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Summary: Review on A Density of Souls
Review: This is an awesome book...okay okay, the guy is young and his writing shows it...but for a first book and with a mother like his, he shows lots of promise. Book hit very close to home! Many of these situations occurred almost exactly in my hometown!!
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Summary: Wow! Could not put this book down.
Review: This was a great read. I picked it up and read it from cover to cover. Great charachters, plot & descriptions. Rice includes great detail and descriptions that are dead on.
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Summary: Edge of Seat Fiction
Review: This novel was wondrous, I could not put it down and finished reading it completely in 2 days. Rice has a knack for portraying disturbing scenes in such a nonchalant narrative fashion that it becomes even more disturbing to read. It drove me absolutely insane with his perfect timing in words and in the characters' speech. It deals very intricately with the horrors of homophobia and a foursome friendship that goes horribly wrong with the onset of puberty, it is not for the weak-kneed.I give it four stars and not five, because I disliked how one-dimensional Rice would have to portray the characters at times just so as to push the story forward, before finally developing them again. However, this is not too much of a pain, because it allows for a clever distinction between characters that allows for an easier, smoother finish. The ending is particularly inspired, and I was sitting in my bed, marvelling at the ambiguity of his ending, and I was wondering if I had indeed landed the spacecraft. For it was one of the best rides of my life.
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Summary: Pass the asprin.
Review: God, this book is a mess. This is not art. It is, indeed, just typing.
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Summary: Simply the second best book I have ever read
Review: For a debut, Christopher Rice really out did himself, putting his mother to shame, well except for Cry to Heaven. Anyway, I thought the story was erotic, thrilling, and mysterious. I read it entirely in one sitting; I absolutely could not put it down. I have actually read it several times, and still find it difficult to part with. Every time I read this book I fall in love over again.
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Summary: Oh Brother!
Review: It took me a while to get around to this one, but I was really looking forward to it. Everything I saw or heard was pretty positive and it sounded like a good story to get lost in. Well, I would be lieing if I said that it did not have SOME entertainment value - but this book is so over the top (and not in the good, fun way). I have to admit that by the last third of the novel I was frequently rolling my eyes. All I could think of was the the folly of the Moldavian massacre on Dynasty! Too much! Perhaps it is a maturity thing, but here's hoping Rice can do better.
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Summary: what this book will say to teens like us
Review: Dark, depressed, gothic, bleak, mysterious. I would make every teen I know read this. Christopher Rice speaks so loudly to my generation and although I bet he'll admit he's not one to accept any peer leadership status, he should at least be proud that for all teens like me and like everyone else who have gone through a suburbia life (or one like it) he's the first to depict the raw, hungry, and mostly unspoken truths of teens in the '90s and 2000s. But before the grandiose herald--what about this novel? After reading I was left completely naked in lingering thought, recollection, and awe mixed with puzzlement. I could not believe this story was not real. Does any novel tell the 9/11 of the GLBT community? Before I even wanted to halt approaching the end of a chapter, the story churned and smashed another protective layering illiciting one to keep going. The light and darkness duality is my favorite theme and I love how Rice explored this with seemingly transparent youth. You watch as the story sinks deeper and deeper into some psychological whirlpool and you'd think, "Can this work with naive teenagers?" And when you reach the end, you might glimpse into the novel's purpose but you are still left so desperately hungry for more. For me, because I like to see what I have witnessed myself. Back to kudos. The story spans the late 90's and I can feel what Christopher Rice probably went through which carried into my generation (I graduated high school in 2002). Rice carries an unspoken truth about how we are and perhaps, if not in the exhilirating dramatic and emotional turbulence of A Density Souls, of course most of my friends live a rollercoaster, how we should be. In this, the story carries a plethora of elements which teens will recognize in all suburbia towns--the ones they hope never to remember--the ones adults have yet to even acknowledge or grasp.
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Summary: Absolutely Yes! But...
Review: Anyone who has seen Star Search knows what I mean by the Barry Manilow syndrome. It's the song that starts out quietly, but somewhere it the middle it suddenly switches to a louder, faster song. For a song, it's exciting and fun; but only in songs. You can see the syndrome in movies that start out character-driven, then suddenly turn into action-adventure movies. And, unfortunately, you can read it in this otherwise spectacular novel by Christopher Rice. I actually read "The Snow Garden" first. It is an excellent novel, very rich in character, but it suddenly went Barry Manilow towards the end... I don't want to spoil the novel for anyone, but you'll recognize when it goes over the top. It didn't spoil my overall enthusiasm for the book, however; I immediately ordered "Density of Souls." "Density of Souls" was impossible to put down. I read it in the tub, at the gym, watching TV, in bed... hell, I even snuck a peek at a sentence or two at a stoplight. At about 2/3 through the book, though, you would have heard me groan with despair. It looked like we were headed over the top again. Christopher pulled back a bit just in time, but was still all a bit much. So I ask, "Why go there?" Why turn the book into something it wasn't, when up to that point it was riveting? I know it's easy to criticize, and I certainly can't pretend to know exactly why he goes there, but I think it probably comes from either a) not being totally secure as a writer, or b) being influenced by publishers who want something in the same... uh... "vein" as his mother. In writing, as in life, endings are hard. But if Christopher just trusts himself to let it all be about the character rather than finishing it up with an action-adventure, his books will become even greater than what they are now. And make no mistake, you will NOT be able to put this book down.
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Summary: wonderful, tearjeaker
Review: I got the book at 3:30 in the afternoon and finished at 6:30 in the moring the next day. "Density of Souls" it keeps you reading even though your crying through most of it. I was like, 'Finally someone shows what normally goes on inside a high school'. The book showed New Orleans beauty. It was just a wonderful book.
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Summary: All Right ! Another Rice to Read!
Review: When I find an author (or two or three or four) I adore, I get stuck in my ways and reluctanly seek out new authors. Being a devoted fan of Anne Rice, I decided to give her son a chance. I picked up his book and 24 hours later finally put it down...finished! Talent has been known to run in families. However, Christopher could possibly surpass his mother - and he still has a lifetime to go. The talent, ability, and depth with which Christopher writes is astonishing, eloquent, and heart-wrenching. I found myself feeling the characters joy, pain, sorrow, and passions! While this book may be a difficult read for some, it is one worth reading. I could identify with all the characters in the book. As as with his mothers erotica style, Christopher does not ignore his heritage. It is a worthwile tear-jerker!
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