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This Year's Winner for Bad Sex Writing Is ...

David Guterson, for an Oedipus-like shower scene in 'Ed King'

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 7, 2011 2:41 PM CST

(Newser) – Ron Charles of the Washington Post wins the prognosticator award among book critics. When he reviewed (and panned) David Guterson's novel Ed King, he took note of one part: "What follows are three pages that might very well win the Literary Review’s annual Bad Sex Award." Well, that award came out today, and ... congratulations, Mr. Guterson (who is also the Snow Falling on Cedars author). The UK publication singled out Guterson's modern version of Oedipus Rex for a lengthy scene in which the main character has some intimate moments in the shower with, yes, his mother, reports the BBC.

A few examples:

"In the shower, Ed stood with his hands at the back of his head, like someone just arrested, while she abused him with a bar of soap."
“Ed smelled vulnerably digestive.”
"Then they rinsed, dried, dressed and went to an expensive restaurant for lunch."

Salon has a more complete excerpt here, along with an antidote-like link to a discussion about good sex scenes.

Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked ... (Shutterstock)

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This Year's Winner for Bad Sex Writing Is ...

David Guterson, for an Oedipus-like shower scene in 'Ed King'

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