Name: Empire of the Senseless
ISBN: 9780802131799

Kathy Acker

Acker continues her post-modern explorations with a story set in a bleak world where the society we know is dying in its own ruins.

Empire of the Senseless

Morgan Thomas

I suppose I could call myself a masochist, but I don't think that adequately conveys why I read books by authors I don't like. I think I expect them to get better. Or maybe I miss something. And think I'll find it. And when reading my second Kathy Acker book I did realize I was missing something and I never found it. A sense of direction. A sense of understanding. Kathy Acker lacks much in her writing. I find myself following for a while, but with absence of plot or direction I don't know what I'm reading. Something tangential will come up and she'll discuss how prostitutes are destroying late stage neo liberal capitalism (okay I'm reaching here but bear with me). I stuck it out though because I don't like to give up. 
I was though, going to give this book one star, but found that in the last 30 pages Acker made some honest points about the dynamics between men and women. That a woman can never really create because unlike a man she fails to adequately suffer, and not just suffer, but the suffering seems to be pointless violence. While the writing is something I'm not a fan of maybe Acker does have thought provoking ideas.