Blood and Guts in High School
Kathy Acker
1978; 165 pp.


I read this because it's on the list of 1001 Books to Read Before You Die (...Only 991 to go 'til I can, well, die!!! Ew.) and it sounded, well... just disturbing enough to be interesting.

In fact, I found it totally disturbing and violent and weird and obscene. Keep in mind, I don't use "obscene" meaning it should be banned, just that it's really, REALLY naughty. The book is supposed to be the journal of a punk girl living as a sex slave, cobbled together with thoughts, dreams, a long discussion on "The Scarlet Letter," pornographic drawings, you know, the usual.

It definitely has a punk/S&M bent going. The first half was a struggle to get through but later on there were some nice, though brief, pieces of writing. I've read that smart people love this book and dumb people hate it. I still don't know what to think of it, so I suppose that puts me somewhere in the middle.

In closing, I recommend AGAINST reading this in public because I just never knew when a drawing of huge genitalia would pop out at me.

Consider yourself warned.