I checked Dermaphoria out at the library after being blown away by Contortionist's Handbook, and it shattered my brain into tiny pieces. I immediately reread it to more firmly lodge its story in my mind, something I rarely do. But it was necessary as my mind was reeling when I closed the book after the first go through. And a lot became clear to me the second time. A lot. Aside from the Fireflies and Black Widows, I realized that some of the remembered conversations with Desiree were more like symbolic personified interactions with the drug, and just knowing that he named Skin after Desiree unlocked a lot of double meaning in his experiences. Also knowing that Otto's actually a dog, everything Otto does when Eric remembers him could have been a dog. I mean aside from talking, but even the words, it's like Eric was talking to Desiree's dog, making up conversation in the drugged-out haze of his recollection. Since he doesn't realize the dog was Otto til he gets the picture of the collar from Anslinger, he calls the dog Fuzzface and stuff like that up to that point. The unreliable narrator is pulled off unbelievably.
But I was still left wondering who introduced Eric to White if not Otto? And who took the money? The $630,000? Not sure if I missed something, or if it's just left to us to wonder what was real and what was the drug.
