Hogg

I only gave it 4 stars because it is so gross that I gag every time I read a few chapters of it. Definitely up there with some of the grossest reads I have ever come across. If you love sickening imagery and traumatizing plots, this is the book for you.

I found this book because of tik tok. I decided to pick up reading again since I haven't read a full book in years. As soon as i started reading it I felt like I was doing something bad or even illegal. This book is the first of its kind I've ever read. I admit I put it down for about 2 weeks before I was even able to start reading it again. I finished it and was just left in awe that something like this existed. I can't explain. You just need to read it.

Murderers. Pedophiles. Rapists for hire. Misogynists and misanthropes. Scatologists. And they're the good guys. Welcome to Samuel R. Delany's "Hogg," a story of characters so vile they barely deserve to be called human. And all these people are described through the voice of an 11 year old boy that the title character, Hogg, enlists as his main source of self-pleasuring deviant activity. Along the way, our little man meets a cast of characters that delight in sex shaded through all colors of perversity. There's nothing this cast of marauding baby-killers won't try if they think it will get them off.The story takes place in the course of a couple of days, as the little narrator gets sucked into the vortex of Hogg's world. The most disturbing thing about Delany's book is not that Hogg and his insane crew of racist murdering thugs do their deeds with gleeful sadistic abandon, but that the young man sees this as activity that he can just tag along and feel no compulsion to leave. In fact, as the book continues, it becomes obvious that the young narrator not only enjoys it but finds that it isn't fulfilling enough.To that extent, "Hogg" works like Brett Easton Ellis' "American Psycho," Anne Rice's "Sleeping Beauty" series or Kubrick's "Clockwork Orange" does. You keep wondering how far the depraved indifference will extend before any one of the characters develops any sort of redeeming quality. As is becomes more apparent that regret, remorse or redemption ain't happening, you continue with the reading because you feel desperate to see where the train is going to wreck. (Having one of the main characters die in a car crash seems unironically metaphoric.)Delany has written about the tendency for violent sex to erupt from the psyche before ("The Madman" in particular), but never has the violence been so much to the fore. If you have a weak stomach or a fragile sensibility, then by all means you should avoid "Hogg." But if you're willing to have your literary limits tested, wade in.

HOGG was written in 1968, a few short months before the Stonewall Riots. Brimming with anger and pent up sexuality, HOGG is (by the author's admission) a pornographic novel for nobody. It's the kind of novel that's hard to describe as "good," even though it's masterfully constructed and hard-hitting. It's also disgusting on a deep, visceral level--multiple levels, actually.The (mostly) nameless, voiceless narrator of HOGG is an underage boy of possibly mixed race who begins his narrative by immediately shifting focus from himself to Hogg, a character so vile that it's hard to write a PG description of him. His profession is that of a rape artist. He rapes specific women in exchange for cash and enjoys his work, though admittedly he prefers the company of men.When the narrator and Hogg meet, it leads to a weekend of unspeakable violence and puke-worthy sex. Racism literally abounds; some characters are referred to just by an epithet, and some of their names are only revealed in police reports. HOGG, the novel, plays on our sense of pity--we want to feel bad for the narrator. It's easy to see him as a victim of society. But as the pages go on, it gets harder and harder as he becomes more than an active participant in the goings-on.The word "love" is never mentioned in the 200+ page novel, but the reader can feel an approximation of it in the relationship between Hogg and the narrator--maybe. This makes the ending just that much more powerful, when the narrator speaks his only line of dialogue.This is a very powerful book, whether you can find something redeemable in it or not. It's very much a product of its time, and furthermore, it SAYS something, which I think these so-called "extreme" horror authors could learn a thing about. HOGG is not just filth for the sake of filth, or violence for the sake of violence. When put in context, it's heart-breaking and vile at the same time. I don't know if another book has ever made me feel this way.

Best piece of literature to catch my attention in a longtime. Warning: Graphic Adult Content

Over the top violence. I read this knowing it's reputation. But the violence depicted was extreme and made for an uncomfortable read. Not an enjoyable experience at all.

It's rare that I find a book that is almost impossible to read but this is it. I can take a lot of heavy writing - Matthew Stokoe, Irvine Welsh, Allan Guthrie, Mo Hayder, Colin Harrison, Dennis Cooper - but Hogg goes way over into the realms of stomach-churning depravity. I see what Delaney was trying to do here - a book that stretches what anyone considers to be even vaguely acceptable to the most extreme scenes of abuse I have ever encountered. Shocking isn't close to what takes place in Hogg. The idea of a gang of horrible men being hired to punish women by gang-raping them in really revolting ways is the basis of what goes on here. Children are involved and the central character - the monstrous creature that is Hogg himself - doesn't care if the people he is raping and abusing are male, female, young or old. Plus his hygiene habits are so disgusting they are hard to describe.This is not a book to be enjoyed and its certainly not for the faint-hearted. You must be prepared for page after page of graphic descriptions of rape and abuse. It's not badly written - hence the 2 star review as opposed to 1 - it's just that the whole book is absolutely HORRIBLE. Best thing to do is not read it as you'll feel ill within a few pages.Be warned.

Marketed as a modern erotic classic with a promising cover; the reader is immediatley made aware that this is no love story.This book crosses the boundaries of so many sick fetishes, illegal and obscene acts, I found it disgusting.It did have a storyline in a perverted way, and the author is obviously talented but the content is offensive and I found it quite repeptitive.I only finished the book as I selected it form a list of the 10 most disturbing books ever written challenge.

Got this for the book club I recently joined. Sadly I was unable to discuss it with my fellow book-lovers as they seem to have moved the reading group to a different venue, and through what must be an oversight I still have not received the details of the new meeting place.In any case, this is a great book, full of uplifting prose that sends your soul soaring sky-high at every twist and turn. The nameless protagonist strikes a friendship with the titular Hogg, and soon the pair, along with a colourful cast of supporting characters, embark on a three-day adventure across America that will test their blooming camaraderie to the limit. A true American classic an an essential read. A great gift to give that special someone on a first date.