Lost Souls
by Poppy Z. Brite
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Book Reviews of Lost Souls
Book Review: Dark and sexy
Summary: 4 Stars
Having read PZB's follow up to Lost Souls, Drawing Blood, I knew what to expect from this book. And it certainly delivered. The book is a beauiful creation, Poppy's prose so deliciously written at times that, like the liquors she so often describes, I found myself reading some passages over and over again.The characters are all uniformly weak and vulnerable, feeding from each other in more ways than one. The idea of copious amounts of drink and drugs coupled with homosexual orgies is another to fill many with horror, but Poppy has such an erotic writing style that I could almost feel the bisexuallity stirring in me as I read on.
The plot is well constructed, sparse at times, especially concerning the characters respective backgrounds, but this is always viewed as surplus to the needs and troubles the characters face in the present.
It veers occasionally, for instance it is obvious at times where Poppy has reached a plot stumbling block and glossed over it with her magical prose. For instance, after the vampires arrive in Missing Mile they go on a rampage, determined to take revenge on Steve and Ghost for the beating they took in Ghost's house on their first night in the town. But after finding them, the two parties drift apart again and the vampires spend the next month engaged in drugged sex orgies in a caravan park, while Steve and Ghost smoke pot and talk about revenge. Neither party seems at all willing to advance the plot.
Poppy's prose has a way of smoothing over these problems, and sooner or later the book moves off again and you become lost.
And that, really is what it is all about. You could read a hundred Kings or Koontz's, and never find anything as deeply engaging as this. It is the sort of book of which you begin to miss the characters when the story is over and the novel put away. You wonder what became of them, what, if they were real, they'd be doing now.
For a while I lost my soul to this book, and sometimes that is what you want.
Book Review: ::Lost Souls::
Summary: 5 Stars
Lost Souls, is an astonishing horror novel written in 1992 by the talented young author Poppy Z. Brite. The book is about four people or groups of people who are all connected to each other in some way, but don't realize it. The main character out of all, is a 15 year old boy whose name is Nothing. Nothing is determined to leave his home in search for his real mother and his real family. Or at least just leave the home he lives in now, and find a fitting place to live. Ghost and Steve, two of the other main characters, are intelligent guys around the ages of 19 and 21. Together they have a band, Lost Souls, which is growing popularity around Missing Mile, North Carolina, where they live. "Lost Souls" is more than just a name for their band, it's a description for the both of them. Confused, lost, and drunk is how they live their lives most of the time. Molochai, Zillah, and Twig are the third group in this story. They are three immature vampires out for just a good time. Human morals don't exist, and they indulge themselves in their desired passion: killing people, depriving them of all their sweet blood and leaving their lifeless bodies to rot. Christian is the last main character. He, just like Zillah, Molochai, and Twig, is a vampire. The oldest one, and the most mature. He owns a bar in The French Quarter in New Orleans. In his bar is where he met Zillah, Molochai, and Twig for the first time. Since then, Christian has been determined to find them again. In the end, Nothing finds out the grotesque truth of his father and himself.Poppy's unique style of writing, makes this book all the more interesting. Mental pictures of pale faces painted with thick black eyeliner, dark hair and skinny bodies, creates a world of dreary loneliness and wanting. Along with the drugs, lust, blood, and anguish. She adds twists to every chapter to lure the you into reading more. Lost Souls is an excellent book, definitely worth reading.
Book Review: This book bites, but in a good way
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: Welcome to the land of sex, blood and rock n' roll, eh?
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this book on pure fluke. Sassy magazine (when it was still cool) did a profile on this beautiful woman with red hair and fishnets and Docs, and the blurb spoke of her newest book (at that time) "Drawing Blood", describing it as a "haunted house love story." Sounded interesting, but they also mentioned she'd written a vampire road trip from hell book called "Lost Souls." Hmmmm, I thought. Vampires. I like vampires. So I bought it the very next day.Possibly, this was the best decision I've ever made in concerns to a book purchase, because Poppy Z. Brite kicked my a**, knocked me to the floor, hauled me back up, and kicked my a** again. Never before have I read a "horror" (I use that term somewhat sarcastically) novel that was writen as dark and lush as "Lost Souls" was.
Normally, I would hate the pop culture references, but then I realized this was because most horror is written and by old, white men. Even Anne Rice was downright embarassing in The Vampire Lestat/The Queen of the Damned (though the latter is one of my faves) with her rock band and concerts and everything. Ew. Brite kicks Rice's a**, first off, and second, she's one of *us* -- and that makes all the difference in the world.
I fell in love with Nothing, Ghost and most of all, Zillah, the doomed vampire, who walked into Ghost's house with a baseball bat (which he had grabbed from Steve, granted) and a grin and proceeded to wreak havoc unlike I have ever enjoyed before. Eyes like limes, pierced and tattooed and downright *mean* -- this character could carry an entire series on his own. Damn shame, really.
This book is one of my all-time favorites, and I recommend it to everyone I come across. Read it, and be amazed.
Book Review: Not Your Typical Vampires
Summary: 3 Stars
A trainwreck of blood, gay sex, drugs, and booze. A bit of a disappointment, yet I still couldn't put it down. How should I put it...it was unsatisfying in the right way? I had very mixed feelings, but overall they were positive.
The character Nothing was the book's biggest downfall for me, I simply couldn't stand him no matter how hard I tried. It was impossible to sympathize with him, and much of the book is spent focusing on his pity party. The vampires were disgusting and childish, which was another disappointment for me, but that's probably because I was expecting something else. I don't think any one of them possessed a brain. It's not your typical vampire fare, and it was good in it's own unique way, I'll admit. Just don't go reading it expecting Anne Rice vampires. ;) One other thing that just did NOT work for me were the times when the author got carried away describing the goth scene. I mean, the stereotypes got WAY out of hand, it became ridiculous and was annoying to constantly read. I wouldn't have minded it as much if she didn't give it a "holier than thou" kind of attitude, which made me roll my eyes several times while reading.
It redeemed itself towards the end, though. I really warmed up to the characters of Ghost and Steve, and I actually cared about what happened to them. I felt a lot of my bitterness towards the book melt away as those two characters grew on me dramatically. After I finished the last page, only one thought filled my mind - "I want to read more Ghost and Steve!" The writing was also very visual and engaging. Even though it's not exactly my cup of tea, it's definitely been haunting me. I've re-read it a few times now. And it intrigued me enough that I picked up "Drawing Blood", which in my opinion is much much better.