Tue 13 Oct 2009
Dark drops
Posted by Charlotte under Musings, Out of this world
[8] Comments
Doing my blog tour today, so many books appealed that I started scribbling down titles on a piece of paper. I wasn’t really thinking while doing so, but when I reviewed the list later, I was amused to see within a few lines of each other Black Milk (a Turkish novel from Elif Shafah, on women’s relations to creativity, located in one of my favorite cities in the world – Istanbul), Black Juice (from Margo Lanagan, a writer I’ve been meaning to discover) and the anthology Black Water (an 1984 collection of supernatural stories Audrey Niffeneger mentioned in her recent Goodreads interview).
All these dark liquids somehow reminded me that I didn’t review Poppy Z. Brite’s Lost Souls — a vampire book I read under the pretense of the R.I.P. Challenge. To tell the truth I haven’t much to say about it. It is the story of a young vampire searching for his family; he will have to choose between kindred creative/ tortured souls and his blood kin – vampires lost in blood and sex lust.
I’m not a prudish reader, but the abundance of incest/ pedophilia was a little ridiculous and just killed any eroticism. I wasn’t shocked so much as bored – the worst thing that can happen to a story. The problem was compounded by the fact that the two characters I was most interested in (Ghost, a “sensitive”, and Christian, an old vampire) did not gain the depth I was hoping for. I really wanted to get to know them, and was really curious how their stories would intertwine. I also wanted to see a female character that wasn’t a thinly veiled plot device… In the end however, I didn’t get any of my wishes. So while not exactly bad (after all, I wanted something to happen, so I had some interest), the novel just didn’t feel substantial. I have a feeling I’ll forget it entirely pretty soon.
I saw something recently about Lait Noir and am very interested – especially as it focuses on the author’s experience as a new mother.
Oh, but from what I read I’m not sure that it’s a very positive vision of recent motherhood! If you read it anyway I hope you’ll write a post, though, I’d love to have your opinion.
And although not a black liquid, don’t forget this month’s selection for Slaves of Golconda, Woman in Black by Susan Hill. I still haven’t gotten around to ordering it, but I’d better hurry and do that. I do what you do. As I blog-cruise, I write down the names of books in a little notebook I keep with me, which is the reason I have so many books on my night stand, I have to put the alarm clock on the desk.
Hi Grad! I don’t think I’m quite ready for the Slaves yet, but I’m looking at it with interest, for sure.
I also have a ton of books sitting around, though this new house has large built-in bookshelves that would make it possible to keep everything in order: I think I just like having books around in every room.
I’m pretty sure you have to be a teenager to fully appreciate “Lost Souls”. I read it when I was about 15 and it made a lasting impression on me with its heady mix of sex-blood-sugar-magick. It’s without a doubt one of the defining books of my crazy, lonely, sex-obsessed, dark adolescence. This book was, really, my dreams and fantasies put on paper, as silly as it may sound. I haven’t read it for years though and I suspect that I wouldn’t like it as much now.
I’m pretty sure you are right about needing to be a teen for this one — I somehow never found “dark” literature as a teen, or I am pretty sure I would have been pretty gothy instead of being just the brooding bookish type. I actually regret that!
Have you read more recent work from Poppy Z. Brite? For a first novel it shows really strong promises, so I am curious to see how she has evolved, especially as she seems to have let her audience grow with her.
Isn’t it funny how our teenage reads shape us? I’ve never been hardcore goth (something to do with a hatred of uniformity – being in a room full of people in black clothes makes me want to wear pink and yellow – and liking other kinds of music too) but I certainly hovered around that subculture because of books.
Let’s see… I’ve read Brite’s shortstories, novels “Exquisite Corpse” (about serial killers, much in the same style as “Lost Souls”), “The Heart of Lazarus” (part of the series of books by different authors set in the world of “The Crow” – I have a certain fondness for this one) and also “Liquor” in which she leaves the horror/fantasy genre for something more general-literature-with-a-hint-of-thriller. It’s about a gay couple opening an alcohol-themed restaurant in New Orleans. Unfortunately I don’t remember much about it because I was still in my “want more vampire novels!” phase at the time, so was slightly disappointed. I might have to give it another try someday.
Anyway, I do agree with you that the lack of female characters gets annoying: it’s the same in all her books. I hate to say that because I don’t think a writer should shoehorn a certain type of character to please his readership or whatever (like the token black character in many movies…) but I can’t help feeling that way.
Well, I’m not so much annoyed by the lack of female characters as by their shallowness – there were a couple girls, because their presence was necessary as procreation vessels, and that was it. Both girls, by the way, lived alone with their father, and seemed to have serious Daddy issues. To me that’s pretty disturbing, as if the token black guy’s role in your example was limited to munching on fried chicken and playing basketball (and, I guess, lived with his adoptive white family!)
OK, now I’m not being serious.