Lost Souls

LOST SOULS was Poppy Z. Brite's first novel.Sixteen years later, it is STILL a powerhouse novel.Beginning during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, we are introduced to a few vampires. Christian is our main focus at this time, along with a young girl named Jesse. It isn't long after Jesse wants to `give herself' to a vampire that she is impregnated by another, which is as much of a death sentence as loving one. When a baby is born to one of the other vampires, Christian departs and leaves little `Nothing' on the doorstep of a human family, where he hopes the child will have a normal life.Fast forward, about fifteen years later. Nothing is a teenager now, obsessed with the darkness of certain music and the taste of alcohol and cigarettes. He's like most angst teenagers; obsessed with find SOME sort of way out of his life. He's always known that he wasn't his parents' child, because some deep part of him just KNOWS that. It isn't until he finds a note that says `His name is Nothing' that he decides to run away, toward where his heart is calling him. His heart is calling him to Missing Mile, a place where two young musicians live and play their dark stories.In Missing Mile, we meet Ghost and Steve, who created the band Lost Souls? With the two of them trying to launch their music career in bigger and better ways, they play at a local club called the Sacred Yew until they find something better to do.But one particular night, Ghost has a vision, a vision of two decrepit twins, calling to him from whatever world they exist in. They warn of the darkness that is heading to his life.It isn't long after that the vampires come to Missing Mile.And behind them is Nothing, who yearns to be with more of `his' kind.Poppy Z. Brite's style of storytelling is nothing short of amazing. Her style isn't like most writer's. While we normally see books through some kind of prism that lets us know we're just in a book, her writing engulfs us and draws us into her dark world. As we follow Steve, Ghost's and Nothing's journeys, we're drawn into the dark side of life (and unlife, since vampires aren't really of the living world.)This is another Poppy Z. Brite book that I'll forever cherish. If I were suggesting someone to read Brite, I'd tell them to try LOST SOULS first. It'll set up DRAWING BLOOD, her next book, much, much better. I've found that people either love or hate her work, but thankfully, I'm of the variety that loves her writing and will continue to read whatever she puts out.Five stars for LOST SOULS.

The Vampires in Lost Souls are like none you have ever encountered anywhere else, in any other written form. Zillah and his clan live like wandering gypsy vampires on a quest to do nothing but party, have sex and kill. They're like a dangerous rock band made up of murderers and thieves. A kid named Nothing comes in to the picture, and also later on in the novel, in a big way. He has a crappy home life. His parents don't understand his strange ways, which are to basically live in his own world, read rebellious books, and wear dark clothes. He takes off and winds up a kid on the hard roads, but eventually meets and then hangs out with Zillah and his gang of marauding bloodsuckers. The two most memorable character in this book are, Steve and Ghost. They're the guys you would have hung out with in school, a little wild, but not enough that they're inhuman, absent of a soul. Steve and Ghost are like brothers, and in the course of the book they befriend Nothing, and seeing that the kid is on the path to certain death with Zillah and his pals, try to step in and save the kid from the pack of vicious vampires out on the road. Poppy Z. Brite makes sure to give you and intense ending, and you'll find her prose is creepy and elegant, and that it will take your mind to other worlds, other dark roads shadowed with fears and evils more real than you've read. Lost Souls should be required reading for anyone who likes dark, surreal, intense horror, well written, that reads smooth as silk. And after you get this one in the mail, don't throw it on the pile of books to be read later, get right to it and experience the magic of a well-crafted story.

Firstly, I should say that this book is a great read, especially towards the end of the novel, where it is less aimless and more structured in plot. It was hard for me to put it down and keep from finishing it. The book is aptly named "Lost Souls" because it is a very tragic tale, with all of the main characters and some ancillary ones "lost" to some degree or another.To me, the genius of the novel was the characterization of Nothing, one of the main characters in the story. He's born in tragic circumstances, unloved, and therefore seeking love and acceptance, without a purpose in life, without family, and very amoral. He's one of the tragically lost characters of the novel, and, as Ghost does, who is another character of the novel, you can't but to feel sorry for Nothing, to have empathy with him.But all of the characters, as I've mentioned, are lost in some way: Ann (tragically bounced about as an object of lust and love), Steve (unable to find himself in life), Ghost (unable to fit in due to his "gift"), Nothing, whom I've mentioned in detail, and even the vampires themselves. Christian, one of the vampires, is, like the humans in the story, lost and alone - which is probably why he has such a connection with Nothing. The other vampires who follow Zillah, the leader, are lost too, aimlessly living a life of blood, sensuality, and hedonism.There is a new take on the vampire mythology in this book, which I found to be very, very interesting. There are different types of vampires described in the novel, each with their own characteristics. It makes it a very unique read.The style of writing is very vivid, very descriptive, and simply quite beautiful to read - except for the lame comparison of semen to altars. It's just weird, to me. Yeah, I can see a spiritual connection of sorts, but not in the way it's expressed in the words of the author.The only reason I didn't give this a five out of five review is the amoral, sexual imagery that is depicted in the novel. It reminds me of the latter novels by Anne Rice. Like her novels, there is this complete focus (99.9 %) on male homosexuality - no, or little, lesbianism, which I find ironic coming from women writers. Every man is gay or bisexual. It's like revisionist history applied to human sexuality. It's pure fantasy, just like vampires, and completely unrealistic. Not every man is gay or bisexual. It's unrealistic and annoying to read. It's a dream, wishful thinking, nothing more. The sexual imagery is degenerate and amoral. What else can you say about sex between men and boys and incest? Is this normal now? The other thing that detracts from the novel regarding the sexual imagery is how it follows, as does Anne Rice, a formula for a modern day vampire character: the must be male and, invariably, gay, or at least bisexual, and completely amoral. They've reduced characterization to a stereotype, a caricature. The sexual imagery is portrayed not in a tragic light, but as "normal." All sexuality in novels like this is so extremely overt, in your face like a car crash. Nothing is left to the imagination. There is no subtlety. It's about as sensual as porn or a street walker.I would describe this novel as something like neo-Gothic. Like Gothic novels, it has the grotesque (vampires, extreme sexuality, etc.), loss (Nothing's youth and innocence, Steve's love loss, etc.), death and murder, madness (the vampires, especially Zillah), vengeance (Steve's vengeance on the vampires), hedonism, and other dark imagery. It's definitely worth reading if you can get past the extreme, albeit unrealistic, images of male sexuality and incest.

Preciosa obra de terror gótico que me recuerda mucho a las obras de Rice.

Frente a la calidad de Poppy Z. Brite y la originalidad de sus ideas, ni Anne Rice ni la autora de Crepúsculo (no recuerdo su nombre) tienen nada que hacer. Esta novela es increíble, la leí hace veinte años en español (terrible traducción, por cierto) y en inglés es mucho mejor. No les quiero arruinar la experiencia, pero si saben un poco de inglés, deberían leerla, aunque tengan que usar un diccionario (les recomiendo Urban Dictionary, pues encontrarán mucho slang DeepL. Si ustedes creen que los libros de Lestat son interesantes, cuando lean a Poppy se darán cuenta de que Lestat es un mero libro para adolescentes, Lost Souls es la cosa real.

Wer eine trashige altbackene Vampirgeschichte erwartet, hat eine Niete gezogen. Dieser Roman ist anders. Verwegen, nicht nur gut und böse, nicht nur schwarz und weiß. Die meistens Protas sind bisexuell, und die Autorin beschreibt die bisexuellen Jungs, wie deutsche AutorInnen es einfach nicht hinkriegen, egal, wie oft sie es versuchen: einfach echt. Realistisch. Sie taucht in die Seelen der Jungs ein. Wenn zum Beispiel einer dieser Jungs Kondome nicht mag, außer mal zum Wi..en, dann ist das einfach realistischer als in den Gay Geschichtchen der deutschen Autorinnen, wo Kondome scheinbar immer das größte Glück auf Erden sind.

J'ai pu lire la version VF avant celle ci, et bien je préfère la version VO. On y retrouve la qualité d'écriture de Poppy Z Brite.Attention âme sensible ne pas lire, contient y quelques scènes assez trash.

Me encanta la manera de escribir de este escritor. Sus vampiros me encantan. Buena historia, nunca pierde el ritmo.