10. Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite

Brite, Poppy Z. Lost Souls. New York: Dell, 1992.

Ok. I'll admit it. I had never heard of Poppy Z. Brite until Ryan said I might like her writing. He's never read any of her books and isn't terribly sure about what she writes other than 'she writes vampire novels.' He was basing his recommendation on A) knowing that I like to read vampire novels [of the romance variety] as mind candy and B) many people who also have my shameful taste in mind candy also seem to like her books.

*ok, deep breath*


Positives:

• Brite's writing style is highly polished
• the characters are well described
• the pacing supurb
• the narrative is layered and the multiple layers work well together
• a non conventional interpretation of vampires
  

Negatives:

• apparently vampires are all gay, although there's some form of reasoning behind it
• explicit drug use and sex scenes (which I wouldn't mind but it felt like shock value)

It's possible that I'm not being fair. It's possible that I would revise my opinion on some of the explicit content if I read more of Brite's books. Lost Souls was remarkably well written and I definitely enjoyed it. I just worry about escalation.