what a book, I am absolutely in awe of this novel. i knew as soon as I began reading that I was in for a wild ride, and that I was. it is a ride I wish I could experience for the first time again and again, I already want to read it for a second time.

the writing is marvellous, the descriptions are beautiful, the focus on Bell throughout is just enough. the way this book comments on a woman’s experience is absolutely masterful, with just the right amount of shock factor. I would recommend this book to anyone, but mainly my female peers, as it highlights the inner depths of our minds, the side we don’t want to comment on, just enough.

a 5/5 read for me personally, I am more than impressed. This book will stay with me for a very long time.

In some ways this feel like it was written yesterday, and in many ways it felt redundant to my experiences. The concept that every experience, every aspect of your life is shaped and formed and heavily linked to the people of your past felt strangely outdated here -- the continued focus on divorce and men cheating on women and the danger of the non-suburbia felt like something from the 80s (which is explained by this book being written 28 years ago). The setting was beautifully realised, you could really see and feel each street she walked down and the damp, dark apartments they dwelled in. But I felt that its reaching for poignancy was too much at times, ironically mirroring the narrator's desperate reaching for meaning to be made of her experiences. The obsession with family and sex in the family has been done, and I do think it has been done better. No matter how shocking or lurid the scenes are, that doesn't mean that they MEAN something. At times it felt like she was throwing sentences of THINGS at the reader just to see what stuck.

Superficially, the narrator felt too old for what felt very coming of age -- I couldn't help but roll my eyes a little at her naivety and what appeared to be unique realisations that teenagers have at nearly 30.

I did enjoy this, and I felt that it was beautifully written, but I think that it meant less than the author thought it meant, and that the narrator did less than she thought she did.

don't read it if you're depressed.

Difficile recensire questo libro, molto strano; estremamente simbolico, fin troppo. Ho continuato a leggerlo seguendo faticosamente la fumosa trama alla ricerca di un significato, senza averlo trovato davvero. Eppure non riuscivo a costringermi a interromperne la lettura.
Non penso che lo rileggerei interamente di nuovo, ma alcune frasi me le sono segnate.

didn’t shower and brooded the whole damn time I read this

A thickly written first-person account of a doomed romance set in San Francisco in the early 1990s.

I lived in SF in the 1990s, and I like first-person narration, and the premise of the book appealed to me. And initially, so did the story, even if the writing felt a bit forced or exaggerated at first, like it was trying far too hard to be edgy and literary. Honestly, the similes and metaphors are laid on thick, and are often... weird.

But anyway. The protagonist is a sort of messed-up young woman who drinks a lot and smokes a lot and is helplessly in love with a bi/gay man she knows isn't good or right for her, and does some weird and unhealthy (sexual) things as a result.

As the book unfolded, I kept alternating between thinking "oh, now it's starting to take off" and "oh, it's never going to go anywhere."

Some great scenes: her relationship with Pig was intriguing, but, like the rest of the book, ultimately disappointing. In other words, several interesting vignettes and character outlines, but the pieces didn't really come together to form an interesting or compelling or meaningful story.

The main character, Jesse, isn't a terribly likable individual, but she's relatable, and a character doesn't have to be likeable to be good or intriguing. Her love interest, Bell, was even less likeable and not very relatable. The supporting characters were all less likable, and less real, almost more caricatures than really characters.

Yes, I got to the end hoping for something to reward my stubborn persistence in sticking with this joyless, almost meaningless story, something to make me stop and think. No. The drama felt forced, not real. The story felt hollow.

Although set in SF, the book didn't make much use of its setting. You could take a swig of bourbon every time she writes "The Tenderloin" and get uproariously drunk. At one point, she talks about getting out of BART at the "Market Street Station." There is no such station, really. Or rather, there are a number of BART stations on Market Street (Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, Civic Center, Van Ness, Church, and Castro stations are all on Market Street). In this case, the context (she mentions the Woolworth store) reveals that the station in question was in fact the Powell Street Station, but no one who lives there would refer to it as the Market Street station.

Also, if the book is ever reprinted for a new edition, there is a typo that could be corrected: the final paragraph on page 272 begins "The women turned her head..." It should be "woman."

Why am I giving it three stars? No idea. I think it deserves two if I'm being honest, but I did finish the book, and I did enjoy certain scenes, and I think there's a worthy story there, one which sadly wasn't able to fully emerge.

A dark, gritty tale of one young woman's sexual odyssey. Suspect I would have had a greater appreciation for it had I stumbled across Suicide Blonde in my student years, although that being said there is still is a lot going for it. The story is peppered with some genuinely lovely prose, sandwiched between the graphic scenes and the unrelenting darkness of the tale.

While not really my thing, I was glad to have read it.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

This book seemed really self-indulgent to me. Angst can be okay if it is made to serve a larger purpose or illuminate the reader in some fashion (Catcher in the Rye, for example). I don't think Suicide Blonde accomplished that.

I liked this book because it made me feel uncomfortable. At first I liked the dark prose, but after a while it lost its shock value. This book wasnt all bad, it definitely kept my attention, but by the end it just became really pretentious and tiresome to get through.

sexy and shocking and gross with such beautiful prose ugh i loved it. reading this made me want to write

Este romance, que se tornou cult quando lançado originalmente, em 1992, narra a história de Jesse, uma jovem de 29 anos, sem rumo na vida, que mora em São Francisco. Em crise em seu relacionamento com Bell, um deprimido bissexual aspirante a ator, Jesse entra em uma jornada de "medo & delírio" pelas noites alternativas da cidade, transando com desconhecidos, bebendo, se drogando e trabalhando em boates de strip-tease.

Com uma relação conturbada com a mãe, uma perua caipira que nunca aceitou ter sido abandonada pelo marido, Jesse tenta juntar os cacos de sua vida, enquanto questiona o establishment, a própria sexualidade, seus ideais de felicidade, buscando não apenas fazer as pazes com seus amores mas, acima de tudo, encontrar amor-próprio.

É um livro com diversas passagens cruas, de sexo explícito, mas que carrega um verve muito poética, em uma atmosfera que muitas vezes flutua entre o sonho e o pesadelo. Um romance sobre ser jovem, sobre buscar se encontrar em meio ao caos, recheado de reflexões interessantes, escrito de maneira lindíssima. Não acho que vá "clicar" para qualquer leitor, mas me fisgou em cheio. Daria um ótimo filme alternativo.

"A história de Adão e Eva tem menos a ver com o mal do que com a tristeza cósmica humana de que relacionamentos nunca são totalmente francos, nunca são puros o suficiente".

A gritty tale of sexual exploration and emotional depravity, it's crafted in a sickly poetic style. The descriptions are so realistic, that you feel immersed in the story line. It's an extremely relatable story.

Jesse is a fantastic lead character, a bisexual woman struggling with her emotions, sexuality and the point of life.

It's nihilistic, and raw, focusing on sexual narratives between many different people, and how different people react to traumas in their lives.

Bell is both a sympathetic and loathsome main character, and he's fantastically written, his relationship or lack of relationship with Jesse is so real and poignant.

The book is a pool of amazing characters, full of depth, and discussion, and it's an extremely enjoyable read. 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.