Rating: Summary: Amazing Review: This is truly what a contemporary "horror" should be. Excellent characters and an involving story. Kind of like the film "Near Dark", but darker and better. Ironically, this is the least disturbing of Poppy's novels. Read this one first and if you like it, check out her others.
Rating: Summary: This book bites, but in a good way Review: 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.
Rating: Summary: Not too impressed Review: I read this and wasn't too impressed by it . I still prefer Stephen King, Anne Rice and Laurell K Hamilton to this author. I don't know it was as if the author was trying too hard or something , just couldn't keep interested in it.
Rating: Summary: Disappointing. Brite tried too hard. Review: I read Wormwood prior to Lost Souls. I'd heard raves about the both of them, so I was anxious to read. When I thought that Wormwood showed some promise, I eagerly bought Lost Souls. It wasn't _bad_, but it's definitely overrated. Poppy Z. Brite is not the 'Goddess of Goth' that another viewer proclaimed. The whole book was just too over the top with its GAF factor. I think it would appeal more to prepubescent sp00ky kids.
Rating: Summary: WOW! Review: when i was 15 i had found this book on the shelves at my local library. Intrigued by the front cover, i started reading and fell in love with it. The book just seemed to come alive and pull me into it's self. I felt like i was with the characters. It was really cool. after three years of checking out the book every chance i got, i finally went out and bought me a copy. i have recommened it to all of my friends and i am telling you that if you wnat a good book to read then this is the one.
Rating: Summary: Garbage that defies description. Review: I cannot communicate in words how truly horrid I find this novel. That so many people praise it to high heaven makes me feel even worse, obviously they are children that have not read anything of true quality yet.
Rating: Summary: Angels Are Bright Still, Though The Darkest Fell. Review: I love each of the books that I buy, and take particular care of them. It is no small compliment, therefore, to say that I have read Lost Souls so many times that the front cover has fallen off. Thanks to Ms Brite's sensuous, delicious descriptions, I confess that I am in love with Christian, Zillah and Ghost. She reveals a world that few are priviledged to know, yet it appears to be written from experience, and from the heart. I can identify the characters she describes amongst my friends - I have my own particular Christian and Nothing and Laine in real life. The atmosphere, the lifestyle, the passion, the love of the New Orleans Night-life is as real to me as I absorb her words, as the smell of dry-ice smoke, kohl, black lace and dust in every alternative club anywhere. Immerse yourself in her language, surrender to it. You will find yourself reading about things that you barely allowed to enter your deams.
Rating: Summary: Easier than Anne, but just as beautiful Review: I was a little hesitant to try Poppy's book after hearing her writing style described as poetic and lyrical. These words call to mind Anne Rice, who I used to like, but in her later works she just gets too wrapped up in details and descriptions, and in my opinion the plot suffers for it. I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, with "Lost Souls". The writing WAS poetic, with unique analogies and unexpected word associations, but what I really loved were the characters. Her characters are so vivid and complete that you know them better than your own friends by the end of the book...and the names she gives them are so fitting and distinct that there is no confusing them, even in the first chapters. After finishing "Lost Souls" in a disappointingly short time (I couldn't put it down) I am eager to read anything and everything else from Poppy. She is my new favorite author!
Rating: Summary: The Best Review: Poppy Z. Brite is a hardcore, magnificent writer. Lost Souls was the first of her books that I read. I have read it 10 times now and I can only force the courage to loan it to 1 other friend. I even carry it in my purse and take quotes from the book! it is amazing what literature can do to a person and how it can make one feel.
Rating: Summary: Recommended for Teens and Pre-teens Only Review: I've come to the conclusion that when I struggle to finish a novel and find myself rereading parts in order to comprehend the material, that it's less the writing itself that gives me trouble and more the main characters in the story that do so: can I relate to them, do I care about what happens to them, and are they real? In the case of this novel, I most definitely did not have much in common with the homosexual vampires and cookie-cutter goth waifs that the tale revolves around, hence my boredom and inability to grasp what all the fuss is about concerning Lost Souls. It seems like there might be some sort of goth/horror "clique" that revolves around Poppy Brite and Tanith Lee, maybe even John Shirley and Melanie Tem, and when such a thing exists, watch out--the reputation of their writings are apt to far exceed the quality that actually exists. If I had read this novel while in highschool or junior high, I might have had a different outlook, but I doubt it; even at a much younger age, I had the ability to differentiate between a writer who's "telling the truth" and one who's trying to garner scene points from the greater horror/goth/coffeehouse community. Sorry for not being too specific, but there's plenty of that here already--you can read a synopsis of the plot in about 75% of the reviews here, so I thought it'd be kind of refreshing to not spoil the story for someone who hasn't read it yet.
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