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Permanent Obscurity: Or a Cautionary Tale of Two Girls and Their Misadventures with Drugs, Pornography and Death (Paperback)
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- Publisher: Ludlow Press
- Published: 01 April 2010
- Format: Paperback 449 pages
- See: Full bibliographic data
- Categories: Contemporary Fiction
- ISBN 13: 9780971341548 ISBN 10: 0971341540
Reviews for Permanent Obscurity
Wanting of Life
‘Wanting is a manifestation of the whole of life’ Dostoevsky Permanent Obscurity by Richard Perez tells the story of two girls, Dolores and Serena in their ‘wanting of life’. The book is divided in three parts: 1 The Kinky Hook, 2 Strange Hungers, 3 No Man’s Land; and is narrated in first person by Dolores. What about the way of life of Dolores and Serena? I don’t know, maybe the same of other girls in this world, or maybe full of unfortunately events. We try to accept the last one and explain the story with this words: slowly and relentless a net of depraved people surrounds Dolores and Serena all along the book, until the inevitable ends, where the freedom is no more (and even the dead appear grotesque). Dolores and Serena’s hopes to get rid of these events are trying to make a movie; but, as always, nothing follows the right path. In my opinion the title of the book is inadequate: most people could just think a book obscene, although in the book there is more than that. For instance the theme of friendship. In the first part of the book we can find several similarity with the literature of the last century; I was thinking about the endless Bohemien nights narrated in Journey to the End of the Night by Celine, or A Moveable Feast by Hemingway. So it’s difficult to accept this new Bohemien world; although we can try to think about an evolution of this way of life, maybe with less poetry and literature and more ‘raw’ life. Some quotes from the book: ‘There was the world you experienced and art you made for real - then there was that sorry s. you shared with others.’ (p. 91) ‘Regardless, a ray of sunshine had broken through my blackened sky, and, just then, I felt that everything would be okay somehow. Everything ... I just had to burn all my bills, avoid the phone when it rang, and not leave my apartment, like EVER. All the trouble in the world was outside, and I was in here. SAFE. In safety.’ (p. 194) by Graziano
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Kinky Girls and a Sexploitation Movie Gone Very, Very Wrong
Permanent Obscurity is an interesting tale of two drug-addicted artists in New York City, searching for a way to make a living, and escape their mounting creditors, through their art. What do they decide to try? Making pornography, of course! After Serena has a rough experience of her own in the business, she and her best friend (and the book's narrator) Dolores set out to make their own fem-dom fetish video. Of course, things go progressively wrong for the girls. With a slew of characters after them and very little right going for them, the two girls try to make things work any way they can, up to scamming, stealing, and even gun play. Finally, though, they have their equipment, their script, their actors all lined up. It's time to shoot. Now everything will be okay, right? Right? This is a gritty look at some of New York City's less glamorous aspects, written with humor and style. With a heavy drug and sex content, it may not be to everyone's liking, but the book stops short of being pornographic in its own right. The writing and format of the book make it an interesting read. by Stephanie Mustoe
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Satire Of Tabloid American Excess
This is a wild trip to the dark side of contemporary life, particularly life in an underground fringe culture of aspiring performance artists who might also work as doms or fetish photographers on the side. Call it Fetish Noir or an erotic satire, either way it's highly entertaining, a fast and enjoyable book, funny and raunchy. It has a realistic street-wise quality, lots of hip slang, and an edgy pulp-fiction vibe. The book is narrated by Dolores, a young woman with some problems, but none like those of the true love and loss of her life, Serena Moon. In the beginning, both young ladies have borderline boyfriends or what might be called hetero relationships, but it soon becomes clear, while not admitting it to each other, that the central relationship is between the two. As things go along, they get into more and more trouble together. Dolores and Serena have major substance abuse problems and relationship problems and career problems. This book’s central narrative is about a desperate downward spiral, a slippery slope to oblivion. All the characters are well drawn and interesting, though most of the men are portrayed as inconsequential and pathetic, providing a kind of comic relief or acting as foils for the two main female leads. And much of the book deals with this subculture of S/M, or more specifically D/s … Dominas and submissives. If that kind of thing bothers you, stay clear of this book. There’s a lot of it here. Overall, this is a fun satire of American excess and tabloid youth culture. The key word here is dark and the book has a lot of profanity. For me, being a fan of Naked Lunch by William Burroughs and books by Bukowski, the dark satiric quality made the book funny and more entertaining, but it's not for everyone. by Matt Dukes JordanwriteReview1b3t21Reviews21
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