Lost Souls

Ms. Brite describes the surroundings and the strange smells of the world so clearly that you could practically feel the things she describes. Her style of writing is unique and exquisite.
I'd bought Lost Souls after reading Drawing Blood and when I knew so well that my Monthly tests were coming, I did the biggest mistake - I opened the book and read the first page. Then, it was all pure torture. I couldn't put the book down for even a minute no matter how much I'd tried to convince myself that my tests were just the following week! So there I was, struggling - half studying and half reading the book. I'd read lots of books by other writers and it was very simple for me to put them down, for usually, studying is more important to me. I finished Lost Souls in one day, for the fact that I didn't get anything I'd studied into my head. I really felt drawn into the book. It felt as if you're IN the story, invinsible, and watching the characters. Some parts even made my eyes brim with tears. Especially Steve's undying love for Ann. Ann just doesn't deserve it, it seems. This book is probably about souls which are struggling to keep themselves sane and at the same time experience the sensualness and perfectness of life. It is a very good book - an excellent masterpiece by Ms. Brite and it ranks five times higher than Drawing Blood. I highly recommend this book.

This book was absolutly amazing, one of the best vampire books I have ever read. This book doesnt have a ton of characters in it, so you dont have to many names to remember. I also love the sexual content between the people in the story. Ghost is a very interesting person, he has a "gift" that proves to be interesting throughout the story. Christian is probably my favorite character though, he very deep, and mysterious. I definatly reccomend this book, as well as anything else that poppy z. brite has written.

Intriguing story, gritty realism, delicious characters. How can one so young write so damned well? My intuition tells me that Poppy Z is herself a lost soul, an androgynous vampire who has been absorbing her characters for centuries. Maybe she has even shocked us with her writing in past lives. Could it be that Edgar Allen Poe is not really dead!
(That's my theory and I'm sticking to it!)

Poppy Z. Brite has written, what I believe, the definitive vampire novel of the last half of the 20th century. I personally think that it is better than Dracula. The way she writes, you feel like you could reach out and touch the characters, like you know them. When I finished reading the book, I felt really bad because I know that I'll never be able to meet the people that she writes about.

A brilliant epic tale of vampiric lore, the most amazing tale of despair and longing, a book full of beautiful prose and totally engrossing characters that you can actually become, that you can understand completely, because they live in you, they do the things you've always been afraid of. Nothing and his angst ridden life of feeling he doesn't belong; Ghost and his affliction/gift of psychic power, and Steve with his wild anger and loyal friendship to Ghost, make for the most interesting characters. But the stars of the novel would have to be the vagabond vampires Zillah, Twig, and Molochai; the androgony, the bloodlust, and the nomadic traveling style they live by, makes this book a refreshing meal to suck up at bedtime, or any other time of day. I would recomend this book to any horror fan. Poppy Z. Brite is the most unique and brilliant writer we have to date. She is my inspiration, and I dream of writing like her.

Opium Poppy Fields

This is a dark vampire story that is rendered beautifully by Ms Brite's wonderful descriptions. The story is sad, erotic and chilling, but even if you are not too interested in vampires or anything of the kind, make sure you read for the author's magical sensibility towards language. This is a book that makes you want to be a writer.

This book is certainly dark, which is usually a good thing, but it did nothing for this book at all. There's a boy named Nothing that has sex with any and all of his friends and does drugs. Also, an abuser character that beats up his woman, a psychic boring character named Ghost, and 3 vampires that aren't very interesting. People do drugs, kill each other, kill their best friends, sleep with their fathers, some people get pregnant, some run away from home...yawn. If this book is supposed to be interesting because it's dark and shocking, I say that isn't enough, there still has to be an entertaining plot. I didn't care who killed who in this book, the characters were all so unlikable and one dimensional. I couldn't finish it. I like dark fantasy and horror, but only if there is a plot. I'm not interested in reading about people's screwed up lives, even if their are vampires involved.

i had never been interested in horror/vampire novels. i'd read interview with a vampire, and wasn't impressed. well, a friend introduced me to poppy z. brite and Lost Souls, and i am sold. the ferocious and bloddy introduction that Nothing makes into the world is graphically illlustrated. the erotic situations and goulish circumstances are painted with talent and skill. excellent book, and i can't wait to read her future endeavors.

Spoiler Alert!
I had heard several rave reviews about this novel so I read it and was disappointed. What you must keep in mind I am 29. I think had I read this book at 14 or so, I would have been enthralled with it.
It borrows liberally from superior works, most notably Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. There was a lot of extraneous expository writing that felt like a waste of time reading, overused adjectives (apparently everyone in Poppy Brite's world has "spidery" hands, smokes clove cigarettes, lives in proximity to kudzu trees). And of course it had the typical "let's kick some vampire ass" ending.
Lost Souls is almost entirely a landscape of young, beautiful, skinny, white males, mostly making out with each other or killing people in graphic detail. It just comes across more as titillation rather than trying to say something about the human condition or go beyond being entertainment in the same vein as rock videos. One reviewer mentioned it as being like fan-fiction, and I got that vibe as well. It also makes the fatal mistake of trying to make vampire rock stars, which is tantamount to trying to run a car on water instead of gas. It's a great idea if it could work, but alas, it never does.
The book also takes "Goth culture," for lack of a better term, a bit too seriously for it's own good. Besides the occasional sarcastic quip from Steve, the book doesn't acknowledge any of the complete absurdity of some of the situations described, the way a good "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" episode would. It is very much written for the serious, Marilyn Manson-listening, dressed-in-black set. It doesn't really try to transcend it's genre, so it's difficult to recommend such a book to anyone who doesn't fall into that category. Even then, I'm sure many self-proclaimed "Goths" would cringe at the thought of reading this.
That said, I will grudgingly give Brite some points for her additions/twists to the vampire myth (Mostly the pregnancy- vampire hybrid ideas - I can only hope they were of her own invention and I'm giving her credit justly) Ghost, I thought was particularly nicely rendered as a character. There were some interesting visual ideas (Christian as a roadside rose stand vendor comes to mind). I managed to make it to the end at least, and take the time to think enough about the book to give it a review, so I think that shows that I have a least a modicum of respect for it.
Bottom line- I wouldn't recommend it to readers older than 20-25, and who aren't already interested in vampire fiction.

something so great! It was intense..a modern day vimpire thing with none of the folklore explanations. the characters had depth and feeling...connection to eachother...pain/angst....It was sensous and fulffiliing. finished it in two days!

a must read...

Also check out Equsite Corpse and Drawing Blood.

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.

This story about sex that just happened to include "vampires" was quite an amazing failure. It was recommended to me on Goodreads, and while I don't regret reading it, I plan on reading nothing else from this author. He/she had some good points in the story (i.e. the friendship between Steve and Ghost, the concert and music descriptions, the character Christian), but overall it was a story about sleeping, ****ing, drinking and doing drugs. That's it.

Oh yeah, vampires are in it as well.

I won't waste much more time on this review other than to tell you DON'T READ IT! You will be wasting your time, as this is not a vampire story. Like Stephanie Meyers' (sp?) Twilight series, it is mere sex fantasies (or perhaps experience) that plague this "vampire story." Had it not included the vampires, it perhaps would have been a good tale. A more honest tale.

Alas, every teen in here does drugs or participates in homosexual or underage sex; it's quite gratuitous. Every teen in this story is bi-sexual, as I guess this is a proper interpretation of society on the author's part? I think? None of the characters are memorable, and the morally-good characters are so damaged it was almost as if they are doomed to develop or learn any morales from their perils. (Heck, even the father character Simon Bransby seemed like a caricature meant to show Brite's hatred of some paternal figure of her past, or from someone's past that she knew.)

I have nothing against some of the sex/drug scenes in this story, but it goes beyond realism and beyond storytelling to a wet dream author Brite managed to jot down in a notepad. The "wet dream" part is quite dead-on for describing this tale as about 60% of the time characters are sleeping or waking up.

Don't read this. I will however recommend Let the Right One In. If you have already read that one, then consider trying a new genre and open your mind.

The book lost souls was an interesting story. I think it still would have been and excellent book regardless of the vampires, but it was still an incredible read. Brite captured the feel of the goth subculture to an incredible extent. The story line was also incredible until the last quarter of the book. It slowly became to esoteric and difficult to be interested. The introduction of several new characters put the main story into a subplot and made the book some what boring towards the end. Even so, it is not to disuade a person to pick up the book and read it.

Lost Soul's is a well written, highly stylised piece of literature. However, it just seems to lack what virtually every other horror novel published these days lacks..........HORROR When will we ever be graced with a book that is truely terrifying. By the looks of things, sadly perhaps never... I dont recall a time when i was actually frightened during "Lost Souls". thats not to say its bad, quite the opposite. I just wish someone will actually come out with something that truely makes me shiver.

This book disturbed me on many levels, but once I began reading it, I couldn't stop. This story is quite high in what my friend and I call "ick factor", so if you're easily grossed out, it's not for you. Aside from all the nonchalant drug use and casual sex, there's a good story here, and Poppy Z. Brite's style is quite different and engaging. I would also reccommend The Voice Of The Blood by Jemiah Jefferson, in addition to this book, as it has a similar feel to it (but I advise against Wounds;the sequel to The Voice Of The Blood. It was so excruciatingly pointless and drawn out it was nearly unbearable).

I really, really loved this book. I honestly fell in love with all of the vampires, but other than them, the book was pretty damn bland. The WORST parts of the book were when Brite started getting into unneccessary details of the lives of characters that were unimportant to the story. Who cares about Arkady and the twins and the dreams that Ghost had, blah blah blah. I honestly have to say that after I cried in the end, I realized that there was nothing much to cry for. The ending was rather... eh... because of all the nonsense Brite brought into the plot. Its sad to say, but I had to skip more than numerous pages of USELESS JUNK before getting to the good part... which wasn't even so great. I HATE THE ENDING!

Poppy Z. Brite is truly one of the greatest writers that has ever been. "Lost Souls?" takes the reader to a whole other realm of the soul. With the help of breathtakingly exquisite characters Nothing and Ghost, your whole outlook on life will be altered. I was actually very sad when this book ended. I took it to school every day, and stayed up till 1:00 am every night/day to read it. It affected me deeply and profoundly, and there are really no words strong enough to describe how much I loved it, and how much I wanted it to be true...

Poppy Z. Brite has made one of the most horrifying creatures in our history to be a romantic, gothic,and beautiful creation. Nothing truly shows the way adolesence is in today's society. The fact that she uses New Orlean's in this book makes it just 10 times better. She has really shown me that we are all lost souls searching for a meaning in this confused place we call life. She has a deeper understanding for the gothic society. Thank you, Ms. Brite for writing such an outstanding masterpiece....it inspired me to start reading again.

This is one of my favorite vampire stories, although it's not for the prudish. EXCELLENT prose. Antiformulaic, with no castle, no faultless ingenues... just beautiful [androgynous] boys, lost girls, Southern charm and supernatural entities that will both scare and intrigue you. Lots of interesting male/male relationships, sexual and otherwise. Definitely a worthwhile read.

Her sentences meander around and really go nowhere. Most of the descriptions are overdone....too much kudzu. Apart from the kid named Nothing, none of these characters were interesting or sympathetic. I put it down after 300 pages.

This book is totally amazing.... it's blunt eroticism and gorgeous descriptions will blow your mind. The story takes the "Bram Stoker" out of the concept of "vampire" and turns it into something the reader can (believe it or not) identify with. It goes by so fast that when you finish it, you can't help wanting more. The characters are fascinating and the story is haunting... anyone who reads this book will never forget it.

The only people who might like this book are young teens who haven't read anything better. The characters are seemingly interesting at first, but as you read further into this book you realise that these characters are pathetic beings and being pathetic might work for other characters in other books they don't work here. There's not much of a plot, which is a blessing because the screwed up characters are enough of a headache without tossing in some overly complicated and overly boring story. Sorry Poppy, but you just seem to be an even more twisted version of Anne Rice (you've obviously drawn a lot of inspiration from her). You'd be better leaving this book alone and picking up something more worthwhile that doesn't include grotesque events just for shock value.

I don't understand why this book was praised over. The characters (especially Nothing, Steve, and Anne) had no sense at all. You can't relate to any of them due their actions of stupidity all through-out the book. The only thing that gave this book substance was the vampires that followed Zillah around and the music that was mentioned. Other than that, how can this be a gothic novel? All it is, is an excuse for some sex fetish that people have and no creative way of expressing it. If you want twisted sex fetishes, read about the gay characters in a clive barker book! At least he's more inventive.

One of my favourite books of all time, and probably my favourite vampire book. As much a story as it is a book of spells, a magic charm to have with you. Original, different, beautiful haunting scary spooky creepy entrancing. Not for the squeamish. If you have a copy, care for it and it will bring you luck.

One of my favourite books of all time, and probably my favourite vampire book. As much a story as it is a book of spells, a magic charm to have with you. Original, different, beautiful haunting scary spooky creepy entrancing. Not for the squeamish. If you have a copy, care for it and it will bring you luck.

Lost Souls is darkly enchanting from the first page to the last. Every character has an individual beauty and charisma which pulls you in to the story further than you'd like to admit, especially the God-like Ghost.Basically, it is a story of vampires, but to me it was much more than that. It is a segment of horror which intrigues rather than repulses the senses and makes you wonder where the line between right and wrong is really drawn in life.

I liked this tale of vampires and "lost souls". My favorite trio is Zillah and his gang of vamps. But let's get real, the reason why I liked this novel was for it's homoeroticism. Poppy Z. Brite is one of my favorite authors. She is not afraid to add that element to her novels and it was a very nice touch to this particular novel. I also recommend Desires Unleashed by D.N. Simmons, another bold author that dares to go where many fear to tread.

This is now my favorite book!The descriptions are fantastic!Youn fell like you are really there!And characters are amazeing too.The friendship and loytality and trust between Ghost and Steve is amazeing!The things they say and do is relastic.This is a MUST READ by those who love Vampire books,and just love books period!

...including my email address! Never before have I read anything so goddamn amazing - I've always liked writing my own stuff, but now I am determined to get something published! And OK, so he wasn't exactly the nicest person (well, vampire) imaginable, but how could they let Zillah die? If you haven't already read it, get a copy of "Exquisite Corpse" - also amazing! And other Poppy fans - please email me!

i absolutely adored this book. from the first page to the last.. the blood.. the sex.. .the dysfunction.. I LOVED IT. the whole concept was entertaining.. and i looked forward to my reading time every day .. when i was in the process of reading LOST SOULS. it's a must read for those who enjoy everything tasty.

a friend of mine recommended Lost Souls. i bought the book and it just sat around and collected dust for a few months. i finally picked it up and couldn't put it down. very few books interest me the way this book did. i felt like i was in missing mile, nc hanging out with ghost and steve. i think everyone should be forced to read this book.

Poppy Z. Brite has ruined me forever. After reading this book I have had a hard time finding another author who satified my craving for horror like she has. You will fall in love with Missing Mile, New Orleans, Steve, Ghost and Nothing. A rich narrative and deeply engrossing character's helped make this book my all time favorite.

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.