Drawing Blood
by Poppy Z. Brite
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Book Summary Information
Author: Poppy Z. BriteEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-10-01
ISBN: 0440214920
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Dell
Book Reviews of Drawing Blood
Book Review: Classic Horror
Summary: 5 Stars
When her first novel, Lost Souls, was released, Brite breathed new life into the bland, clichéd vampire by giving us vamps that loved being what they were and mixing them with goth characters who were actually more than brooding, pretentious teens in black clothes. In short, she made her characters real people.
With Lost Souls, Brite burst on the scene. Wisely, she was not one to be satisfied with her popular vampire characters, and we were treated to another reinvention by Brite, the haunted house story, Drawing Blood.
The plot has been well detailed in other reviews here, so this review can be all about the writing which is as appealing today as it was 15 years ago.
From the beginning, Brite shows a critical eye for detail in her writing. Each locale is described fully, but without frustrating verbosity. In very naturalistic, yet somehow poetic prose, Brite describes not only the sights of a place, but also the smells, and the result is that we get the psychological reaction of the characters to everything that is about them.
And the same detail goes into her characters. The five-year-old Trevor at the beginning of the novel rings utterly true, the wide-eyed outlook of a child tempered by the reality that he has lived with a father who is unpredictable bordering on abusive. Yet, Trevor's father isn't reduced to some stereotyped drunkard. We get to see inside him for the brief time we know him. We see the crushed dreams, the pressures, the paranoia that lead him to do the horrible thing he does. When Bobby McGee kills his family, we as readers are horrified by it, but we can see why it happened, why it was almost inevitable. The only thing we can't understand is why he didn't kill Trevor as well. And that in itself is what brings Trevor back to Missing Mile some 20 years later.
We're also introduced to Zachary Bosch, a computer hacker out of New Orleans, who finds himself dangerously on the wrong side of the law. As he flees New Orleans, we also get to meet the people important in his life, most notably Eddy, a Asian American stripper who is in love with Zach but also his best buddy. But we don't get some stereotype here either. Eddy isn't the stock hag. She's feisty, smart, inventive and someone to be reckoned with. She knows Zach is not a good match for her and she needs to move on. But she can't and she never broods about it and never once do you feel that beyond Zach lies a life of loneliness. And the FBI agents following Zach also are character fuller than one would guess in a horror novel.
The residents of Missing Mile are equally fascinating, a mix of character traits which could have become cartoonish in lesser hands, but remain blessedly real. You can see Kinsey's smile, feel the weight of his family history. You can feel the relationship between Terry and his girlfriend. Even Calvin, who threatens to come between Zach and Trevor, has a likable streak.
But the novel starts to really sing when Trevor and Zach meet one another in Missing Mile. Both members of the walking wounded, the two cautiously get to know one another and, ultimately, become lovers. It isn't an easy courtship given the baggage each of them carries, and it isn't a relationship that is easy to define. There are no tops and bottoms here. No alpha or submissive. Like every relationship, it changes with the ebb and flow of time and events that draw them closer together and push them further apart. It is a wonderful exploration of who each character has been, who they want to become and who they might be together if their relationship lasts. It is, to this day, one of the fullest depictions of gay men I have ever found in literature.
Now, don't get me wrong. This is not some mushy love story in the slightest. It is pure horror--albeit heavy on the psychological horror. The tension is palpable, the finely tuned description, exquisite, and the dialog completely real. Each character has a purpose in this piece. There is very little fat in this novel, each aspect weaving together easily with those that came before and those which follow. By the time we get to the climax of the book, we are utterly invested in each of these characters. We want Trevor and Zach to survive, and we understand how Missing Mile will never be the same after the events that take place in that dilapidate old house out on Violin Road. We care because Brite created characters we love despite all their faults, drawing us a vivid picture of where we have been living as we took the journey along with Trevor and Zach. We care because Brite has taken the time to show us all the pieces that go into making the puzzle of man. In short, she has created a place we want to visit and characters who feel like real friends.
For me, Drawing Blood is a classic...classic horror, classic gay fiction and classic character fiction It was and remains a ground breaking literary work and should be required reading for readers and writers of horror, gay fiction, gay romance and even gay erotica. This is how it is done, folks.
Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable.
Summary of Drawing Blood
Escaping from his North Carolina home after his father murders their family and commits suicide, Trevor McGee returns to confront the past, and finds himself haunted by the same demons that drove his father to insanity. Reprint. K. AB.Horror Books
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