Customer Reviews

Are You Loathsome Tonight?: A Collection of Short Stories

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've been waiting for the soft cover edition forever and after buying it i finally sat down and devoured the contents spellbound, Even though every novel of Miss. Brite is a masterpiece, her true strenth lays in the form she cut her teeth on. The short story. Every story is a beautifull gem,a self contained work that i find different, more literate, more culturaly aware than every other dark fantasy/horror writer out there, The storys here are newer than the ones in her other collection (wormwood, most of it's storys written in the 80's) so these reflect her newer interests along with her old (voodoo,serial killers, asian culture,gothic/deather trappings, the american south)all told in a poetic, purple, lirical voice, buy imediatly!

"Are You Loathsome Tonight?" is a little pricey for such a small volume (185 pages) but as a big fan of Poppy Z. Brite's work I felt it was worth splurging on. Why? Because I got a quickie update on two of my favorite lovers, Trevor and Zach from "Drawing Blood" who, as she puts it, are still in "happy, disgusting, perfect love" - that short story alone was worth the cost of the book for me. Other highlights were "King of the Cats" a sweet, kinky, imaginative retelling of the fairytale "The Poor Miller's Apprentice and the Cat", "Self-Made Man" is another favorite because I can't seem to resist a good graphic zombie/cannibalistic tale, and "Saved" was another stand-out that is both violently erotic and terribly sad. If you've never read Poppy Z. Brite you might want to start out with "Drawing Blood" or "Lost Souls" before you delve into this collection.

I finally picked up Poppy Z. Brite's latest short story collection. The book cover looks so cheap it is a blasphemy to the literary gold that's inside. These stories mark a new direction for Poppy Z. Brite, with her exploring historical fiction and including people such as Elvis. Some of the stories are so short that you wonder, "Is that it?" But there are still some good points. "Vine of the Soul" features an update on Trevor and Zach from DRAWING BLOOD, and "America" is a ditty about Poppy's favorite characters, Steve and Ghost from LOST SOULS. I have to say that my favorite was "Monday's Special," in which Poppy Z. Brite has become a coroner who specializes in weird corpses. "Self Made Man" is also a standout, a horrific tale about a serial killer a la Jeffrey Dahmer whose victims' bodies come to life and eat him. We get such terrifying images of a corpse arising from a bathtub and a severed head rolling around in a refrigerator. "Entertaining Mr. Orton" is very high caliber, if a tad bit all over the place. "King of the Cats" is wonderfully offbeat and has a Grimm's Fairy Tale feel to it. There is one horrible story, and it is "Are You Loathesome Tonight." Elvis does not belong in the nightmarish landscape of Poppy Z. Brite, I'm sorry.

"Are You Loathesome Tonight" is okay, but as a hardcore Poppy Z. Brite fan, I pray every night that she will write another novel.

Are You Loathsome Tonight is another verdant collection of raw and oozing tales with the ever present scent of eroticism. For this collection we get a greater variety of tales from Brite's mind. I especially liked the introductions to each tale which gives better insight into Brite's writing career. Great characterization, well written plots - a good companion to Wormwood.

Having read Liquor, I wanted to read more of Poppy Z. Brite's work. Are You Loathsome Tonight? is quite a surprise. I hadn't expected this sort of writing from Ms. Brite, but I'd been told that this work is right on her alley and that she had branched out of the gothic genre with Liquor. These short stories are a mixture of gothic, paranormal and magic realism with some adult fairy tale elements thrown in for good measure. The writing is incredible -- dark, disarming and creative. My favorite stories are "Vine of the Soul," which from what I've read is the update of a previous story, "Monday's Special," "Self-Made Man," and "King of the Cats." I marvel at how marvelously written these stories are. I have placed Poppy Z. Brite in my "must-read" list. She is a very talented, gifted writer. I cannot recommend this short-story collection enough...

Are You Loathsome Tonight? Is a remarkable collection of twelve short stories by the Queen of the Macabre Poppy Z. Brite.

In Vermis Veritas paints with all the tasty details the world seen through the eyes of maggots. Arise tells the story of a rocker that who gets help for his come-back from a long forgotten friend. Saved (written together with Christa Faust) is showing the readers the danger of weapons used in bed. King of the Cats (written together with David Ferguson) is a fairy-tale about the love a simple miller's apprentice and the ruler of the Kingdom of Cats. In Self-Made Man a serial killer searches for true love that will never leave. In Pin Money an old debt is settled by the dead. America is a snapshot of a conversation between traveling lovers. Entertaining Mr. Orton shows us the reason why possessed guys are better in bed. In Monday's Special Poppy explains what would have happened if she never started to write. Vine of the Soul starts on the eve of the new millennium, the ideal time for new kicks. Mussolini and the Axeman's Jazz is an historical fantasy about the beginning of World War II. Are You Loathsome Tonight? is the perfect illustration of the downfall of a super-star.

Every story of this collection breathes the true spirit of the Gothic genre of which Poppy is a true emissary. Sometimes the reader becomes engulfed by gruesome and detailed descriptions of the most inhuman acts, whereas at the same time the romance seeps slowly through the pages. It is clear that I would not recommend this collection to the faint-hearted, but lovers of Exquisite Corpse will devour this book with an unhealthy, but nevertheless satisfying, voraciousness!

In twelve stories, Brite explores the darkest recesses of the human id, its erotic and violent drives, its deepest motivations. Reading Brite is often like reading fanfiction in the best, and most essential, sense: her writing is so id-motivated that it's the purest sort of wish-fulfillment--not despite, but rather because of, its lingering and loving gruesome detail. It's about death and drugs and feces; it's about what those conjure and where they originate, for characters but more often for reader and writer. Are You Loathsome Tonight? is that in a condensed form, with bonus cameos from characters in Brite's novels, and so it literally reads as Brite fanfic--of, for, and by the author. This sort of distilled, grotesque indulgence will suit few tastes; nor is it Brite's best. The collection becomes almost masturbatory, which suits its theme but is nonetheless excessive. Some stories are obviously driven by premise or a certain literary experiment, and the effect is too transparent--they'd be better suited to the themed anthologies that prompted them, or to a workbook.

But no matter its flaws, Loathsome never fails to be engaging--and for the right sort of reader, its willingness to push and destroy every boundary can make it a success. "In Vermis Veritas" is brief but brilliantly on point, the consummate opener; "Saved" is my favorite story of the collection, surpassing all others with its grasp of theme and proclivity towards excess. In such a short and compelling volume, the standout selections make the whole work well worthwhile. As a Brite fan, I feel privileged to have stumbled upon this collection; I imagine that other fans may also enjoy this distillaition, albeit exaggeration, of Brite's work. New readers will get a strong taste of Brite from Loathsome, but her novels may be a better starting place on account of their sustain, refinement, and accessibility. On the whole, however, I enjoyed and recommend it.

I really enjoyed this as a HUGE fan of Brite. I didn't want it to ever end! I don't think I've ever read anything involving Miss Brite that I didn't like. =)

I liked some of the stories in this book but not all. There was probably only 1 or 2 stories I didn't care for but all in all I really liked it. I would still reccomend people to read this; it's a great book.

Fantastic book, some of the stories are a little lackluster but the majority of them are fantastic, "Arise", "Saved" and "Vine of the Soul" in particular. Also has a great short story featuring Trevor and Zach from Drawing Blood, and a very short one with Steve and Ghost.