Drawing blood, by Poppy Z. Brite:
I am about two thirds of the way through the book. Half way through I was losing interest, then the relationship between Zach (the hacker on the run) and Trevor (son of the cartoonist who killed his entire family except for Trevor) drew me back into the story. Now I feel like I HAVE to read the rest of the book; before I could have put it down and forgotten about it.
One of the strengths of the story is its quirky and realistic characterization. The people are all so unique and individual, and they act in very realistic ways given the context of the story. The relationship between Zach and Trevor is somehow very satisfying to me. Poppy conveys the feeling that we are all human and the gender of the loved one doesn't matter that much. She gives detailed accounts of their erotic activities, and the effect it has on me is that it's very touching because it is a breakthrough love relationship for both guys and it's also highly sensual and pleasing. The action is very natural.
An example of Poppi's novel characterization is when Zach is trying to win Trevor's confidence, he is thinking in hacker lingo. "Bingo. In with full user privileges," he says to himself when he is successful.
In a trance, Trevor punches Zach and splits his lip. A few minutes later, he is kissing Zach and drinking his blood. Zach thinks, "The second you start making yourself vulnerable to someone, they start drawing blood." Hence the title and overall theme of the book. Blood comes to symbolize life and death. Zach has never before had sex with anyone he has loved, because he's afraid it will give that person too much power. Trevor has never had any kind of a relationship with anyone and feared even being touched. Through their new relationship, they both overcome these phobias.
There is an odd character sketch on Pg. 282 of an old man who happens to witness Zach and Trevor kissing in a coffee shop. Poppy goes into a whole story about how this man, 70 years ago, met a boy he loved and was unable to follow his heart because his father and society did not allow it at the time. I doubt that this character will play a part in the rest of the book. (Although he might.) Even though it was an unrelated bit, I thought it added a nice touch.
The question I'm always asking when I read fiction now is, what can I learn from this book? How does it relate to what I'm writing now?
For one thing, I always thought that in horror you had to get to the scary stuff fairly fast. Poppy doesn't. It's true that the first mass murder happens quickly, but the first supernatural event doesn't occur until Pg. 156 when Trevor finds the original death hammer -- with bits of dried blood and flesh still clinging to it -- in the house where the murders originally took place. Trevor knew that the real hammer would have been taken away as evidence years ago.
After that the house (or the ghost of Trevor's father) makes Zach and Trevor hallucinate decaying bodies, torn and shredded manuscripts. At one point, Trevor thinks he has physically ripped Zach's heart out. But it all turns out to be an illusion.
I had always thought that someone in a horror novel had to be in a life-threatening, really dangerous situation. This book doesn't reflect that. Although Zach is in danger of being picked up by the cops, no one in the story is in imminent danger from the ghost in Trevor's old house. The ghost pulls off some scary effects, but so far no one has been negatively affected and the two guys can leave any time they want. (Trevor wants to stay at the house to figure out why his father let him live.)
Something that directly relates to "Malachai.":
While the bathroom sink is at the same time bleeding and ejaculating, Zach looks at himself in mirror of the bathroom where Trevor's father died and sees that his face is not right. "His nostrils and eye sockets seemed too large, too deep. . . .It was the face of a skull hiding beneath his skin, waiting to be revealed." His face continues to deteriorate, but he eventually finds that it is all an illusion.
This is similar to Jenna looking at herself in the mirror when she is becoming possessed. I think it's more unsettling to have a small detail that is not quite right, than to have all hell breaking loose. These minor points personally resonate with me more than huge special effects deals. I've said this before. But again, how do you make something subtle without having it be too tame and boring?
More about "Malachai," at this point. I'm convinced that it needs to be YA, and it needs to be first person. I've written my next section in first person, and it has so much come to life for me. While I'm revising the other chapters, I'm going to convert them to first person also. It just feels right, and I'm much happier with my progress now.
I am about two thirds of the way through the book. Half way through I was losing interest, then the relationship between Zach (the hacker on the run) and Trevor (son of the cartoonist who killed his entire family except for Trevor) drew me back into the story. Now I feel like I HAVE to read the rest of the book; before I could have put it down and forgotten about it.
One of the strengths of the story is its quirky and realistic characterization. The people are all so unique and individual, and they act in very realistic ways given the context of the story. The relationship between Zach and Trevor is somehow very satisfying to me. Poppy conveys the feeling that we are all human and the gender of the loved one doesn't matter that much. She gives detailed accounts of their erotic activities, and the effect it has on me is that it's very touching because it is a breakthrough love relationship for both guys and it's also highly sensual and pleasing. The action is very natural.
An example of Poppi's novel characterization is when Zach is trying to win Trevor's confidence, he is thinking in hacker lingo. "Bingo. In with full user privileges," he says to himself when he is successful.
In a trance, Trevor punches Zach and splits his lip. A few minutes later, he is kissing Zach and drinking his blood. Zach thinks, "The second you start making yourself vulnerable to someone, they start drawing blood." Hence the title and overall theme of the book. Blood comes to symbolize life and death. Zach has never before had sex with anyone he has loved, because he's afraid it will give that person too much power. Trevor has never had any kind of a relationship with anyone and feared even being touched. Through their new relationship, they both overcome these phobias.
There is an odd character sketch on Pg. 282 of an old man who happens to witness Zach and Trevor kissing in a coffee shop. Poppy goes into a whole story about how this man, 70 years ago, met a boy he loved and was unable to follow his heart because his father and society did not allow it at the time. I doubt that this character will play a part in the rest of the book. (Although he might.) Even though it was an unrelated bit, I thought it added a nice touch.
The question I'm always asking when I read fiction now is, what can I learn from this book? How does it relate to what I'm writing now?
For one thing, I always thought that in horror you had to get to the scary stuff fairly fast. Poppy doesn't. It's true that the first mass murder happens quickly, but the first supernatural event doesn't occur until Pg. 156 when Trevor finds the original death hammer -- with bits of dried blood and flesh still clinging to it -- in the house where the murders originally took place. Trevor knew that the real hammer would have been taken away as evidence years ago.
After that the house (or the ghost of Trevor's father) makes Zach and Trevor hallucinate decaying bodies, torn and shredded manuscripts. At one point, Trevor thinks he has physically ripped Zach's heart out. But it all turns out to be an illusion.
I had always thought that someone in a horror novel had to be in a life-threatening, really dangerous situation. This book doesn't reflect that. Although Zach is in danger of being picked up by the cops, no one in the story is in imminent danger from the ghost in Trevor's old house. The ghost pulls off some scary effects, but so far no one has been negatively affected and the two guys can leave any time they want. (Trevor wants to stay at the house to figure out why his father let him live.)
Something that directly relates to "Malachai.":
While the bathroom sink is at the same time bleeding and ejaculating, Zach looks at himself in mirror of the bathroom where Trevor's father died and sees that his face is not right. "His nostrils and eye sockets seemed too large, too deep. . . .It was the face of a skull hiding beneath his skin, waiting to be revealed." His face continues to deteriorate, but he eventually finds that it is all an illusion.
This is similar to Jenna looking at herself in the mirror when she is becoming possessed. I think it's more unsettling to have a small detail that is not quite right, than to have all hell breaking loose. These minor points personally resonate with me more than huge special effects deals. I've said this before. But again, how do you make something subtle without having it be too tame and boring?
More about "Malachai," at this point. I'm convinced that it needs to be YA, and it needs to be first person. I've written my next section in first person, and it has so much come to life for me. While I'm revising the other chapters, I'm going to convert them to first person also. It just feels right, and I'm much happier with my progress now.
posted by Sally Bosco at
4:11 PM
