Lost Souls
by Poppy Z. Brite
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Book Reviews of Lost Souls
Book Review: Hopefully the paper can be recycled
Summary: 1 Stars
I try to keep an open mind and read all sorts of books and watch all sorts of films. Also, as I am a vampire fan I had hopes for this book. It turned out to be the first time i actually threw a book into the garbage (I did manage to controll myself enough to put in the correct bin).To put my finger on exactly what I hated is more difficult though. The feeling I got as I read the book is that the author wants to focus on the relations betwen the carracters, about lonly people (and vampires) looking for someone or simply anyone with whom they can feel safe and loved. This is hardly a new theme (but then what theme is) but usually worth telling. The problem is that today boy meets girl or in this case boy (both on the platonic and not so platonic level) is hardly shockning anymore. The author then tries to "spice up" the story using graphic language and descriptions to shock the readers into interrest. I admit that it is good to be shocked now and then but it should be for a reason and with other purpose then to create attention for the book. If you compare it to Bret Easton Ellis work you can clearly see the differce. Both books use extremes to shock the reader, but in "American Psycho" it is integrated in, and an essensial part of, the story. In "Lost Souls" most of it could have been cut out in favor of more intersting parts. An other comparison can be made with Ann Rice who also uses vampires to talk about not so accepted relations, however she does it with great skill, only overdoing it in her later books.
There are lots of people who seems to thinks this is a great book, but I think this is a book I would only recomend someone interested in the extremes of literature (or somebody I realy dislike).
Book Review: A Gothic Grim Tale of Gypsy Vampires, Steve and Ghost.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Vampires in Lost Souls are like none you have ever encountered anywhere else, in any other written form. Zillah and his clan live like wandering gypsy vampires on a quest to do nothing but party, have sex and kill. They're like a dangerous rock band made up of murderers and thieves.
A kid named Nothing comes in to the picture, and also later on in the novel, in a big way. He has a crappy home life. His parents don't understand his strange ways, which are to basically live in his own world, read rebellious books, and wear dark clothes. He takes off and winds up a kid on the hard roads, but eventually meets and then hangs out with Zillah and his gang of marauding bloodsuckers.
The two most memorable character in this book are, Steve and Ghost. They're the guys you would have hung out with in school, a little wild, but not enough that they're inhuman, absent of a soul.
Steve and Ghost are like brothers, and in the course of the book they befriend Nothing, and seeing that the kid is on the path to certain death with Zillah and his pals, try to step in and save the kid from the pack of vicious vampires out on the road.
Poppy Z. Brite makes sure to give you and intense ending, and you'll find her prose is creepy and elegant, and that it will take your mind to other worlds, other dark roads shadowed with fears and evils more real than you've read.
Lost Souls should be required reading for anyone who likes dark, surreal, intense horror, well written, that reads smooth as silk.
And after you get this one in the mail, don't throw it on the pile of books to be read later, get right to it and experience the magic of a well-crafted story.
Book Review: Praise its holy name!
Summary: 5 Stars
"Lost Souls" is the book that spoiled me. After reading it, I didn't think I would ever again find a story so well-imagined, so beautifully crafted. In this tale of vampires, it would've been so easy to scrawl out a hackneyed "bite me, drain me, toss my body in the gutter" plot, but Poppy and her muse must have screamed "No way!" The narrative is dripping with sensory information -- sights, sounds, smells, everything Poppy always uses to take the readers where she wants them to go. The characters aren't lifelike, they're LARGER than life. They drag you alongside them and make you sympathize with them, love them, hate them, feel their own loves and their own hates. Steve's is an earthy, often ill-humored presence. His bandmate Ghost is enigmatic and beautiful in his eccentricities. The vampiric trio of Molochai, Twig and Zillah are a collective dark force, and every time they enter a scene you can't help but to murmur "uh-oh."This story is tightly woven. Everything's there on the page because it needs to be. There is nothing overdone, and no apologies made. Poppy has a flair for tailoring her signature violence and male homoeroticism into her backdrops, turning out a world that's so surreal, yet smacks of normalcy. That flair is no less evident in "Lost Souls."
I read a variety of fiction, and I have yet to encounter anything that even approaches the soul-stirring caliber of this book in ANY genre. I was let down at the end, not because it was a bad story, but because it was an AMAZING story, and it was over. I've read some decent books since I finished "Lost Souls," but none have been as worthy of adoration.
Book Review: A an excellent book...
Summary: 4 Stars
Poppy Z. Brite has to be one of the most intricate writers I know of. She creates such lush characters and vivid landscapes and scenarios. I feel as if I'm there. Lost Souls is one of the best vampire books I've ever read. It gave an interesting view into the lives of vampires, those who are becoming and even those who aren't either of the other two. I had only two problems with this book: The extreme homosexuality of almost every character and the lack of women characters and their portrayl. I have no problem with homosexuals, don't get me wrong. I can see two men together and it doesn't bother me in the slightest...but in this book, it just seems that every character is male, and they all have no interest for women. This is not a problem for homosexuals, bi-sexuals or open minded people. Thankfully I am the latter. It's just hard to identify with those parts when you are not gay or bi. I also like women characters and I think Mrs. Brite could write a very interesting woman character, besides someone like Ann. It seems to me that Poppy doesn't really care too much for women. True, this is only an assumption...not spreading "facts". It just seemed that she made Ann seem very dumb. She never knew what she was doing and every choice she made I wanted to slap her and lead her in a new direction. I don't know, this is just me talking, but those are the only two qualms I had with this book. Had this book had a mixture of sexuality and more colorful and powerful women characters I would have added an extra star, but, this is only my opinion. Take it or leave it.Book Review: Uneven but incredibly absorbing
Summary: 4 Stars
Lost Souls- the first word that comes to mind is "yum." It's lush, gory, dramatic, and a thoroughly guilty indulgence, an exercise in sweeping Gothic pathos. While I admit that my fondness for androgyny played a big role, the characters were so vivid and strong as to be my favorite element of the novel. (Christian ended up being my favorite character, for whatever reason, followed by lovely Zillah.) True, they were more than occasionally overstated, but all in fitting with the tone of the book. Overall they were entirely absorbing, and the real reason why I stuck with some of the more meandering bits of the plot.
As for the writing, though at times the description amounted to repetitive sensory overload (far, far too much "[insert random taste here] spit" and too many hordes of "pale-faced children of the night"), for the most part it was gorgeous and lush, a real treat in purple prose. Brite is masterful at appealing to all the senses; the scenes in New Orleans were particularly good.
I think that Lost Soul's one real flaw is overenthusiasm, if that's the word for it. Though for the most part the plot moved at an almost exhausting speed, there were several characters and at least one plot line that seemed extraneous, even confusing, because they were introduced early on but never really referred to again till almost the end of the novel. All things considered, the book was long and grueling enough that I'm reluctant to tackle it again too soon- but I know that I'll have to eventually, because Lost Souls is too delicious to pass up a second taste.