The Thousands

If you’ve read complex academic writing and thought, “This wouldn’t bore me to tears if instead of abstract theoretical concepts it was densely packed with emo boys, all-male incest, French pop culture, high art, cannibalism, and Manga,” you’ve basically envisioned The Marbled Swarm.

Dennis Cooper has obsessed over a number of these topics in the past; to me, it feels like Swarm picks up where the final in his George Miles cycle – Period – left off, exploring similar themes but with the opposite approach to that book’s stark minimalism.

The titular ‘Swarm’ is what our narrator calls his prose, an elaborate mix of double-negatives, innuendo, and abutting analogies that jumps back and forth chronologically. It’s super confusing, and some will say incomprehensible, but that’s part of the point. How we process reality, construct a fantasy, and develop our sexual preferences or (ahem) personal taste (cannibalism!), is all in our heads – and often equally complicated.

Like recommending Mysterious Skin, Happiness, or Gummo, there’s a handful of traumatic scenes, but I reckon they’re worth weathering for this excellent read. Set in Cooper’s adopted home of France, Swarm weaves through magic tricks, secret passages, doppelgangers, and elaborate make-believe with the creeping horror of Luna Park, the narrative subjectivity of The Usual Suspects, and a gripping sensationalism that’s quintessentially Cooper.