Customer Reviews

A Density of Souls

5 star:		(170)
4 star:		(53)
3 star:		(37)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

This story is interesting and very well worked out, while the author's english and writing skill leaves something to be desired. The publisher most likely relied on Christopher's last name to sell novels (and was write in coounting on it) but there are minor fixes that needed to be made before the story was published. Christopher has proven that he has a remarkable imagination, as his mother has, and can weave a good story. While the ending may be shocking to some, I believe this is what the author was going for, to shock, make the reader think and begin a discussion.

I guess what gets me is how people are basing their opinion of Rice's books on his sexual orientation and his good looks. There is definitely better gay fiction out there to be read, guys! (You'll figure that out when you get over your crush.) The actual writing is really shoddy. I admit I couldn't even finish _A Density of Souls_; I felt too much like I was back in high school- Rice is that kid who kept raising his hand to ask completely unrelated questions, exasperating even the teacher. I won't say what I usually think when I read books by very young novelists- that nepotism makes it possible- because I'm sure if Rice had submitted his photo and platform to any agent of bestsellers he could've done it on his own, but his writing would've deserved to be panned, anyway...

I became associated with Christopher Rice's work because I'm such a big fan of his mothers work. As for a debut, this novel was excellent. The same gift that his mother has in describing places to where you can smell the flowers and hear the traffic must have been passed down to Mr. Rice.
I found the story to be interesting and the characters were well developed. It saddened me to see that four characters who had such a strong bond in their youth would end up playing a part in each others destruction both emotionally and physically. I also liked how Rice gave some of his characters redeeming qualities, Meredith in particular.
I bought this novel while visiting a friend in Mandeville and laughed at the irony days later when I was reading about one of the characters driving across the Causeway bridge just as I had done the day I purchased the book. Never before had I started a novel and finished it in less than five days. There were moments I had to force myself to put the novel down (even at 2 in the morning.)
The only thing that threw me off with this novel were all of the grammatical errors and typos I noticed. He needs a better editor.
And lastly, if there is one thing this novel needs is a sequel. The ending enough shocked me and only left me wanting more.

I've read many if Ann Rice's novels and so was curious on how her offspring would write. Even so, I put off laying out the money to buy the book until I picked it up at a overstocked book market--cheap. What a surprise (!), if I had known it was going to be this good, I would have paid full price. The character's, I thought, were well developed, were stories in themselves, and were interwoven pretty well. Although sometimes the plot seemed to get a bit lost, that didn't make it any less fascinating to read, and even more so since I had just been to New Orleans. I was amazed that a young man this age could put out something this intense, and wondered how much was pure imagination, and how much was based in real life. I've picked up his second book already and am hoping for something as good.

I had this book recommended by a gay friend who met Christopher Rice at a book signing in Washington, D.C. He is dyslexic and it's the first book he's enjoyed enough to read the whole way through... in his life!

I enjoyed Anne Rice's novels so I gave this one a try. I must say, I enjoyed it more than any single one of hers.

Christopher Rice's A Density of Souls

A Density of Souls is Christopher Rice's first novel. As the son of the author Anne Rice and the poet and painter Stan Rice, he has quite a literary reputation to live up to. He succeeded in living up to his namesake quite well with A Density of Souls making the New York Times bestseller list. One will not find the same fantastic, supernatural characters of his mother's novels. Rice effectively establishes his own style. A Density of Souls is a journey into the darker psychology that emerges from troubled and confused adolescence.

The novel's four main characters are Greg Darby, Brandon Charbonnet, Stephen Conlin, and Meredith Ducote. A kind of coming of age tale emerges as Rice guides you through their grade school to college years. Stephen struggles with his homosexuality. Greg and Brandon battle with what their identity of high school football players or "jocks" entails, and Meredith grows from feelings of exclusion from "the guys" by her three best friends to being the cheerleader girlfriend of Greg. Their own individual searches for identity play off of each other. Greg and Brandon grow to torment Stephen. Meredith sinks into alcoholism and recording her hidden anger at Greg and Brandon in a secret notebook. She is caught between feeling protective of Stephen and her status as popular cheerleader and Greg's girlfriend. Rice's novel is a brave undertaking. It explores complex and taboo subjects such as homosexuality, alcoholism, abuse, suicide, and hate crimes. It accomplishes this through the depiction of four childhood friends growing up in New Orleans, bringing to light the fact that today's children are not as "young" as they seem.

The lives of the children's parents are also entwined in the novel. A close look at their relationships amongst each other and it may be no wonder that their children have some of the "issues" that they do. Monica Conlin finally achieved her place in upper class society in the Garden District after coming from the wrong side of the tracks. She faces the fear that Stephen will follow in his father's suicidal footsteps, and ultimate betrayal by her high society friend, Elise Charbonnet. Angela and Andrew Darby have a less than functional marriage but put up a good front. Elise and Roger Charbonnet attempt to hide away one son they cannot control and conceal truths about the situation and his whereabouts from his brother. Trish Ducote is a divorced mom possibly attempting to ignore the fact that her daughter steals a bottle weekly from her liquor cabinet. Alcohol is an underlying theme in the lives of the parents and their children.

All of these elements become various themes discussed in A Density of Souls. Stephen's feeling of isolation due to his homosexuality. Issues of class struggle and exactly what it means to be "upper class" depicted by his mother, Monica. Meredith is also isolated due to her femininity. She is a girl and cannot seem to get past her role as "the girlfriend" even when Greg is abusive and tormenting her childhood friend, Stephen. Her forced silence drives her to alcoholism and secret writing as her only modes of expression. Angela Darby is another tragic female character. Her husband locks her away in a mental hospital after tragedy strikes their family. He makes a deal with the doctor to keep her there even though she does not need to stay. In this sense, her own husband forces her into the "mad woman in the attic" role. Greg and Brandon deal with gender roles and ideologies as they try to be the "All-American football stars".

The novel's short chapters and book divisions make it very easy to read. Each chapter has a kind of cliffhanger ending that will leave the reader wondering what's next as the story unfolds and events are explained piece by piece. One will probably catch himself or herself identifying with at least one of the characters on some level. A Density of Souls is a detailed depiction of the delicate interlocking lives of four families. Rice is not afraid to discuss the subjects that might keep us up at night. It is an honest, disturbing, and excellent tale.

The first chapter is excellent and hooked me so much that I was sneaking off to the office washroom to read on. Sadly the brilliance falters as the story gets less and less believable. I groaned out loud when the hitherto straight and rather two dimensional all American boy discovers his "real" sexuality - as if! Then there is the gloriously cliche-ed and totally unnecessary revelation at the end on the main character's family relationships.
Christopher Rice's depiction of the emotional complexities of his genuinely gay character and the women around him was outstanding - he should stick with this and avoid the trashier plot twists and the rather contrived happy endings!!

Density of Souls is a Dawson's Creek episode gone dirty. Poorly written with cardboard characters, the only reason I gave it 2 stars was that some of the dialoge made me laugh out loud. Rich snotty kids with lots of self-inflicted problems. I wonder where his inspiration came from?

I'm not a big fan of reading, but once I started this book, I couldn't put it down.

I read this book a year ago, and it's still on my mind. It is overly written at times but it needs it. As a gay boy living in a rural town, the kids I can really relate to. I found at the end that I thought about life, homophobia, teenagers, and even my own situations and it reminded me of the more soft and quiet moments in the book.

There are moments and actions in the book that some people think of as just events, like the storm, and everything in Sactuary were you can just close the book and move on. I couldn't move on so easily, by the end I had reread most of the book just shocked at the twists and sadness. Call me stupid, but A density of souls changed the way I think about life...