My first book by White. Saw it on the thriller nominations for Goodreads Awards. Thought to myself why not give it a try, especially when it's labeled as a horror story. But before I write down my thoughts on it, there's something I need to get off my chest: I have a phobia of children's programs, particularly those with puppets or costumes. There I said it! They're unnatural and weird and extremely disturbing. To think of making a thriller/suspense out of a kids' show is diabolical... and smart.
Or so I thought...
Without spoiling anything Mister Magic is basically a coming-of-age story gone wrong. It's about a podcast reunion of a group of adults who used to be child stars on a show called Mister Magic.
I had issues with the omnipresent narration and White's style of writing, but I got over them later on. There are vibes from The Truman Show - Coraline - and especially IT. The characters were well-defined, but I think Javi was the best.
As I went on with the story, I couldn't help but feel an insidious feeling crawling beneath my skin and thoughts. I wanted to know what the hell was going on. I wanted to look for reviews to see what this was all about and spare myself the agony of feeling confused and lost. That feeling was so alluring but gut-wrenching. It's like something 'caught at the back of [my] throat like mucus [I] couldn't clear'.
the mood then shifted from insidious to absurd to pure fantasy to a chaos of words and scenes and emotions. And I meant it not in a good way.
What I didn't like was the heavy emphasis on talking ambiguously and abstractedly and on generalities. It's the Lost TV show syndrome all over again. No. It doesn't pique the readers' interest more than confuse and distract them. No wonder why many reviewers couldn't go past the first third. The problem with this technique is that it promises you something grand and jaw-dropping, but when I reached the last third [which was the most boring pile of shit I've ever read after Ulysses], I realized I got scammed and cheated on. The ending was so stretched out and so abstract and so boring.
It just drags... on and on and on.
I got the message or what you wanted to say White, but damn, the writing was just awful. Sorry.
[WARNING: thematic spoilers]
What I really liked about Mister Magic was its themes, however poorly and broadly they were executed. Talk about the influence of media on the spongy psyche of children... the fine line between parenting and indoctrination... media exploitation of children and the trauma they might suffer afterward... the archetypes and assumed gender roles... memory and how subjective and sometimes manipulative it can be... childhood and creativity.
Yeah... it's a whole lotta themes out there!
And that's where the book fails. A good book talks about a central theme and avoids being divergent and in the process loses the interest of its readers... just like it did to me.
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