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221st out of 448 books
—
381 voters
Sub Rosa
by
Amber Dawn
In this stunning, Lambda Literary Award-winning debut novel, Amber Dawn subverts the classic hero's quest adventure to create a dark post-feminist vision. Sub Rosa's reluctant heroine is a teenaged runaway named "Little"; she stumbles upon an underground society of ghosts and magicians, missing girls and would-be johns: a place called Sub Rosa. Not long after she is initia...more
Paperback, 316 pages
Published
September 7th 2010
by Arsenal Pulp Press
(first published 2010)
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The title of this haunting first novel literally means "beneath the rose," usually applied to a secret meeting. In this case, Sub Rosa is an actual neighborhood that exists in its own dimension in a city that resembles Vancouver, Canada. It's a luxurious haven for sex workers who have literally paid their dues by serving an apprenticeship in a dangerous place called "the Dark."
Even in the real world, the sex trade has a culture of its own. Sexual orientation is fluid in that milieu, where pimps...more
Even in the real world, the sex trade has a culture of its own. Sexual orientation is fluid in that milieu, where pimps...more
One man said, “Bury me alive.” He lay on the bed with his arms dead-man crossed over his chest. First knelt at his feet and dropped her body down, little by little. I imagined it felt like heavy clods of sod covering him from the ankles up. She unhooked her bra, and her breasts fell over his face. I heard his gasps, his muffled “yes”; I watched her hold her breath and her body grow even bigger so that not a hint of him was left.
“Do you want to revive our dear departed man here?” First signalled...more
“Do you want to revive our dear departed man here?” First signalled...more
Sep 15, 2010
Juliandra
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Un-vanilla readers with an open mind
Recommended to Juliandra by:
Lisa Schwarz
Lisa nominated this book for L&L book club for September reading. I am really pleased that both Cyril and I read this book - I love sharing things with him!
I felt like I've been in Sub Rosa at times in my life before... not really like deja vu, but like it was reading a memory so stuffed away that I couldn't stop sneezing when it was brought back to the fore-front of my mind. The World that is Sub Rosa is reminiscent of places like Sin City and the memories I have of engaging in that "scene"...more
I felt like I've been in Sub Rosa at times in my life before... not really like deja vu, but like it was reading a memory so stuffed away that I couldn't stop sneezing when it was brought back to the fore-front of my mind. The World that is Sub Rosa is reminiscent of places like Sin City and the memories I have of engaging in that "scene"...more
With a sharp pen, fierce intellect and ferocious take on sex, sex work and sexuality, Amber Dawn's first novel Sub Rosa is a page-turner. Some books take on humanity, others merely relay a story. Dawn's Sub Rosa does both and is explosive.
With a brashness akin to Michelle Tea, Dawn explores sexuality, sensuality and subtlety. In moments protagonist Little lingers with innocent fragility, while in others she's overthrown by a sinister force that threatens to overwhelm her. Part pornography, part...more
With a brashness akin to Michelle Tea, Dawn explores sexuality, sensuality and subtlety. In moments protagonist Little lingers with innocent fragility, while in others she's overthrown by a sinister force that threatens to overwhelm her. Part pornography, part...more
Vancouver writer Amber Dawn’s Sub Rosa, published in 2010 by the radical and remarkable publishing house Arsenal Pulp Press, is a fantasy novel that is both familiar and fantastic. It deals with (what should be) a recognized reality in its depiction of gutsy, gritty, strong women doing sex work in Vancouver’s East end. But Dawn—a writer gutsy, gritty, and strong like her characters—has imagined a world that is a glittery yet tough fable twist on the story of a teenage runaway turned sex worker.....more
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
For the record, I want it noted that I wanted very much to like Amber Dawn's Sub Rosa; it not only comes recommended by my old '90s writing buddy Michelle Tea, but Daniel Casey even asked to re-run my resulting write-up at his Gently Read Literature, a great litmag that I love having the chance to support....more
For the record, I want it noted that I wanted very much to like Amber Dawn's Sub Rosa; it not only comes recommended by my old '90s writing buddy Michelle Tea, but Daniel Casey even asked to re-run my resulting write-up at his Gently Read Literature, a great litmag that I love having the chance to support....more
I wish Amber would tell me what to call this book. An imaginative fantasy? A metaphor for reality? It's certainly imaginative, and it draws you into a world of imagination that is also grounded in reality, at least a certain kind of reality. At its core is are questions of identity and memory -- and freedom, even if it's more painful than an unfree existence.
this book is magic. stunningly inventive, a pleasure to read. you think it's a clearcut fable about sex work but it quickly becomes its own idiosyncratic world, an unstable phantasmagoria irreducible to allegory.
I loved this book. Very interesting tale of a woman taking her future into her own hands but also being the victim of circumstances. Very well written, I look forward to more from this author.
at some point in the book, watches and clocks are introduced to sub rosa and it's interesting for the characters to react to this insertion of time-keeping.
imaginative and exciting!
imaginative and exciting!
A work of magical realism that will enchant and challenge you to rethink the ethics of sex work and how you view the bodies of women. At once approachable and shocking.
This is an awesome novel, the like of which I've never read before. It's part fairytale, part horror story, it's funny, deep, scary. One of these books you don't want to end, and after the last page you want to start from the beginning again.
A good read. Grew to love the characters, especially First. Ending kind of lacked something. But still pretty good for amber dawn's first full novel.
Amazing. Really, that's the best 'review' I can provide. Not like anything I've read in a long, long time. And really well-written.
Sub Rosa is a stunning, disorienting and extraordinary journey into a parallel world, one which mirrors and illuminates our own. The first novel by talented multi-media artist and fellow Vancouverite, Amber Dawn, this book delivers a tender, touching, sexy story which I found, towards the end, to be also almost unbearably suspenseful. The back cover blurbs offer a bewildering array of comparisons, but really this book stands on its own as a unique blend of bitter truth, insights, hope, and overa...more
wonderfully strange and haunting. gets in your head. a little angela carter-y, but slightly less frightening.
Amber Dawn creates this quirky, compelling world that's not like anything else I've read.
What can I say, this book blows me away on so many levels.
Stunning wonderful book; beautifully written
Hints of JT Leroy, but otherwise awesome.
I really really hated this book. If a friend had recommended it, I would never speak to that friend again.
If Kathy Acker decided to abandon her distaste for linear narrative and try out some magical realism a la Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the book might turn out something like this. The ending was a bit gratuitous, but the story was an enjoyable, and even insightful, reflection on gender and sex.
i've read only the first few chapters and i am in love with this book, with the protagonist and fascinatec by the people she is involved with and their world.
****
finished now and enjoyed. Amber Dawn creates an unusual and fascinating world with compelling characters. i felt compassion for Little and the other lost girls. i could easily imagine more books based on Sub Rosa and the other characters, finding their way out of the Dark...
****
finished now and enjoyed. Amber Dawn creates an unusual and fascinating world with compelling characters. i felt compassion for Little and the other lost girls. i could easily imagine more books based on Sub Rosa and the other characters, finding their way out of the Dark...
Detailed review to come..
Uhh... something about the importance of memory and having a past. And magical hookers.
this is hands-down the most original work of fiction i have read in years. sexy, gritty, and fantastic. loved it. more please!
This story won't leave my head.
workin on it
May 22, 2013
Ann Carol Lamb Girotto
marked it as to-read
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Amber Dawn is a writer, filmmaker and performance artist based in Vancouver. She is the author of the novel Sub Rosa (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010), editor of the Lambda Award-nominated Fist of the Spider Woman (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2008) and co-editor of With a Rough Tongue: Femmes Write Porn (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2005). Her award-winning, genderfuck docu-porn, "Girl on Girl," has been screened in eigh...more
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“I had spent so much time secretly scared of rape that in that moment I was hardly even afraid anymore. Or rather I had moved on to my next fear—what happens when it’s over? Would I be left there, alone? Injured? Or worse?”
—
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Dec 13, 2010 05:11am