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Cannibal Kiss: A Novel
As a writer finishes his novel, one of his characters, the beautiful and fearless Bird, asserts her independence in the author's imagination and embarks on a picaresque odyssey across the United States
- GenresFiction
179 pages, Hardcover
First published November 12, 1989
29 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 8, 2011
Daniel Odier is perhaps more familiar by his other writing name, Delacorta, and the wonderful fiction `Diva' (also made into a brilliant - now cult classic - film with amazing music, by French director Jean-Jacques Beineix, and co-written by Odier) and `Nina'. With `Cannibal Kiss', he has surpassed himself in this novel of unique travel, i.e., not the straightforward kind. It is a journey through Odier's love of jazz, the surreal and erotic, the separate and almost alien world of the highways and byways of modern America - and the joy and sorrow that are so much a part of all this.
There are three main characters in the novel: one, a male writer of fiction who, at the beginning, has just completed a novel; another is Bird, the central female character in that writer's novel - who then escapes the confines of his fiction and who, painted blue, meta-parachutes her way into his flimsy reality (although she protests that she has been there all along); and Chameleon, who, as the name implies, is constantly changing - besides sometimes being invisible, and who encapsulates the quiet voyeurism of the reader and curiosity; the carrot that keeps the novel's writer of fiction interested in his work.
The character Bird (as in jazz genius, Charlie `Yardbird' Parker) wants to live the energy of jazz; to place in words what has been expressed in music. Being wild, reckless, passionate and existential - she lives for the moment and does as she desires. But living the energy of jazz on a moment-by-moment basis is an impossible task, it seems, and so instead she embodies - quite literally - the voice of jazz; of verbalised musical energy. As Bird and the writer character become more intimate, the boundaries between fiction and `reality' blur, becoming something more compelling, beautiful and significant.
In a kaleidoscopic fashion, her surreal travels by car, tornado, parachute and the writer's wish-fulfillment, reveal the poetic and oddball nature of all the characters that, together, comprise Odier's impression of the camouflaged, utter beauty of America.
`Cannibal Kiss' is a pot-pourri smorgasbord of satire, human flight, philosophy, poetry and bod(il)y functions. It is sad and funny, provocative and captivating and, on top of all of this, it has compelling sex, death and salvation. What more could any intelligent, discerning, passionate reader of fiction ask for in a novel?!
There are three main characters in the novel: one, a male writer of fiction who, at the beginning, has just completed a novel; another is Bird, the central female character in that writer's novel - who then escapes the confines of his fiction and who, painted blue, meta-parachutes her way into his flimsy reality (although she protests that she has been there all along); and Chameleon, who, as the name implies, is constantly changing - besides sometimes being invisible, and who encapsulates the quiet voyeurism of the reader and curiosity; the carrot that keeps the novel's writer of fiction interested in his work.
The character Bird (as in jazz genius, Charlie `Yardbird' Parker) wants to live the energy of jazz; to place in words what has been expressed in music. Being wild, reckless, passionate and existential - she lives for the moment and does as she desires. But living the energy of jazz on a moment-by-moment basis is an impossible task, it seems, and so instead she embodies - quite literally - the voice of jazz; of verbalised musical energy. As Bird and the writer character become more intimate, the boundaries between fiction and `reality' blur, becoming something more compelling, beautiful and significant.
In a kaleidoscopic fashion, her surreal travels by car, tornado, parachute and the writer's wish-fulfillment, reveal the poetic and oddball nature of all the characters that, together, comprise Odier's impression of the camouflaged, utter beauty of America.
`Cannibal Kiss' is a pot-pourri smorgasbord of satire, human flight, philosophy, poetry and bod(il)y functions. It is sad and funny, provocative and captivating and, on top of all of this, it has compelling sex, death and salvation. What more could any intelligent, discerning, passionate reader of fiction ask for in a novel?!
April 2, 2012
This is a fascinating book, but you need to be in the right frame of mind - untethered and open-minded - to feel it's true power. It's dreamy and free form. Just right for a moment of hazy introspection.
January 7, 2024
This book was exactly what I needed at exactly the right time.
September 30, 2025
What did I just read?!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews