Closer: a Novel

George Miles is a mysterious and enigmatic figure, physically beautiful but strangely passive. He attracts those around him with an otherworldly promise, like a wallet lying on the street. As his teenage friends rifle through George, they uncover a vision of nightmare intensity, a novel that assaults the senses as it engages the mind. In this unflinching exploration of desire and value, George is passed from hand to hand, drawn into the arms of men who seek to find reality in the sharp outlines of bones and the bright red of blood. Tom and Philippe, two men in their forties, are among those who find George irresistible, and their passion for him is a brutal and frank confrontation with the horror of a society without values. Dennis Cooper's prose exposes the euphemisms and clichés that veil our true experiences, leaving no escape from what he finds. A world in which pain is an undeniable reality, this novel sharpens our understanding of life while confronting us with its enormity.