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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