Wormwood: A Collection of Short Stories
by Poppy Z. Brite
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.96 You Save: $5.03 (63%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Wormwood: A Collection of Short Stories
Book Review: His mouth will taste of wormwood... wow
Summary: 5 Stars
What a book. I stumbled across it accidentally, in its original hard cover form entitled Swamp Foetus. Once I read a few pages of the title story, I was hooked and I simply had to finish. I read the rest of the book in one sitting. The stories are dark and haunting, and sometimes the images are disturbingly graphic and morbid, with ample helpings of grave robbing, rotting flesh, exhumed corpses, etc. Especially good is the title story, about two androgynous goth beauties obsessed with death and always in search of the ultimate thrill. If you have a taste for the macabre and necro-erotic, this collection of stories is for you. The images and characters will stay with you long after you cease reading it.Book Review: A perfect first taste
Summary: 4 Stars
This book was my first exposure to Poppy Z. Brite, and I read it all in one sitting. Sure, some of the stories far outshine some others, but this is almost always the case in a collection such as this. What is so great about this format is you can sample a writer or a genre without a huge investment of money or time. I have gone on to read The Lazarus Heart and her Vampire Erotica Collection, Love in Vein. Poppy's material packs enough punch for the harder horror readers, but she also paints enough atmosphere for the literary side of us. Particularly good in this collection is His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood. But be warned, this collection is not for the faint of heart or stomach.Book Review: not as good as her books, but definantly worth the read
Summary: 4 Stars
Wormwood was a creative collection of Brite's short stories ripe with gore and the heady smell and sweat of the Louisiana bayous. I loved it, but I must admit I did not enjoy it as much as her books. Maybe I just felt abandoned because they were so short and left me wanting more. I loved that there was a story with Steve and Ghost from Lost Souls as the main characters. My faveorite story was The Sixth Sentinnel. Only Brite can create a story about a stripper and a ghost that loves her and make it believable. Some of the stories made me laugh, some made me want to cry, some disturbed me, but as always with Brite, I did not leave the book the same as I was when I found it.Book Review: Vivid stories, but weak endings
Summary: 2 Stars
Poppy is a talented writer - she paints vivid pictures in your mind and makes you feel like you're part of the story. However, I often felt let down with the endings of the stories in this collection. I enjoy a build up to a shocking ending in my horror, but in this collection you often see the ending coming from a mile away. Other times the stories just end, and you wonder why there wasn't a little more meat to the conclusion. I know this may just be a pet peeve of mine, and I don't expect a "Sixth Sense" shock or twist at the end of every story, but I do at least like to read more than just a fade-away tale in the horror genre.Book Review: A second rate collection of horror fragments.
Summary: 2 Stars
The characters in every story are just about the same; dirt poor teenage-young adult southern goth musicians, complete with homosexual lovers and no place to go. Some die, some don't, but who really cares. The couple things I did enjoy out of Wormwood were grizzly death scenes and well established, disturbing settings. A little black humor here and there at least contributed something towards overall enjoyment, but no enough. Variety would have helped out considerably, as would plots. Brite isn't a terrible writer, but dosen't do anything her pal Caitlin R. Kiernan couldn't do a hell of a lot better.