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Summary: The Lazarus Heart A great novel that you can really get in2
Review: ::smiles:: I have just finished "The Crow:The Lazarus Heart" about 15 minutes ago and i wish i hadnt! this book is so good.. this is the first Poppy Z Brite book i ever read.. and it was great.. the unusual mix of the dark settings of new orleans and the surreality of the crow really grips your attention. The main character Jared Poe is so realistic.. this book is really twisted due to all the trannsexuals and homosexuals.. which are very rare components in books these days! Poppy.. if you are reading this i just wanna say.. thank you for making such a good book! and i am gonna read your others!.. the only downfall is that its only about 350 pages.. which is only about 2 days of reading for me.. .::sighs:: well.. everyone out there take my advice and get this book! :)
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Summary: Poppy's 'The Crow: The Lazarus Heart' is her best work yet.
Review: An oneirc and ecstatic rush of images, 'The Crow: The Lazarus Heart' ranks as one of Poppy's most assured and affirming works to date. Melding the finest lyricism of her first, painfully accomplished and lush works - 'Lost Souls' and 'Drawing Blood' with the tight, muscular narrative of 'Exquisite Corpse', 'The Crow: The Lazarus Heart' appropriates James O'Barr's revenant archetype (of cinematic and graphic acclaim) and transposes this into the decadent, sumptuous rot festering in New Orleans and around Lake Pontchartrain. Poppy is so comfortable here, the territory is hers, and the 'Crow' figure (Jared Poe, in Poppy's Novel) seems fabricated for her purposes solely, so perfectly does he complete the mise-en-scene of the liquor washed streets, the drumming, enervating rain and the cynical, soul-hardened populace of police, hustlers and streetpeople. The mounting intensity of the novel - the importunate and pressing necessity for Jared Poe to isolate the individual responsible for his lover's death is metaphorised beautifully with the steadily increasing pressure of the oily, sordid rain and the impending hurricane. An exquisite corpse of a text, a gorgeously rotting cadaver fresh with the trenchantly drawn blood of the lost souls of New Orleans.
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Summary: So much dark promise not fleshed out.
Review: As a fan of both Poppy and The Crow, I was thrilled to see this book was available. But while "The Lazarus Heart" is a quick, rather twisted fun read, it lacks depth. It started out with much dark promise...the fascinating triumverate of Jarred Poe and the twins (no one does more mystifying twins than Poppy) you embrace immediately, even if they are a bit weird. Present are the brilliant metaphors I've come to expect from Poppy from the days of "Swamp Foetus". Present is her sensory touch of "putting you there." This time in New Orleans. But she failed in letting us "know" the characters once we got attached to them. To me the gore overshadowed the character development. And sadly, the treatment of the Crow mythos under her deft hand could have been elaborated on in more detail. It's only because it's Poppy that we come to expect so much. She set the standards for herself with her short stories, "Lost Souls" and "Drawing Blood." No one writes about the goth subculture with such knowledge. I hope that whatever constraints led to the lack in "The Lazarus Heart" (deadlines, publisher's critera?) don't hold her back in her next effort.
Rating:
Summary: So much dark promise not fleshed out.
Review: As a fan of both Poppy and The Crow, I was thrilled to see this book was available. But while "The Lazarus Heart" is a quick, rather twisted fun read, it lacks depth. It started out with much dark promise...the fascinating triumverate of Jarred Poe and the twins (no one does more mystifying twins than Poppy) you embrace immediately, even if they are a bit weird. Present are the brilliant metaphors I've come to expect from Poppy from the days of "Swamp Foetus". Present is her sensory touch of "putting you there." This time in New Orleans. But she failed in letting us "know" the characters once we got attached to them. To me the gore overshadowed the character development. And sadly, the treatment of the Crow mythos under her deft hand could have been elaborated on in more detail. It's only because it's Poppy that we come to expect so much. She set the standards for herself with her short stories, "Lost Souls" and "Drawing Blood." No one writes about the goth subculture with such knowledge. I hope that whatever constraints led to the lack in "The Lazarus Heart" (deadlines, publisher's critera?) don't hold her back in her next effort.
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Summary: Definitely exceeded my expectations!
Review: As a long time fan of Poppy Z. Brite and her alluring, engaging style of writing, I have been disappointed in her last few efforts (and I am not even going to mention the Courtney Love debacle!). Therefore, I was ecstatic to find that this novel, which I ordered with much trepidation, was a step back in the right direction! I only hope that in the future, she will go back and revisit the interesting triangle of Jared Poe and the twins. I really wanted to know what their lives were like prior to the events depicted in "The Lazarus Heart." A fairly satisfying, if quick, read. A great way to pass a rainy afternoon!
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Summary: The Lazarus Heart was good, but didn't keep up with the Crow
Review: Before I read this book I saw the Crow film for the first time and I was amazed. I watched the movie at least ten times before I returned it. So when I saw a copy of a Crow book at the book store near my house I had to pick it up. I read the back, it looked promising, so I bought it. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the Crow in this story was a homosexual! This probably was the biggest dissapointment of this book, but I kept reading it (it was a promise I made to myself) and I eventually grew to liking the book. It was a little slow paced at first, but it kept picking up its pace through out the entire story and by the end, well let's say the end made up for the fact that the Crow was gay (almost).
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Summary: Not the best for Brite or The Crow
Review: Being quite a fan of both Poppy Z. Brite and James O'Barr's series, The Crow; I thought that I had no chance of being disappointed by this book. In past Crow books I have been quite moved by the abilities of authors to expand upon something that was already quite, quite good. In Brite's work, she had shown the ability to breathe life into every word until you truly felt you were living in the novel until you closed the book and started again.But this... *sigh* This was a real disappointment. Brite never seemed to really give a damn about her own characters. The Crow element seemed to only be there for a lark. It seemed like someone threw this big party and no one really showed up. What a pity. This could have really been something.
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Summary: This should have been the movie's sequel!!!!!!
Review: Brite takes the popular Crow legend and turns it into something completely original, poignant, horrifying, and realistic. The characters are well developed, the writing is full of fantasy and poetic gore, and the plot is fast-moving and one of her best! Even if you think the Crow series is played-out, this book will change your mind because the ideas are so new.
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Summary: Enjoyable- Brilliant in a twisted sense.
Review: Brites combination of voodoo witchcraft and psychotic murder sets a vivid scene. The way she twisted the characters made the novel a definite must read. The characters personalities mesh with the dark background of New Orleans in a powerful scene of love and revenge!
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Summary: Forget _The Crow_, this is Poppy Z. Brite territory.
Review: Don't be misled by the title and trademark, _The Crow: The Lazarus Heart_ is a Poppy Z. Brite novel all the way. A tint lighter than _Exquisite Corpse_, Brite's previous (and best) novel, _The Lazarus Heart_ is a story of justice and truth in a world where such things are hard to find. Brite uses _The Crow_ as a template to tell the story of three characters, one an artist specializing in erotic photography, another a serial killer, and the third, and most interesting, a male-to-female transsexual. As their story progresses, Brite leads the reader not only to question his/her own beliefs and prejudices, but those of his/her society. You cannot read _The Lazarus Heart_ without removing the blinders. While this is not new territory for Brite, the underlying message of _The Lazarus Heart_ is. Whereas _Exquisite Corpse_ pushes for caution and understanding, _The Lazarus Heart_ demands rebellion. If you just want neat _The Crow_-like action, you'll get plenty of it. But do take Brite's novel seriously--you may not be able to avoid it.
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