Reading Under the Covers

Review: A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice

2012-02-28T19:56:00.003-08:00

“During his first morning at Cannon, Stephen’s only companion was the collective din of whispers, snickers and openly disdainful glares he received as he passed.”-A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice

Today I want to tell you about a wonderful new author, and by new, I mean I just discovered him even though he’s been writing for ten years. The author is Christopher Rice, son of brilliant vampire writer Anne Rice, and poet Stan Rice. I chose to read A Density of Souls because of who Christopher’s mom is, and since the word “Rice” takes up about a quarter of the cover, I assume many other people picked up the book for that same reason. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered Rice’s debut novel to be a rather gripping read.

Rice wrote “Souls” in his early twenties after visiting his mother in New Orleans following her first near-death experience. Christopher had been studying theatre, but decided to take up writing as his preferred art form. A decade later, Rice is working on his sixth novel and will soon co-host “The Dinner Party” with Eric Shaw Quinn on XM radio. He’s also a finalist in Out magazine’s list of most eligible bachelors.

From the start, Rice has been labeled as a gay writer who writes gay novels. For me, he is a writer who writes novels; he also happens to be gay. However, themes of homosexuality, isolation, bullying, and eventual acceptance reoccur throughout his work.

“Souls” opens with four teenagers growing up in 1990s New Orleans. Rice shares his mother’s love of the city and beautifully recreates New Orleans on paper the way only a native can. The novel’s main charter, Stephen, is coming to terms with being gay as well as the fact that his friends Greg, Brandon, and Meredith have disowned him during that soul-sucking transition from middle school to high school. Stephen spends much of high school living as an outcast, a theme reminiscent of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. Regardless of your sexual orientation, Stephen’s struggle to find his way during adolescence is a dreadful thing that we can all empathize with.

Greg, Brandon, and Meredith go through their own dramas and part one of the novel ends with a stunningly horrific death that changes the course of their lives as well as Stephen’s, bringing the friends together once again, but on very different terms than before.

Part two of “Souls” fast forwards to the friends’ college years, during which Stephen embraces his homosexuality despite anonymous threats towards New Orleans’ gay community. In the meantime, Meredith’s self-destructive behavior reaches fever pitch, and the adult characters of the novel strike up unique and engaging relationships (perhaps more so than the younger characters).

The climax of “Souls” is pleasantly unpredictable and the book is tied up in a tight package making for a strong stand alone novel. Rice admits that he’s not much of a series writer, and since so many bad things happen to his characters, he feels they should be left alone after one book.

Although a bit naive and histrionic at times, A Density of Souls proves to be a refreshingly strong start for a young writer. There was certainly more substance than I ever expected and it’s clear that Rice inherited a good deal of his parents’ talent.

I Am-Half Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

2012-01-17T17:44:00.000-08:00

"I had half a mind to march upstairs to my laboratory, fetch down a jar of cyanide, seize the boob’s nose, tilt his head back, pour the stuff down his throat, and hang the consequences. Fortunately, good breeding kept me from doing so."-Flavia de Luce

I’m late. I know, I know. I was supposed to do my Christmastime book review BEFORE Christmas, but I got sidetracked trying not to lose my mind before the holidays as I’m sure many of you were. Well, I’m writing my review now. Who cares if it is mid-January? It’s the thought that counts...right?

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows is a book that can be enjoyed regardless of the season, although it does take place during Christmas, 1950. The fourth installment in Alan Bradley’s wildly successful Flavia de Luce series holds its own as a well thought out novel, rather than a piece of holiday fluff. We find the familiar cast of characters preparing for a film crew to arrive at Buckshaw. Colonel de Luce is more desperate for money than ever and this film is his last chance to pay off his heaping debts. It’s also actress Phyllis Wyvern’s last chance at a comeback. Phyllis is akin to Norma Desmond except with a few more marbles than the Sunset Boulevard icon. As the film crew rolls into the manor house, Flavia is toiling away at setting a trap to catch Santa Claus. This subplot is genius on Bradley’s part as it shows us how intelligent and at the same time naive Flavia is.

This section contains a SPOILER!!!

Soon after the crew’s arrival, Phyllis agrees to do a scene from Romeo & Juliet with her longtime costar, Desmond Duncan. The two were famous for playing the forlorn couple in a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s play...several decades earlier. The performance is scheduled for December 23rd and the entire village of Bishop’s Lacey travels to Buckshaw for the event just as a winter storm sets in (spooky I know). However, the town is less than receptive to the performance when the leading lady turns into a raging diva (diva isn’t really the word I wanted to use). To make matters worse, the blizzard leaves everyone stranded at Buckshaw for the remainder of the evening. It’s only slightly surprising that amid angry conversations behind closed doors, strange glances, and Phyllis’s subsequent public outburst that she ends up being murdered during the night. Flavia finds Phyllis slumped in her chair, strangled with a strip of film: one of the actress’s old films as it happens. With a house full of suspects, what else is Flavia to do but solve the murder herself? As always, Inspector Hewitt is reluctant to ask for Flavia’s all-too-eager assistance, but succumbs as usual to her persistence and utter brilliance.

Like all of Bradley’s books, I Am Half-Sick of Shadows is extremely satisfactory. We get some great interaction between Flavia and her sisters, as well as an intriguing guest appearance by Flavia’s Aunt Felicity. Flavia’s aunt has appeared in past novels, but has been portrayed as an old crab. In this book, we see a more well developed Aunt Felicity: one who had to make some difficult choices during the war which still haunt her. There are also some brilliant quotes from our innocently diabolical little sleuth. Whether you’ve read all the de Luce mysteries, or this is your first time at the rodeo, I am confident that you will not be disappointed.

Shockaholic by Carrie Fisher

2011-11-29T16:42:00.000-08:00

"There's no room for demons when you're self-possessed."-Carrie Fisher 

Now I know what you’re thinking, “How can Carrie Fisher write two memoirs in three years?!?  Isn’t she tired of talking about herself?  Is she doing it for the money?”  I’m sure the latter factors into the equation somewhere, but even if Fisher is her own favorite subject, she certainly doesn’t make herself look like a glamorous Hollywood celebrity.  In fact, she often says that she hopes people will feel better about their own lives once they read about hers.  If that’s the case, then she’s certainly giving people a lot of material to work with.

It’s no secret that I bow down to Carrie Fisher and that brilliant filled-to-the-brim brain of hers.  So this slim little volume titled Shockaholic was an early Christmas present to myself.  Like Wishful Drinking this book documents Fisher’s encounters with celebrities, drug abuse, and shock therapy.  However, rather than focusing on events such as rehab and filming Star Wars, as she did in Wishful Drinking, Shockaholic explores relationships with important people from Fisher’s past.  Ultimately though, Fisher’s latest creation is more or less a sequel to Wishful Drinking.  Each chapter in the new book focuses on a different influential person in Fisher’s life: starting with herself.  She kicks off things by informing us that yes, she is writing another book about herself, but hopes that by the end you’ll say, “Wow. I realize for the first time that I need to love and respect others before I can truly love myself.  And by ‘others,’ for the most part, I mean Carrie Fisher.”

For someone who struggles with depression, it’s enlightening to read how Fisher copes with her mental illness.  Her solution has been to undergo Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT), better known as “shock therapy.”  With nowhere to go but down, ECT was Fisher’s last option, and although the treatments do wipe out portions of her memory, she assures readers that it’s well worth it.  She even encourages us to try it for ourselves saying, “Do it before you don’t have a mind to change.”

After talking about herself, Fisher moves on to celebrity encounters and family dysfunction.  Some stories are funny, some...not so much.  One of the stranger tales is Fisher ending up on a double date with former human Ted Kennedy who repeatedly attempted to humiliate Fisher in front of everyone at their table.  She later found out that this bullying was one of the senator’s party tricks, and a fellow guest told Fisher years later that she was the only person to stand up to Uncle Teddy.  I know that Senator Kennedy has been sainted since his death, but Carrie Fisher helps us remember what a bastard he really was.

Moving right along, Fisher also reveals that she was a guest at Michael Jackson’s last Christmas.  Michael Jackson is another man who became a joke late in life but managed to be canonized after death.  However, Fisher assures us that Jackson really was a kind man, but deeply troubled by his fame and lack of childhood.  Fisher’s memories of Jackson present some of the books more tender moments and helped me to rethink some of my opinions of the late singer.

The final portion of Shockaholic explores the overwhelmingly complex relationship between Fisher and her father, Eddie Fisher, who left Debbie Reynolds for Elizabeth Taylor and was generally absent for the majority of Fisher’s formative years.  Like most fathers and daughters, Carrie and Eddie began building a relationship based on drug use.  They would get high together, and have these rollicking good benders until Eddie would fall off the edge of the world again.  When Eddie became ill and eventually bedridden in his later years, Fisher took care of her father even though they both knew he didn’t deserve it.  You really get a sense of how much Fisher valued these years with her dad, and how much she still struggles with his passing which took place this September.

Overall, Shockaholic is short but sweet.  You can read it in a day, get a few laughs, and maybe come away a little more accepting of others.  Oh, and on a side note, did you see the picture in the top corner?  Yeah, that’s me with Carrie Fisher!  I wanted to mention that I met her when she came to perform the stage version of Wishful Drinking in Chicago last month.  She signed my copy of Postcards from the Edge at the stage door (I’m going to have the pen she used mounted in a gilt display case once I gather the funds), and was really just a delightful person.  So go out and buy Shockaholic and maybe we can all go for some good old fashioned ECT.  Just in time for the holidays!