Dysmorphia reviewed The Mad Man by Samuel R. Delany
Review of 'The Mad Man' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Imagine if 120 Days of Sodom was consensual and had a happy ending, and was set in New York City. My rough estimate is that this books about half sex by volume, maybe more. There's a lot of philosophy, and also a murder mystery. If you don't have the stomach to read about explicit sex acts that focus on the dirty (as in unwashed, not immoral) aspects of human sexuality, then this is not the book for you. There's no way for me to really tell you about what the book is about without myself getting scatalogical, which is a sign of a really dirty porno book, which this is. But it's also a philosophy book. It's one long rebel cry against propriety. Actually it's probably more like Juliette, except for gay sex. I mean it's the happy story of a gay guy who does all the sex stuff that's immoral in the good gay guy next door who just wants to be married narrative. The story is queer as hell. It's not a book for everyone, but maybe it's a book for you. I guess this whole review is the literary equivalent of "smell this, it's disgusting!".
All that said, I enjoyed reading it.