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Tool

Peter Sotos

3.88 · Rating details · 74 ratings · 9 reviews

Peter Sotos is one of those rare writers who can say, 'The words I write are me,' or at least as close as anyone can come to communicating who they are in words.
--Thomas Ligotti

We do not find in Sotos the customary delusions about childhood misery and wounded lives. For this latter-day homo sacer, wounds are not to be healed but poked and worried until they bleed. Sotos is ...more

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Paperback, 146 pages

Published February 13th 2013 by Nine-Banded Books

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· 74 ratings · 9 reviews

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Dec 18, 2018 Abel rated it really liked it

Well that was difficult. I'm convinced there is genius in Peter Sotos's writing but I'm not sure I have the stomach to figure out how. ...more

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Nov 17, 2014 James Steele rated it liked it

For as short as it is, it's a very challenging read. These stories are dramatic monologues from the point of view of child rapists, pedophiles, and people who otherwise derive pleasure from the suffering of others.

The first story is from the point of view of a man who has just abducted a little girl and is forcing her to do all sorts of unspeakable acts. But hurting her isn't enough. He wants to know her. Know the innocent life he's destroying. Know the family he's hurting by taking her away, ra ...more

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Sep 09, 2014 Anita Dalton rated it it was amazing

I finished reading this book at 3:00 in the morning and didn’t really sleep that night. I read it in one sitting and though it only took a few hours to read, when I was finished I felt hollowed out. Sick. Queasy. Not unlike how it feels when you crash after a speed bender. Jittery and empty yet all too aware that sleep is not coming. Parts of this book were like being flayed. I think anyone who was ever victimized finds Sotos a daunting read, but of all the books he has written that I have read I finished reading this book at 3:00 in the morning and didn’t really sleep that night. I read it in one sitting and though it only took a few hours to read, when I was finished I felt hollowed out. Sick. Queasy. Not unlike how it feels when you crash after a speed bender. Jittery and empty yet all too aware that sleep is not coming. Parts of this book were like being flayed. I think anyone who was ever victimized finds Sotos a daunting read, but of all the books he has written that I have read thus far, this one was the most upsetting to me. And the reason I was so upset was because that which is wrong in this book is often wrong in me.

Of course we all know that I read upsetting books because I like being upset (or sickened or awakened or whatever happens to me when I read really difficult content). But even within that paradigm I take a beating when I read Sotos. Without engaging in too much self-analysis, I can only assume that at the end it was a beating I needed or truly wanted in some way. This is why I read Sotos. Because on some level we have similar thoughts – a book like this could only be devastating to a person who has already been down this road. To the unaffected reader, it might just come off as vulgarity or pointless obscenity. Despite being trained to analyze literature in an academic manner, I prefer to react in an emotional manner to the books I read. I don’t really care about the schools of thought and the tradition of transgression that many attempt to apply to Sotos’ work. When I read him I care only about my reaction, how he pokes at my own obsessions, how he knows so much more than anyone else about the will to harm and the will to survive harm.

I don’t know how this fact had not jumped out at me before, but in every book, keeping in mind every little bit of genuine autobiographical data he gives, Peter Sotos is playing different roles and channeling different people. He is exploring humanity by speculating about the worst things that go through the minds of the worst people. Because he is taking on the roles of other people, Sotos, in a very real sense, is engaging in psychodrama. And that is why I am so wrung out at the end of each book he writes. His psychodrama speaks to my own worries, neuroses, experiences and fears.

This is purely incidental. Peter Sotos is not writing for you or for me. Never forget that. Any meaning you take from Sotos’ words may have nothing to do with his intentions as he wrote the book. He’s not trying to relate to us. His psychodramas are his own. They are so deeply personal and unintended for purgation of others that it’s very interesting to me the extreme reactions his writing creates, especially in those who find themselves angry at what they consider Sotos’ wickedness.

That having been said, no matter how incidental any connection I have to this book may be, this book was a great emotional purge for me. Even in the extremity of another person’s psychodrama I found little pieces of my own experiences, most of them unpleasant. Clearly something in me is perverse enough to enjoy being poked psychically. It’s a useful pain, I think.

This is a very long discussion. You can read the rest of it here. http://ireadoddbooks.com/tool-by-pete... ...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Ben Arzate rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own

This is a very difficult book to recommend. Sotos is a powerful writer with a lot of talent, but reading him makes one feel like you've had someone take a shit on your soul.

FULL REVIEW HERE ...more

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Nov 17, 2017 Perifian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-sacred-texts, reference, favorites, philosophy

To a large part it's about journalistic integrity, a sort of shock treatment. ...more

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Jan 20, 2020 Deyth Banger rated it it was amazing

Shelves: chance-deserve

This guy has graphic and explicit content beware folks!

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Aug 14, 2018 Taylor rated it it was ok

Unlike “Selfish, Little”, which engrosses the reader in a filthy, pitiful world of shame and degradation, “Tool.” reads as an almost embarrassing work of gratuitous abuse that, apart from occasional moments which hint at the author’s later potential, seems to go little beyond anything more than mere provocation and shock. There is very little depth and some of the sections end up repeating the same form, which may be intentional, but the result is tedious.

Maybe it was a fresh take in the early 9 ...more

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May 13, 2014 Lauren added it

This will be eye-opening, and then desensitizing, and then you feel like you need a shower, and then you want to shove everything you love into a black hole and never come out.

Read an excerpt here, and expect all of the trigger warnings. All of them. And don't say I didn't warn you.

http://potbc.tumblr.com/post/21715349...

...more

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Nov 01, 2014 Chris Gugino rated it it was amazing

uh, jesus. where to start? at first, it makes yr skin crawl. you're inhabiting a really uncomfortable headspace. then, it makes you laugh (the chapter where he describes his arrest had me rolling on the floor, cracking up). and by the end, he's brought you to tears.

not for the faint of heart, obviously. ...more

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About Peter Sotos

Peter Sotos

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Peter Sotos (born April 17, 1960) is a Chicago-born writer who has contributed an unprecedented examination of the peculiar motivations of sadistic sexual criminals. His works are often cited as conveying an uncanny understanding of myriad aspects of pornography. Most of his writings have focused on sexually violent pornography, particularly of that involving children. His writings are also consid ...more