Lost Souls

Oh, Lost Souls. What can I say about you?I loved this book when I was in high school. I remembered it as being voluptuous, edgy, sexy and good-trashy. I remembered thinking Poppy Z. Brite “got it”, being impressed that there was an author who could write about goths, who clearly understood. And I remember being enthralled by her descriptions of New Orleans.Reading it now, I couldn't cringe harder for my teenage self. And I don't think I ever get to make fun of the Twilight series again.Trashy? Yes. Good? Not so much.About three-quarters of the way through the book, I tried to figure out whether I was rooting for the fucked-up Hero With A Heart Of Gold who had drunkenly raped his girlfriend (who he genuinely loved, though), or the ridiculously beautiful vampire who had bewitched the same girl and fucked her on a whim, then discarded her (leaving her pregnant with his horrible vampire baby, basically a death sentence).Then I gave up trying to decide whose side I was on.And that's not even getting into the incest. And the fact that every girl in the story gets enthralled and knocked up with a vampire baby -- that will either KILL HER HORRIBLY in being born, or kill her in being aborted.I got excited when a vampire woman showed up in the story -- though she was only being talked about as part of someone's history, not an actual character -- but then it turned out that, despite abstaining from PIV sex with her lovers because she was too afraid of ending up preggo with a killer vampire fetus (which, to be fair, SUPER HORRIFYING) -- she GOT RAPED BY ONE OF HER INTENDED VICTIMS, some teenage mortal, apparently because she had been drinking(???), and then died I guess trying to give herself an abortion(?).So yeah, that's nice.I mean basically, this book is all teenage angst and ZOMG SUPER SHOCKING THINGS and “drinking Chartreuse all the time and wearing lots of eyeliner is super glamorous” and descriptions of sexual acts that seemed thrillingly deviant when I was a teenager and now just read as kind of gross (like, do we really need to keep talking about spit?).But the book meant a lot to me at the time, and the characters have stuck with me somehow, even after all these years. Especially Ghost. So you get two stars, Lost Souls, even though you don't really deserve them.And my poor, tattered copy of this book, the cover held on with electrical tape, is getting consigned to Goodwill, lest I make the mistake of trying to read it as an adult again. Maybe some other teenage lost soul will pick it up instead of Twilight.(Side note: it's interesting to me that I can still read, and enjoy, [b:Interview With the Vampire 43763 Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1) Anne Rice https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1380631642s/43763.jpg 873132], but not Poppy Z. Brite.)

I can see why this book is so wildly popular with the hopeless youth and goth kids.

There is really not much to say about this book. It isn't something I would really pass out freely to my friends to read since I believe most of us are past this stage. I don't even think most high school kids would readily identify with any of the characters. Everything seems too.. fantastical?

All-in-all, its an easy read and I would suggest it for anyone who loves “trasy” vampire novels.