Rating: 
Summary: An Artist Can Never Stand Still
Review: In many ways, PZB's novels Liquor and The Value of X are analogous to the shift in the sound of the Beatles which occurred at the mid-point of their career. Those who wish to restrict PZB's writing to the more baroque style she debuted with may be a bit surprised or dismayed to learn that she has for the most part moved beyond such ornate writing. This is not a bad thing; PZB has honed her style down into an appropriate tool for relating the stories of Rickey and G-Man, and the contemporary New Orleans they live, love and work in. Liquor as a novel is immediately entrancing and, most wonderfully of all, leaves the reader more than a little impatient for the next novel in the projected trilogy (The Value of X is a prequel of sorts, and does not count as part of the trilogy). The author uses her first or second-hand knowledge of the N.O. restaurant scene and her obvious love for the Crescent City to fashion her most satisfying novel to date. Within the narrative, she manages to intertwine street madness, humor both black and benign, scenes of the day to day life of restauranteurs in New Orleans, and glimpses of the colorful history of the city itself. On a personal level, I must have nothing but pity for those who refuse to read Liquor due to the fact that it isn't a "PZB Horror Novel". Those unfortunates are denying themselves the pure pleasure of an extraordinary author who is writing at the top of her game. If you must take refuse in yet another re-reading of Lost Souls, by all means do so. Just don't leave your head in the sand so long that you fail to be entranced by Liquor and its upcoming counterparts.
Rating:
Summary: Poppy Z. Brite just gets better!
Review: It seems to me that when authors take an abrupt 360 into an entirely different genre (or non-genre as the case may be) they're either desperate for something fresh to inspire them, or they're On To Something.Poppy Z. Brite is *definitely* on to something with Liquor! Liquor is an obvious departure from Brite's earlier work. It's not even quite in the same vein as The Value of X, although it continues the story of Rickey and G-man (Liquor lacks the adolescent angst). Because of that, genre groupies might not appreciate Liquor as a stand-alone novel. It is, however, an excellent book. Well written with realistic, witty dialogue and charming atmosphere. The characters are lovable and easy to relate to. You find yourself more fascinated by their real-world struggles than you would if there were a psychotic mafia vampire boss causing them problems. ^_~ Oh, and it makes you hungry! I hope Poppy Z. Brite keeps up the wonderful work and I can't wait until The Big D is published!
Rating: 
Summary: Liquor is intoxicating
Review: Liquor is a tasty dish that leaves you surprised and a little sad when you reach the end; you can't believe you ate the whole thing, and yet you still want more. Rickey and G-Man are 27-year-old New Orleans natives that this reader first met in Brite's novel The Value of X. Fans of Brite's work have watched these two young men grow from awkward adolescents into the type of underdog heroes one cannot help but root for. They are smart young men with talent and passion, just waiting for the opportunity to use both. They find this opportunity in Chef Lenny Duveteaux, who seems to find his own passion for his work renewed by Rickey and G-Man's enthusiasm and energy. We follow Rickey and G-Man on a rollercoaster ride as they work to bring their dream to fruition. We watch them grow and mature in the process, against a backdrop that is a side of New Orleans that few outside of the city ever see. We celebrate with them, struggle with them, and hold our collective breath as their dream nearly falls apart. Poppy Z. Brite's writing style has been honed until her prose are razor sharp. There are no superlative words in this book. The simple, unaffected style lets Rickey and G-Man's emotions shine through and the colorful cast of their friends and employees find their own voices. New Orleans counts as a character as much as the people in this story, as as a Louisiana native I can say that Brite's love for her native city has renewed my own fondness for this hot, miserable, mosquito-ridden state as well.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific!
Review: Liquor is the first novel I've read by Poppy Z. Brite. Poppy has created two unforgettable characters in Rickey and G-man. I loved the fact that they were the ultimate slackers off the job and the ultimate workaholics on the job. I loved their love and dedication for each other. I loved their love and dedication for the restaurant business.
What's really striking about Liquor, though, is that every single supporting charatcer in the book is interesting. Nothing's wasted.
Liquor manages to be entertaining and informative. While reading I wondered how any restaurant does well and I wondered why anyone would want to open a restaurant that seats more than ten people. I definitely developed a big respect for the cooks and the dishwashers and the runners and the porters. I started to think about the restaurants I frequent and the faces I've glimpsed in the kitchen. There was a moment during the book when I started to wish I smiled more often at the chef in one of my favorite local restaurants who is always harried, always joking, always there.
Poppy's descriptions of food in this book are sublime. For the first time in my life, I wanted to try cheese straws. Rickey's cheese straws. And I absolutely wish G-man existed and loved me as much as he loves Rickey so he'd make me risotto balls with truffles.
Poppy Z. Brite has a new fan. I'm looking forward to this book's sequel, Prime. I'm hoping she never lets these two characters rest. I'm also going to search for the stories Rickey and G-man have appeared in before. I may even pick up one of her horror novels.
Rating:
Summary: FYI: The Chef on Seinfeld was also named Poppy!
Review: Liquor is the latest novel by Poppy Z. Brite, who until rather recently has mainly been known for her writing in the horror genre. On the recommendation from what her fans wrote about her on Amazon, I recently bought a number of her earlier books. From what I've read so far of her earlier work it is obvious to me that Poppy is a very talented writer. For example, I read the first chapter of "Exquisite Corpse" (I can't wait to finish it) and the first seven stories in "Wormwood". I have to say that "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood" is probably one of the best short stories I've ever read about vampires, while "The Sixth Sentinel" was one of the best short stories about ghosts that I've ever read. I was very, very impressed. However, I decided to put aside these other books aside and read "Liquor" first. I had the best of intentions of wanting to write a review as soon as possible. I thought that if I believed the book was good, it would help Poppy to give her another good review. Judging from her journal on her website, Poppy is still a long way from having the cash flow of Stephen King or Anne Rice. I liked Liquor overall and thought it was a good novel, but there were a few flaws that kept me from giving it a full five stars, even though I started out really wanting to do so. Let me explain. One strong point to the novel is Poppy's portrayal of Rickey and G-man, two New Orleans line chefs who've been lovers since their late teens and who are now trying to open their own restaurant and be their own bosses. Poppy's characterization of Ricky and G-Man makes you cheer for them and makes you hope they succeed in opening a successful restaurant. I read in a magazine review somewhere that Poppy treats their homosexuality in a matter of fact way and I found this to be true. In other words, they don't come off like politically correct cardboard stereotypes of what a gay person should be like. They come off in the novel as real people who are for the most part likeable, and with good and bad points. Poppy isn't using homosexuality or homosexual characters in a self-serving effort to self-righteously proclaim to the world, 'Look how progressive I am! I write about gay people!' Another strong point is her portrayal of how it is to work in a restaurant. Poppy herself worked as a short order cook and as a candy maker, and met her husband Chris who is a chef through her involvement in the New Orleans restaurant scene. I worked in a restaurant for seven years, putting myself through college, and Poppy's novel brought back to me how horrible it can be to be in hot kitchen during a rush and come home all grimy, smelling of grease with the bottom of your feet feeling like somebody took a sledgehammer to them. Good job Poppy. Yet another strong point is the humor that flows through the novel like-ha ha-liquor in Rickey and G-Man's dishes. Although the novel has many serious, somber, or even terrifying moments, there are also numerous times when you smile or laugh out loud. Poppy says it's her goal now to write realistically about New Orleans and she does so, in part, through the novels' shifts in mood. In other words, in real life you experience different moods through the course of living your life just like Rickey and G-Man do in Liquor. Amazon doesn't want reviews to give away plot developments so I won't, even though it makes it harder to explain why you have the opinion you do. I felt that Poppy made it too easy for Rickey and G-Man to overcome many of the obstacles they face through the course of the novel, thereby draining the novel of some of its tension, and therefore of some of its entertainment value. Nonetheless, Liquor is still overall an entertaining page turner, in part because of their psycho ex-boss whose chaotic presence threatens to derail Liquor to virtually the last few pages. Will he? Read the book to find out! The other problem I had with Liquor-this one much more serious-is that Lenny does something not so nice that I found to be rather out of character given what we know so far about him-I wonder if this plot development required some more foreshadowing. And I thought Rickey and G-Man's reaction to what Lenny did to be just as unconvincing given what we know of them. I thought Rickey and G-Man would tell Lenny to go fly a kite even if it meant they lost their restaurant because of what they suspected Lenny had done. At the very least it seems like G-Man would have forced Rickey to see the light in regards not to lose your soul in order to get what you want. It's okay to have a character do something out of character if you explain why they do so, and I'm not sure Poppy does so convincingly. It seems like they uncharacteristically sell themselves a rather lame bill of goods in order to justify their staying in business with Lenny which made me lose some respect for Rickey and G-Man. In fact, I thought-I hoped-Poppy was going to use this plot development to explore the theme of people becoming so desperate for something that they totally lose sight of their own morality in trying to reach their goal, but Poppy didn't do this, and I thought this was a missed opportunity both in regards to theme and plot. Liquor is a very good novel overall, but some of the problems I had with the plot and I what I thought were the occasional unrealistic actions of some of the characters compel me to reluctantly give it four stars out of five.
Rating:
Summary: FYI: The Chef on Seinfeld was also named Poppy!
Review: Liquor is the latest novel by Poppy Z. Poppy, who has mainly been known until rather recently for her writing in the horror genre. On the recommendation from what her fans wrote about her on Amazon, I recently bought a number of her earlier books. From what I've read so far of her earlier work it is obvious to me that Poppy is a very talented writer. For example, I read the first chapter of "Exquisite Corpse" (I can't wait to finish it) and the first seven stories in "Wormwood". I have to say that "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood" is probably one of the best short stories I've ever read about vampires, while "The Sixth Sentinel" was one of the best short stories about ghosts that I've ever read. I was very, very impressed. However, I decided to put aside these other books aside and read "Liquor" first. I had the best of intentions of wanting to write a review as soon as possible. I thought that if I believed the book was good, it would help Poppy to give her another good review. Judging from her journal on her website, Poppy is still a long way from having the cash flow of Stephen King or Anne Rice.
I liked Liquor overall and thought it was a good novel, but there were a few flaws that kept me from giving it a full five stars, even though I started out really wanting to do so. Let me explain.
One strong point to the novel is Poppy's portrayal of Rickey and G-man, two New Orleans line chefs who've been lovers since their late teens and who are now trying to open their own restaurant and be their own bosses. Poppy's characterization of Ricky and G-Man makes you cheer for them and makes you hope they succeed in opening a successful restaurant. I read in a magazine review somewhere that Poppy treats their homosexuality in a matter of fact way and I found this to be true. In other words, they don't come off like politically correct cardboard stereotypes of what a gay person should be like. They come off in the novel as real people who are for the most part likeable, and with good and bad points. Poppy isn't using homosexuality or homosexual characters in a self-serving effort to self-righteously proclaim to the world, 'Look how progressive I am! I write about gay people!'
Another strong point is her portrayal of how it is to work in a restaurant. Poppy herself worked as a short order cook and as a candy maker, and met her husband Chris who is a chef through her involvement in the New Orleans restaurant scene. I worked in a restaurant for seven years, putting myself through college, and Poppy's novel brought back to me how horrible it can be to be in hot kitchen during a rush and come home all grimy, smelling of grease with the bottom of your feet feeling like somebody took a sledgehammer to them. Good job Poppy.
Yet another strong point is the humor that flows through the novel like-ha ha-liquor in Rickey and G-Man's dishes. Although the novel has many serious, somber, or even terrifying moments, there are also numerous times when you smile or laugh out loud. Poppy says it's her goal now to write realistically about New Orleans and she does so, in part, through the novels' shifts in mood. In other words, in real life you experience different moods through the course of living your life just like Rickey and G-Man do in Liquor.
Amazon doesn't want reviews to give away plot developments so I won't, even though it makes it harder to explain why you have the opinion you do. I felt that Poppy made it too easy for Rickey and G-Man to overcome many of the obstacles they face through the course of the novel, thereby draining the novel of some of its tension, and therefore of some of its entertainment value. Nonetheless, Liquor is still overall an entertaining page turner, in part because of their psycho ex-boss whose chaotic presence threatens to derail Liquor to virtually the last few pages. Will he? Read the book to find out!
The other problem I had with Liquor-this one much more serious-is that Lenny does something not so nice that I found to be rather out of character given what we know so far about him-I wonder if this plot development required some more foreshadowing. And I thought Rickey and G-Man's reaction to what Lenny did to be just as unconvincing given what we know of them. I thought Rickey and G-Man would tell Lenny to go fly a kite even if it meant they lost their restaurant because of what they suspected Lenny had done. At the very least it seems like G-Man would have forced Rickey to see the light in regards not to lose your soul in order to get what you want. It's okay to have a character do something out of character if you explain why they do so, and I'm not sure Poppy does so convincingly. It seems like they uncharacteristically sell themselves a rather lame bill of goods in order to justify their staying in business with Lenny which made me lose some respect for Rickey and G-Man. In fact, I thought-I hoped-Poppy was going to use this plot development to explore the theme of people becoming so desperate for something that they totally lose sight of their own morality in trying to reach their goal, but Poppy didn't do this, and I thought this was a missed opportunity both in regards to theme and plot.
Liquor is a very good novel overall, but some of the problems I had with the plot and I what I thought were the occasional unrealistic actions of some of the characters compel me to reluctantly give it four stars out of five.
Rating:
Summary: Brite's best yet
Review: My favorite Brite book yet. Whether writting about ultraviolence, rock divas, or chefs, she is the best. I almost said she is like many writers in one, but a consistency in her voice extends from her very first rambling and flowery novel 'Lost Souls' (1992) to this sparer, much more entertaining one. Instead I'll just say she is a writer who continues to grow and change, which is a Good Thing. 'Liquor' has been compared to 'A Confederacy Of Dunces.' Like that book, the main characters of 'Liquor' are wonderful but the secondary ones really shine too. I was left wondering 'is Lenny as scarey as he seems?' 'will Terrence become a great cook?' 'will New Orleans foodies eventually get sck of this concept?' I hope next year's sequel answers some of these questions!!
Rating:
Summary: Incredible!!!
Review: Ok, so I was expecting graphic horror, but this is one of the best Poppy has written. Thank you, Poppy, for giving me something to read, but more than that, something to enjoy reading.
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining look at how a restaurant comes to life
Review: Poppy Z. Brite has left behind the goths in favor of another subculture, the culinary world. Her husband is a chef, giving her an insider's perspective on what goes on in a restaurant kitchen. Liquor is about two guys who want to achieve the American dream--running their own wildly successful business after working themselves up from minimum wage jobs. In a lean style, much less verbose than that of her older work, Brite tell a rapid and uncomplicated tale about two guys setting out to start a new restaurant. A clear goal, without a clear path to get to it. While there are some shady characters that thicken the plot and challenge the protagonists, the meat of the story is about the necessary challenges every restaurateur must overcome, from finding a location, to raising enough money, to putting together a staff, and creating a menu. The novel didn't leave me pondering about themes, metaphors, and deeper meanings. It is a fairly simple tale. But I enjoyed the book because I have always had an interest in the culinary world after growing up with an amateur gourmet cook for a father. Considering the popularity of the Food Network, I'd say I'm not alone with my food fascination. New Orleans is integral to the novel. Liquor can't take place anywhere else. It made me wish that I've lived in a place long enough to feel comfortable writing about it and treating it as a living, breathing character as Brite does with New Orleans. Perhaps if I stay put in my current city long enough, I'll be able to do so. Liquor also made me think about the unusual amount of restaurants in my small city. You can't walk across the street in the evenings without tripping over a waiter or a line-cook collapsed on the ground (quite possibly drunk) after a long day's shift. After reading Liquor, I better appreciate and understand them.
Rating:
Summary: The Passion of the Poppy
Review: Poppy Z. Brite's passion for the restaurant world shines brightly in LIQUOR, but you don't have to be a fan of food writing to appreciate her loving descriptions of gourmet meals and the careful preparation and presentation that goes into them. In fact, as I've observed on more than one occasion, Poppy's descriptions of food can even make meat sound appealing to a vegetarian. (I speak from personal experience.) Lest I give the wrong impression, I should point out that LIQUOR isn't just about food. It's about people--real people and real relationships. It's also about New Orleans, though not the New Orleans that's so frequently seen through the romanticized veil of Goth. Poppy's not afraid to show her hometown as it truly is, warts and all, but it's also obvious that she's fond of those warts, perhaps even moreso than the more conventionally beautiful parts of the city. If you've read THE VALUE OF X or any of Poppy's short stories about Rickey and G-man, reading LIQUOR will be like visiting with old friends. If not, it will be like making new ones. Either way, you'll be anxiously awaiting the follow-up novel, THE BIG D, which is scheduled for a Spring 2005 release.
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