3.0
Blood and Guts in High School
ByPublisher Description
A masterpiece of surrealist fiction, steeped in controversy upon its first publication in 1984,
is the book that established Kathy Acker as the preeminent voice of post-punk feminism. With 2017 marking the 70th anniversary of her birth, as well as the 10th year since her death this transgressive work of philosophical, political, and sexual insight—with a new introduction by Chris Kraus—continues to become more relevant than ever before.
In the Mexican city of Merida, ten-year-old Janey lives with Johnny—her "boyfriend, brother, sister, money, amusement, and father" —until he leaves her for another woman. Bereft, Janey travels to New York City, plunging into an underworld of gangs and prostitution. After escaping imprisonment, she flees to Tangiers where she meets Jean Genet, and they begin a torrid affair that will lead Janey to her demise. Fantastical, sensual, and fearlessly radical, this hallucinatory collage is both a comic and tragic portrait of erotic awakening.
"The girl in this story had more agency and voice than any girl I'd ever read or would read in my entire life." —Lydia Yuknavitch, national bestselling author of
"No writer I know is more audacious than Kathy Acker, whose anarchic wit drives a thoroughgoing attack on conventions and complacencies of all sorts. Not unlike Gertrude Stein in her day, Acker gives us a different way to look at the uses to which language is put." —Lynne Tillman, author of
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesBlood and Guts in High School Reviews
3.0
“Lowkey wacko but I kinda like what she’s putting down”
“patriarchy and capitalism are prisons! women want to love men and the world and be loved by them in return but they just keep hurting us! very punk gross shocking angry. this is probably the weirdest book structure i’ve ever read before.
no star rating really feels accurate for me but i’m going with this for now”
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