Synopses & Reviews
Acker continues her post-modern explorations with a story set in a bleak world where the society we know is dying in its own ruins.
Review
"Any book which is dedicated as this is to the author's tattooist can't be all bad, but Kathy Acker is pushing her luck. One of the principal characters of this novel introduces himself in terms strangely reminiscent of Arnold Schwarzennegger's first spoken words in Conan the Barbarian: 'As long as I can remember wanting, I have wanted to slaughter other humans and to watch the emerging of their blood.' And this is one of the more attractive characters in the book. Kathy Acker is definitely an acquired taste or perhaps more accurately put an acquired lack of taste, and one might wonder why one would go about the acquisition. Like Acker's previous novels, Empire of the Senseless has a kind of raw energy and a twisted sense of humor, but on the whole this novel is only for the hard-core Ackerite. And even those who have enjoyed her previous works may find that she has gone too far in this one. But if there is a brutal but charming terrorist on your Christmas list, look no further: you've found the appropriate stocking-stuffier." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
Set in the near future, in a Paris rated by two terrorists and occasional lovers, Thivai, a pirate, and Abhor, part robot and part human.