A Density of Souls
by Christopher Rice
Talk Miramax
ISBN: 0786886463 - Paperback
Adult Fiction / Contemporary
Reviewed by Barbara
Buhrer, MyShelf.com
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Young Meredith, Brandon,
Stephen and Greg once played hide and seek in Lafayette Cemetery in New
Orleans. All this changed when they went to Cannon High School. Greg and
Brandon were "jocks" who ostracized and badgered Stephen who
was a homosexual.
At an important football
game Greg's young brother, Alex, was struck and killed by a garbage truck.
Greg, in despair, committed suicide. Greg's mother, overcome by grief,
was committed to a sanitarium in a catatonic state.
After a five-year absence
Jordan Charbonnet returns home to find that Brandon, his younger brother,
has been missing since that accident. He determines to find the truth
behind his disappearance and the events that haunt the three families.
This search leads him to the relationship between Steven and the others
and leads to a disaster climaxing in a church belfry.
This is the story of
a teenage boy who is rejected by his friends and his attempt to come to
terms with his sexuality.
The characters are well
drawn, but there isn't a well adjusted one in the book. Every character
has problems; it is a Southern family history, reminiscent of Tennessee
Williams. The descriptions of life in New Orleans among the elite and
among the gay society are excellent. There is a very tense and realistic
account of a devastating hurricane, though it was difficult to understand
why the hurricane was necessary to the story. It really contributed nothing.
There are many references to homosexuality and a number of graphic homosexual
scenes.
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