mother and cancer-stricken father offer little supervision, and Larry's brutal rages escalate. When another of Larry's friends, Rand, tells him his incestuous relationship is "sick," Larry punches him; Rand dies soon afterward, apparently of natural causes, but Larry is crushed by guilt and haunted by the death. Cooper's bleak, potent tale wraps up in a Columbine-style climax, complete with smirking, self-righteous students watching the bloodbath with amusement. Cooper doesn't cover much new territory with this latest ultraviolent tale of boys gone wrong, but Larry's first-person narration is mesmerizing and believable. Those new to Cooper may be better off starting elsewhere in his oeuvre, especially since it can be hard to follow the sequence of events in this spare, dialogue-driven tale. Still, Cooper fans will likely eat this up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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"Moving and shocking, elegiac and disturbing, very funny and very sad."
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Customer Reviews
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Format:Paperback
Dennis Cooper was born on January 10, 1953 in Pasadena, California. He grew up in Los Angeles. He was the director at Beyond Baroque. He lived in New York and Amsterdam for a few years. In 1984, Cooper moved to New York City. In 1987 he met his Dutch boyfriend who he soon followed back to Amsterdam. While in Amsterdam he finished writing his first novel, Closer, which was inspired by a postcard that featured an image of Mickey Mouse carved onto the back of a young boy. Around the time he wrote his second novel, Dennis began writing journalism for a number of newspapers and magazines.
Dennis then returned to Los Angeles around ten years ago. He is now known for his cycle of five novels that started with Closer, and continued with Frisk, Try, Guide, and Period. All the books were stylistically different and but had young people as their subject matter. He has published a number of books of poetry, most was later collected in The Dream Police. Dennis also published a book or short stories, Wrong, and a book of critical writings called All Ears.
In March 2000, Dennis' work was celebrated at NYU Fales Library with a panel of noted critics of contemporary culture including Professor Avital Ronell, Stephen Malkmus from the band "Pavement," Thurston Moore, guitarist with "Sonic Youth," and authors Bret Easton Ellis and Lynne Tillman, among others. The year 2000 was a threshold year since he was done with the cycle. Dennis was collaborating on other projects for a few years. Now he's finally published a new book, My Loose Thread. It is a very short book. It focuses on the thoughts of Larry, a teenager, and his friends. Larry has been paid to kill a fellow student and retrieve his notebook. There's also the strange relationship he has with his younger brother, Jim. My Loose Thread is a mystery and a challenge to read, especially in this age of teenage aggression and sexuality.
By Douglas King
Format:Hardcover
In "My Loose Thread", Dennis Cooper creates one of the most disturbed, fascinating and realistic characters I've ever seen in fiction. The main character, Larry, is much more than your average troubled, misguided youth. He is truly psychotic, and on the brink of a major meltdown with horrifying consequences. Sexually confused and frustrated, Larry has a tendency to act out violently whenever he's sexually aroused. He's also been having an incestuous relationship with his younger brother for a while. But it's the death of his friend Rand, who dies of natural causes after Larry punches him, that starts Larry on a downward spiral. He gets absolutely no help from his alcoholic mother or his cancer-stricken father, and even his detached, condescending psychiatrist fails to help him. Larry eventually finds himself involved in a murder plot instigated by a wannabe skinhead named Gilman, and that's when everything starts escalating into a true bloodbath. After the Columbine tragedy, there was a lot of fingerpointing going on, but I've seen few people really dare to try to get inside the head of a young person disturbed enough to turn to such extreme violence. Dennis Cooper, as usual, dares to explore the dark corners of the human psyche that most of us are too afraid to venture into.
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This isn't Cooper's best work but it ain't his weakest either.
I found this one enjoyable and readable.
Most definitely a good one.
I found this one enjoyable and readable.
Most definitely a good one.
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3.9 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
hm
the first Cooper book i've read. i finished it a couple of months ago, and struggle now to remember anything particular about it. Read more
Published on Mar 20 2003 by I. J. Mclachlan
4.0 out of 5 stars
Teenage Wasteland
If you've made it here, you know what the book is about. It's not as shocking as it is horrifying. Cooper has touched a raw nerve here, the elephant in the living room, the huge... Read more
Published on Aug 29 2002 by Edward Randomcircle
5.0 out of 5 stars
this is transgressive fiction
every time i read a dennis cooper book, i think, "good god. he can't do anything better than this," and then the next book always makes me revise it. Read more
Published on Aug 29 2002 by "imfukt"
4.0 out of 5 stars
Teach Your Children Well
To say that Dennis Cooper's "My Loose Thread" is a tough read would be an understatement. In fact it would be a gross understatement. Read more
Published on Aug 27 2002 by MICHAEL ACUNA
4.0 out of 5 stars
About being unique
Dennis Cooper is a writer who is creating his own niche in literature. He is eloquent while being brutal, comprehendable while writing about insanity, tender while describing the... Read more
Published on July 23 2002 by Grady Harp
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Shocking".............High Risk Literature
One thing you can say about Dennis Cooper's writing is he intends to shock and alarm us with his subject matter, and he certainly is successful in that respect. Read more
Published on Jun 18 2002 by Joseph J. Hanssen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Emotional Braille
Reading "My Loose Thread" can be infuriating. It is very simple on the surface. But if you slow down and take it in bit by bit, savoring the language, there are great rewards. Read more
Published on May 3 2002 by Nicholas J. Rhoades
5.0 out of 5 stars
great great book
This is the first Dennis Cooper novel I've read so I cannot compare it to what he has written before. Read more
Published on April 24 2002 by jim carter
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best Dennis Cooper book so far!
My Loose Thread is not only the best book Dennis Cooper has ever written, but i think that it is probably one of the best novels ever written,period. i kid you not folks! Read more
Published on April 23 2002
3.0 out of 5 stars
Slim
Cooper's "My Loose Thread" is hardly a novel. A novella at best. More like a short story.
There's an interesting story buried under Cooper's deliberately stilted, bare-bones... Read more
Published on April 19 2002
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