A Density of Souls

Rating:
Summary: Decent Debut with a Good Story
Review: This story is interesting and very well worked out, while the author's english and writing skill leaves something to be desired. The publisher most likely relied on Christopher's last name to sell novels (and was write in coounting on it) but there are minor fixes that needed to be made before the story was published. Christopher has proven that he has a remarkable imagination, as his mother has, and can weave a good story. While the ending may be shocking to some, I believe this is what the author was going for, to shock, make the reader think and begin a discussion.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but Horrendous Ending
Review: To be absolutely honest, this was one of the best novels I've seen outlining the hidden hell in which homosexuals are forced to live in this society of ours. Contrary to some of these reviews, I thought the characters were well rounded and complex. I'll give Rice this, you can't predict anything throughout this story. Plot twists abound, and it's done in a (dare I say methodical) way that keeps the reader intwined with the book until the end. An extra plus is that the gay men in this book are not "flamboyant," and that annoying-(to me) femininity is thankfully absent from the main and supporting homosexual characters. Unfortunately there is alot of crap that you are forced to cope with while reading this that simply wasn't necessary for the full impact of this book to be felt. To be precise, there is a horrible mistruth that "seems" to be illustrated by the author that all straight men have a chained up homosexual at their core that is kicking and screaming, trying to get out. My advice: "DON'T buy that; it's as true as the moon being made of cheese." The other nagging problem is that everybody in this book seems to have a substance abuse problem, whether it be alchohol, cigarettes or whatever. C'mon...puh-leeze. But for the positive attributes of the book, it is easy to overlook these little oversights by the author because the story and themes are so intense. But the ending is the true doosey, and that's not the worst part. The worst part is that it was ENTIRELY un-necessary for this story, and it leaves an extremely sick feeling in one's gut for hours afterwards. You know what you would have felt for hours, possibly days afterwards had this un-necessary twist been in the book? Reverence! Unfortunately, the author blows it, and you go away with more of a feeling which can best be described as eating a delicious bag of candy only to get to bottom of the bag to discover a bunch of dead bugs. However, due to the enormity and magnitude by which the rest of the book struck me, I certainly can't withold recommendation by any mile! A Density of Souls is a must for anyone who has ever pondered those lives on the "other side of the fence" or harbors homophobic feelings. It certainly illuminates that at a very fundamental and human level, homosexuals and heterosexuals have a lot more in common than they have in differences. I just wish that that relationship would have been further expanded upon, rather than erroneously presuming that all straight men are actually sexually amorphous.