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Drawing Blood (1993)

by Poppy Z. Brite

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,6282710,736 (3.98)22
"Robert McGee is a man living under a dark cloud. Acclaimed cartoonist of the underground comic book Birdland, he has moved his family from Texas to New Orleans and finally to Missing Mile, North Carolina. But Robert is unable to escape the drinking and the violence that have become as natural to him as breathing. Soon after he and his family settle into a decrepit farmhouse, Robert kills his wife, his younger son, and then himself. Only his five-year-old son, Trevor, is left alive." "Twenty years later Trevor McGee, also a cartoonist, returns to Missing Mile to the house in which his family once lived. He has been running from the truth for years, and finally realizes he must face his demons. He fears that what happened to his father will happen to him. But if it does, Trevor thinks, at least I won't have anyone to kill. Then he befriends Zachary Bosch, a computer hacker from New Orleans running from the law." "In the house, which Trevor calls Birdland, they must confront much more than bad memories. For the house itself carries its own dark force, which threatens to envelop Trevor in the past and destroy him." "Stephen King's The Shining re-created the haunted house novel in the '70s with a stunning vision; Brite combines these elements in a totally new way to reimagine this genre for the '90s with a brilliant new power."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved… (more)
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» See also 22 mentions

English (26)  Finnish (1)  All languages (27)
Showing 1-5 of 26 (next | show all)
I wish this book was called BIRDLAND and not "drawing blood". I avoided this book for over two years because I thought it was a vampire novel.

It isn't.

Is IS a really satisfying gay horror with lots of gore and sex and all the things I want in a trash novel.
  fleshed | Jul 16, 2023 |
A dark fairytale of epic proportions ( )
  pagemother | Apr 5, 2023 |
This book was so different and strange; I loved it. ( )
  claudiereads | Nov 25, 2022 |
Brite's writing and characters immediately sucked me in, and I absolutely loved the way art saturated the book's pages--drawing and music were both a constant source of atmosphere and brought home Brite's thematic intentions in a way that made the book resonate all the more. Tying together art, powerful relationships and friendships, and haunting violence, the book is a novel worth every horror-lover's mind, so far as I'm concerned. It escalates further and further until the climax of the book brings everything together in brilliant fashion, and I only wish there were more Brite books to be read. I'll come back to this one and recommend it over and over again, I'm sure. ( )
  whitewavedarling | Dec 11, 2021 |
This one wasn't bad, but to tell the truth, had I read this prior to [book:Lost Souls|452244], I likely would not have read LS.

This one, to me, comes across as a pale imitation of its much richer older brother. Both follow a young man who has changed his name and is looking to find himself and where his place is in a strange world. Both young men are sexually ambiguous, both were essentially born in Missing Mile, then taken away and must return to find themselves.

Once there, they find both someone to nurture them, and another who is skilled at what he does that helps that renamed person find themselves.

So, essentially the plot is the same, but this time, Brite swapped out the vampires and that culture for a slightly haunted house and a computer hacker.

This is really not a horror novel. It's more of a Finding Yourself novel that occasionally bumps up against some horror tropes. I found the whole mushroom trip/dream sequence toward the end actually tedious. And for me, though Brite showed an undeniable attraction between the two main characters, Zach and Trevor, at no point did she really prove to me why each fell in love so quickly and so permanently with each other. It was more of a they love each other because I'm the author and I say so theme. It never gelled for me.

Aside from that, Brite did stuff the book with some fun stuff, including underground indie comics, the late 80s/early 90s music scene, early 90s computer hacking culture, and some smaller glimpses into worlds we normally don't see much of. Unfortunately, it was mostly that stuff that kept me reading, not the actual story.

To be honest, I felt Zachary was too willing to continue to be beaten down, and Trevor was mostly just annoyingly naive and violent.

It would have been interesting to see, had Brite continued to write in this vein, what we'd be reading now, though. Could have been cool, if they had gotten over the whole "lost young man" trope. ( )
  TobinElliott | Sep 3, 2021 |
Showing 1-5 of 26 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (1 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Poppy Z. Briteprimary authorall editionscalculated
Estruch, Carla BatallerTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gelder, Cherie vanTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Godfrey, MattNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kim, MiranCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Missing Mile, North Carolina, in the summer of 1972 was scarcely more than a wide spot in the road.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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"Robert McGee is a man living under a dark cloud. Acclaimed cartoonist of the underground comic book Birdland, he has moved his family from Texas to New Orleans and finally to Missing Mile, North Carolina. But Robert is unable to escape the drinking and the violence that have become as natural to him as breathing. Soon after he and his family settle into a decrepit farmhouse, Robert kills his wife, his younger son, and then himself. Only his five-year-old son, Trevor, is left alive." "Twenty years later Trevor McGee, also a cartoonist, returns to Missing Mile to the house in which his family once lived. He has been running from the truth for years, and finally realizes he must face his demons. He fears that what happened to his father will happen to him. But if it does, Trevor thinks, at least I won't have anyone to kill. Then he befriends Zachary Bosch, a computer hacker from New Orleans running from the law." "In the house, which Trevor calls Birdland, they must confront much more than bad memories. For the house itself carries its own dark force, which threatens to envelop Trevor in the past and destroy him." "Stephen King's The Shining re-created the haunted house novel in the '70s with a stunning vision; Brite combines these elements in a totally new way to reimagine this genre for the '90s with a brilliant new power."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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