For me the book moved like a steamroller, building momentum slowly, but once it got going it was hard to stop. Though most fans probably know Mrs. Brite for her horror novels, Lost Souls, Drawing Blood, and Exquisite Corpse, it's in Liquor where she truly shines. Liquor feels a lot more personal and involved, through her descriptions of her hometown and her well-drawn characters, than her previous novels.

I think this novel will appeal to those who enjoy Anthony Bourdain's writing or Gregory Mcdonald's Fletch series of novels, as well as anyone who has a love of good food and believable, interesting character work.


Great Read, Better Cuisine   March 25, 2004
 20 out of 25 found this review helpful

Technically, this isn't a brand new direction, since the short novel *The Value of X* and a few stories in her recent collection, *The Devil You Know,* visited this direction before, but those were small press hardcovers (Subterranean Press, in fact), and this is a mass market trade paperback. All I can say is: excellent.

(...) So much food...

The plot in a nutshell, G-Man and Rickey are a couple of 27 year old best friends and lovers, who work the mean kitchens of New Orleans. After dealing with jaggoffs and jerks, Rickey gets mondo inspiration for a one-of-a-kind restaraunt that'd do great in the N'Awlins atmosphere -- Liquor, a place whose gimmick is straightforward: every dish served incorporates alcohol in some form. This novel is about the difficulties in getting said restaraunt going. What's more, it's about the challenges involved in going for your dreams and taking a stand for what you feel in important. What's more it's a novel about fear. Not the traditional 'BOO!' kind of fear, but the all too real world 'what if I'm not as good as I think I am?' terror. I once heard the notion that our fears change as we grow older. This is a novel, which demonstrates that development. Poppy Brite is the only person who could've written this novel.

The characters are exceptionally drawn, the writing is honed (though passive sentences creep in once too often for my taste), and the text's flavor is at once saucy, sweet, salty and sexy.

(...)

This is probably Poppy Brite's best book, thus far.


An Artist Can Never Stand Still   May 21, 2004
 14 out of 15 found this review helpful

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.


Candy is dandy, but 'Liquor' is quicker   March 30, 2004
 10 out of 12 found this review helpful

I must admit it. I'm in love with Poppy Z Brite. It started with 'Lost Souls' and grew with every word of purple prose that dripped from her pages like visceral gore. When I heard that she was trying her hand at something other than horror, I was a little skeptical, being a writer myself and having the adage "stick to what you're good at" pounded into my skull. But I picked up 'Liquor' that day it hit bookshelves, and finished it by noon the next day.

Not only are the characters stunning and vibrant, as are all of her creations, but she makes New Orleans itself a living entity. Brite creates beautiful interpersonal relationships between her protagonists Rickey and G-man, and the development of their dialogue and characterizations was enough to make me feel by the end of the book as though they were people I'd go have a drink with.

This book, perhaps more than the gruesome lore of her older novels and many short stories, shows fans that there is indeed a Brite future ahead; she is an immensely talented writer and her world is one that I'll be all too happy to dive into again when 'The Big D' comes out in 2005. Until then, adieu--- I'm off to re-read this book.