[COMPLETE] Cleanup: Closer

[Drace]

There are errors that need to be cleaned up on the novel Closer by Dennis Cooper.

1. All Editions: https://www.goodreads.com/work/editio...

- The original publication date is incorrect. It should be April 28, 1989.

- The default description for the book has been changed to the French language edition’s description, even though it was originally published in the English language in the United States. The description should be changed to that of the current US paperback, which is as follows:

Physically beautiful and strangely passive, George Miles becomes the object of his friends’ passions, and one after another, they ransack him for love or anything else they can trust in the mindlessness of middle America. What they find assaults the senses as it engages the mind, in a novel that explores the limits of experience and the horror in the world around us.

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2. Hardcover Edition: Closer (ISBN 9780802110930)

- The description is incorrect. It should read as follows, transcribed directly from the book jacket:

Physically beautiful and strangely passive, George Miles attracts his fellow students with a mysterious promise, like a wallet lying on the street. One after another, his teenage friends rifle through George, ransacking him for love or anything else they could trust in the mindlessness of middle America. What they find is a vision of nightmare intensity, in a novel that assaults the senses as it engages the mind.

Closer follows the links of desire and value that drag George into the arms of men like John, an artist who drains his portraits of humanity in order to find what lies beneath; Alex, fascinated by splatter films and pornography; and Steve, an underground entrepreneur who turns his parents’ garage into a nightclub. These and others pass George from hand to hand, hoping to feel even one emotion clear and uncorrupted by society, but George remains a blurry ghost until he is picked up by two men in their forties. Tom and Philippe think they can find reality in the sharp outline of bones and the bright red of blood; obsessed with the beauty of death, they find in George the perfect object for their passion.

In brutally frank prose that exposes euphemism, cliché, and evasion, Dennis Cooper stares unflinchingly at the horror of a society without values, and his vision makes its enormity all too real. It is a world in which pain is an undeniable reality, the inevitable companion of truth, and a test of our commitment to life. Dennis Cooper explores the limits of experience, and while he sharpens our understanding of the life around us, he leaves no escape from what he finds.

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3. US Paperback Edition: Closer (ISBN 9780802132123)

- The publication date is incorrect. The publisher’s website lists May 1, 1990 as the date. There is a copyright date on the back of the book for 1990, so this seems to be correct.

- The description is incorrect. It should read as follows, transcribed from the back of the book:

Physically beautiful and strangely passive, George Miles becomes the object of his friends’ passions, and one after another, they ransack him for love or anything else they can trust in the mindlessness of middle America. What they find assaults the senses as it engages the mind, in a novel that explores the limits of experience and the horror in the world around us.

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4. Current UK Paperback Edition: Closer (ISBN 9781800812895)

- Lynne Tillman needs to be added with the Introduction role.

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5. Current UK Kindle Edition: Closer (ASIN B0BYFRT168)

- Lynne Tillman needs to be added with the Introduction role.

- The cover art is missing. Available here: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/8... // https://amzn.eu/d/iO9Mpir

- The description is missing paragraph breaks and formatting. It should read as follows:

Physically beautiful and strangely passive, George Miles attracts his fellow students' attention, like a wallet lying on the street. One after another, his teenage friends rifle through George, ransacking him for love, secrets or anything else they can plausibly extract.

Closer follows the subterranean connections that drag George into the arms of men like John, an artist who drains his portraits of humanity in order to find what lies beneath; Alex, fascinated by splatter films and pornography; and Steve, an underground entrepreneur who turns his parents' garage into a nightclub. Boys and men pass George from hand to hand, fascinated by the nightmarish intensity of his detachment, but soon he will be confronted by desires he may find harder to endure.

Closer is an unflinching exploration of the very limits of experience. Still shocking after more than two decades, here is a provocative classic that assaults the senses as it engages the mind.

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6. UK Ebook Edition: Closer (ISBN 9781800812901)

- The description is incorrect. It should be the same as Entry 5.

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7. Invalid Editions

All of the following editions were created by the Goodreads bot importing secondhand Amazon sellers. They all need to be marked invalid.

A. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

B. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

C. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

D. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

E. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

F. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Drace]

A week has passed, so I'm bumping the thread.

[Drace]

Another bump.

[Patricia]

All done:)

[Drace]

There are a few errors left to correct:

- The Original Publication Date still needs to be changed to April 28, 1989.

- The paperback edition's publication date still needs to be changed to May 1, 1990.

[Patricia]

Hi! I changed the paperback edition's publication date. Last question, Do I need to set all publication date in all editions of the book?

[Drace]

I'll get another librarian to correct the original publication date. You don't need to worry about any further corrections. Marking the thread as complete.