Poppy Z. Brite

Skimmed after about the 50% mark. Written with beautiful prose (if not a bit self-indulgent), and I thought the vampire lore had originality. I also appreciate how unapologetically gay the characters are, and the openness about gender expression for a book released 31 years ago — especially compared to its contemporaries by Anne Rice.

Despite that, this book is full of VERY triggering, nasty moments and very dated commentary on sexual assault. I know — it's a horror novel, but a lot of the grossest moments feel like they're there because... they can be? Like, do we need that much detail when Jessy's father r@pes her? What am I gaining from that even IF it's a horror novel? With horror like this I ask myself what I'm gaining by reading: it doesn't have to be a deep message but at least enjoyment or entertainment, and I didn't feel like I was getting any of that out of this.… (more)

This is very deeply grungy '90s horror, which despite the lavishly (lovingly, one might say) described . . . everything - horror, blood, injury, drugs (so, so many drugs), abuse, rape, nightmares, murder, and so on - within its pages . . . nothing of that feels terribly present. At least for me, most of it was at most disturbing of the cringe and blegh stripe if anything, not the kind of horror that makes an impression or lingers.

I've seen a number of people say they might have liked this book if they'd read it as a teenager, or similar; someone else commented that 30 is too old to start reading Poppy Brite. I'm in my 30s and I can fairly confidently say that I wouldn't have enjoyed this as a teenager either . . . and the heavy content might have been enough to screw with my head more than it did reading it now.… (more)