The Monk (1796)
by Matthew Lewis
Another Gothic related entry~ ^_- I have a BLAST reading this, it’s a pity this novel is burdened with the status of “Classic Literature”, when in fact it is a galloping over-the-top, exploitative sensational shock entertainment (you know, trashy like Wuthering Height). It is a DAMN good read! I feel ashamed to say but it is quite up there at my most favorite novels list. XD Though not the first, The Monk is the best-selling and most influential Gothic Literature of its time. Author Matthew Lewis wrote it when he was a 19 year old teenager in ten weeks…and it shows. The story revolves around a well respected and proud monk named Ambrosia. He regarded himself morally superior and cruelly unforgiving to everyone else. His vanity and inhumanity eventually led him spiral to hell in an epic, bloody and spectacular fashion full of horrors, tortures, witchcrafts and demons (the good stuff).
Once is Not Enough (1973)
Once is Not Enough was last of her “trash trilogy,” finished shortly before her death. It followed the same formula as Valley: rich and famous glamorous lifestyle, entertainment industry, sensationalism, drugs, sex, lesbian affair, gang rape, orgy, retards, a high to low fall and much more… Once started out just as great as Valley but then fell short with the pointlessly depressing ending, or as Chinese saying goes: “spray dog blood.” Maybe it’s due to the fact that Jacqueline Susann was at her final stage of cancer when she had to race against time to finish the book. It was just an unsatisfying but somewhat fitting strange surreal supernatural ending that marked her final exit.
Battle Royale (1999)
