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Title: Lost Souls by POPPY BRITE ISBN: 0-440-21281-2 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 10 September, 1993 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.35 (201 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: This book bites, but in a good way
Comment: If you're a fan of horror novels--even the bad ones which you can't really defend to anyone who doesn't "get" them--then you like it when a really good one like this comes along, one you can recommend even to your less-than-genre-inclined friends.
Poppy Z. Brite's "Lost Souls" is a great horror novel and a great piece of writing, period. On the surface, Brite's story of modern-day young-but-old nomadic vampires glistens with wit, smart writing, vivid imagery, taught, sexually-charged language, and interesting, appealing characters.
What makes "Lost Souls" a great book is that when you sink your teeth under its pretty surface, you find a rich vein of pulsing life ready to nourish you. "Lost Souls" is a pleasure to read, certainly if you're a horror fan, but even if you're not one.
Poppy Z. Brite writes in this novel about disaffected youth who ache for some real connection to the world around them. They happen to either be vampires or have friends who are. But really, she's writing about us all. Everyone knows the desire for a belief in magic, the hunger to feel the rich flow of life in your veins. If you were ever a kid, you know about magic. You might have forgotten what it means to you, or why it's important. The more intangible it is, the more important it seems to be to remember. There are many people in the world who have willingly forgotten. Any one of us at times is like the characters in this book: young-but-old because we have felt the ever-shifting tide of faith go out on us, leaving us at least temporarily high and dry. "Lost Souls" captures the human thirst for life beautifully.
If you enjoy this novel, I highly recommend George A. Romero's brilliant late-seventies vampire film, "Martin"--one truly excellent horror film that deals with many of the same issues as this novel.
Rating: 5
Summary: The best book I've ever read in my life.
Comment: A brilliant epic tale of vampiric lore, the most amazing tale of despair and longing, a book full of beautiful prose and totally engrossing characters that you can actually become, that you can understand completely, because they live in you, they do the things you've always been afraid of. Nothing and his angst ridden life of feeling he doesn't belong; Ghost and his affliction/gift of psychic power, and Steve with his wild anger and loyal friendship to Ghost, make for the most interesting characters. But the stars of the novel would have to be the vagabond vampires Zillah, Twig, and Molochai; the androgony, the bloodlust, and the nomadic traveling style they live by, makes this book a refreshing meal to suck up at bedtime, or any other time of day. I would recomend this book to any horror fan. Poppy Z. Brite is the most unique and brilliant writer we have to date. She is my inspiration, and I dream of writing like her.
Opium Poppy Fields
Rating: 2
Summary: I expected more.
Comment: Spoiler Alert!
I had heard several rave reviews about this novel so I read it and was disappointed. What you must keep in mind I am 29. I think had I read this book at 14 or so, I would have been enthralled with it.
It borrows liberally from superior works, most notably Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. There was a lot of extraneous expository writing that felt like a waste of time reading, overused adjectives (apparently everyone in Poppy Brite's world has "spidery" hands, smokes clove cigarettes, lives in proximity to kudzu trees). And of course it had the typical "let's kick some vampire ass" ending.
Lost Souls is almost entirely a landscape of young, beautiful, skinny, white males, mostly making out with each other or killing people in graphic detail. It just comes across more as titillation rather than trying to say something about the human condition or go beyond being entertainment in the same vein as rock videos. One reviewer mentioned it as being like fan-fiction, and I got that vibe as well. It also makes the fatal mistake of trying to make vampire rock stars, which is tantamount to trying to run a car on water instead of gas. It's a great idea if it could work, but alas, it never does.
The book also takes "Goth culture," for lack of a better term, a bit too seriously for it's own good. Besides the occasional sarcastic quip from Steve, the book doesn't acknowledge any of the complete absurdity of some of the situations described, the way a good "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" episode would. It is very much written for the serious, Marilyn Manson-listening, dressed-in-black set. It doesn't really try to transcend it's genre, so it's difficult to recommend such a book to anyone who doesn't fall into that category. Even then, I'm sure many self-proclaimed "Goths" would cringe at the thought of reading this.
That said, I will grudgingly give Brite some points for her additions/twists to the vampire myth (Mostly the pregnancy- vampire hybrid ideas - I can only hope they were of her own invention and I'm giving her credit justly) Ghost, I thought was particularly nicely rendered as a character. There were some interesting visual ideas (Christian as a roadside rose stand vendor comes to mind). I managed to make it to the end at least, and take the time to think enough about the book to give it a review, so I think that shows that I have a least a modicum of respect for it.
Bottom line- I wouldn't recommend it to readers older than 20-25, and who aren't already interested in vampire fiction.
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Title: Drawing Blood by POPPY BRITE ISBN: 0440214920 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 01 October, 1994 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: EXQUISITE CORPSE by Poppy Z. Brite ISBN: 0684836270 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 20 August, 1997 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Wormwood : A Collection of Short Stories by Poppy Brite ISBN: 0440217989 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 01 December, 1995 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Love in Vein by Poppy Z. Brite ISBN: 0061054909 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Crow: The Lazarus Heart by Poppy Z. Brite ISBN: 0061020095 Publisher: HarperEntertainment Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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