Requiem

by Curtis White

Requiem is a darkly comic novel about what it means to be human in a culture obsessed with sex and death. With a structure loosely based on the Mass for the Dead, this ambitious novel includes letters-to-the-editor, an e-mail correspondence with a porn queen, scenes from the lives of classical musicians, and retellings of biblical stories. In the process, White charts the rise and fall of the Human from the Bible (pre-human), to the Enlightenment (the invention of the human), to the digital age (post-human). In an America where everyone keeps a secret website, and where a modern Prophet can only weep at the stories he hears, Requiem reveals our past, present and future with wit, sadness, and complete honesty.

Genres: Fiction, Novels

332 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite astonishing. On a par with the finest Sorrentino, but with a more devastating moral beauty. It's a "documents" novel structured around a Catholic Mass for the Dead that takes a scathing look at modern moral degeneracy. Like the finest experimentalists, White is in a league of his own. And often shockingly religious. (How uncool!)

Curtis White spoke about this novel on Bookworm at KCRW.

[Marc Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not hard to rate this, but it is hard to summarise it. Post-modern I suppose, in that there are lots of interrelated vignettes with recurring characters or themes, but unlike most po-mo books, this is light rather than dense, easy to read and importantly, not difficult to follow and keep the various narrative threads in mind.

The (sex) Lives not of saints but of Classical music Composers (which are all universally excellent), many of which involve the physical infirmities of the these great creative minds and their emotional tribulations as so many seem to have married someone other than the love of their life. Intercut with a homicide's detective's miserable home life; a writer (the author?) who calls himself the modern prophet conducting a series of interviews with murderers and other extreme psyches, which only reveals that he knows nothing; letters to the editor which attempt to prove the existence of god moving in mysterious ways within this godless world; and sex websites, including sex with dogs, to prove that sex no longer requires a physical body as man devolves. As with two other novels I've read in January, this is a lament for art in a mechanised, digitised world and if we weren't alarmed enough by the threat to art, maybe we'd be perturbed by the loss of our own bodies.

In my debut novel I wrote the following about the internet: "Far from it, since what I most cherish is that this autonomous space for our minds to be writ large, this great collective consciousness, has evidenced a return to form. A reversion to type. Another newly conquered universe, now awash with our customary detritus and refuse. To wit, for all our contortions of higher aspirations, we soon corkscrew and gravitate around the twin Samsonite pillars of commerce and sex."

So yeah, this book struck a cord with me

[Aaron McQuiston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Curtis White is badass. There could be other things that I could say, other expletives that I could use, but badass pretty much sums it up. In "Requiem", he tries to convey and understand that there is something in human nature that we set ourselves in situations where there is not going to be a good outcome, that wishful thinking is something that makes us hope for the best, even when we know, deep down, that it isn't going to happen. Or maybe it's about the ambitions of human nature, that we find these moments in our lives that causes us to be creative in one way or another (whether it be writing operas or starting your own porn site) there are outlets that we all go toward. And that sometimes these ambitions are caused by fear of death more than anything lacking or upset in our lives.

"Requiem" is ahead of it's time in some aspects, like how everyone has a secret website, their own page where they can express themselves. This was published in 2001, the internet was still an infant and most people didn't have Facebook, blogs, Twitter, or Goodreads pages. We have become more of a society that express itself through this medium, and this made me almost appreciate the absurdity that I felt when I was reading, that moment when I said to myself, "everyone has a website? Yeah right," and then was quickly disproved by checking my Twitter account. Though this vision isn't 1984ish in scope, this does make me believe that Mr. White has his hand closer to the pulse of the ebbs and flows or society and behavior of the masses more than some other writers and commentators.

And I think that's what it might be about Curtis White that I enjoy so much. It is not exactly how weird his writing is (though it is a little bizarre) or that there are fantastic scenes (I don't know if I like the idea of souls getting caught in the computer or the descriptive scenes regarding a woman and her dog, Murphy creating porn), but it is that he knows what he is talking about, that his authority is sound, and he teaches me some of the things that I need to understand. Sometimes writers are the best teachers.

[Curt Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best White I've read. The Idea of Home and Memories of My Father Watching TV were both entertaining Postmodern compendia, but Requiem was better, a multilayered play on various composers' Requiems and related literary excursions, including the making of amateur pornographic videos, for one example. Various narrative strains intertwine. Sometimes erudite, highly readable, occasionally surprising, often humorous, recommended for jaded appetites in fiction. If you're drawn to postmodernism, try this by him first.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend gave me this book, but the cover for some reason made me think this book wasn't going to be as good as it was (obviously the old adage needed to be thought about before I hastily judged this book). It was such an interesting format i.e. email correspondences, poems, letters to the editor that made this book so much more enjoyable to read. There are many stories intersecting that flow in such a seamless way. There are many parts of this book that are racy and definitely sexually graphic but they serve a purpose to the underlying themes of the story i.e. societies obsession with sex and death. It shows how these themes have evolved throughout the ages and more specifically how they have manifested in the modern tech age. Really an interesting and quick reading book.

[PMB · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a hodgepodge of porn, classical music, and terry gross. the book is incredibly funny and disturbing. the overall themes are consistent, loosely tied together though a crazed collection of traditional character development (the police officer storyline seemed the most grounded), mock interviews, histories, and e-mails. If you’re a fan of the avant garde and like a touch of humor with your bestiality, this is the book for you.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

An odd collection of short stories, some of which are more like displaced chapters. Dunno, spent a lot of time scratching my head over all those stories about the sordid backstories and peppy inner monologues behind an entire pantheon of barely remembered classical musicians about whom I have no particular interest or insight. Enjoyed the writing but felt like I missed the point.

Not the story about the girl getting it on with the golden retriever, though. That one was straightforward.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Hey, can I read you something."
"What is it?"
"It's something from this book I'm reading. It's kind of dirty."
"Is it funny?"
"I think so."
C.B. starts to read from Requiem. Two minutes later his wife asks him to stop.
"That's not funny."
"Sorry."
"Women having sex with dogs is not funny."
"I thought it was funny."
"You did? You think that's funny?"
"I guess. No. Not really."

[Debra Baumann · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book of all time. Loosely based on Mozart's Requiem and chock full of social commentary. Innovative in the way it switches literary formats along with story lines. Intelligent, twisted and captivating.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. This book is the reason I began to like reading again. It is also the reason I went to grad school. It's that good.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

marvelous. read the whole thing camping in the hoh national rainforest, under a canopy in the rain. it's a brillantly dirty book and renewed my interest in clara schumann.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, what a strange book. I don't really know if it's good or bad. It is just a strange book.