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A review by jdhacker
Let's Go Play at the Adams' by Mendal W. Johnson
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
I did the thing, read this classic shocker.
It was okay, but not amazing. In terms of the events themselves, its not nearly as shocking as its billed as. I'd like that say that's thanks to decades of horror porn movies and splatterpunk writing shifting the needle, but then I think about Last House of the Left and Deliverance and think its not necessarily that. I think, along the lines of a banned book, the very unavailability of Johnson's book for so long until Valancourt re-issued it is what gave it this mystique.
The writing itself, much like its shock value, clocks in at the moderately okay. It seems to be struggling, reaching, for something greater, but never really gets there. Johnson clearly wanted to say *something*, buts its always muddy what exactly that message is. Is it about capitalism? About the politically and socially left and right? If its just a simple commentary on human nature writ broad that doesn't feel successful either. I think this lack of clarity and focus, when he's clearly struggling to communicate something beyond the shocking nature of the story itself, ends up really detracting from the overall believability of the characters as well. Its difficult to accept them as written as believable people, which would be excusable if they were clearly metaphors, but it just doesn't work.
Sadly, Let's Go Play doesn't live up to the hype, and Valancourt likely could have found something much more worthwhile (or enjoyable) to reprint.
It was okay, but not amazing. In terms of the events themselves, its not nearly as shocking as its billed as. I'd like that say that's thanks to decades of horror porn movies and splatterpunk writing shifting the needle, but then I think about Last House of the Left and Deliverance and think its not necessarily that. I think, along the lines of a banned book, the very unavailability of Johnson's book for so long until Valancourt re-issued it is what gave it this mystique.
The writing itself, much like its shock value, clocks in at the moderately okay. It seems to be struggling, reaching, for something greater, but never really gets there. Johnson clearly wanted to say *something*, buts its always muddy what exactly that message is. Is it about capitalism? About the politically and socially left and right? If its just a simple commentary on human nature writ broad that doesn't feel successful either. I think this lack of clarity and focus, when he's clearly struggling to communicate something beyond the shocking nature of the story itself, ends up really detracting from the overall believability of the characters as well. Its difficult to accept them as written as believable people, which would be excusable if they were clearly metaphors, but it just doesn't work.
Sadly, Let's Go Play doesn't live up to the hype, and Valancourt likely could have found something much more worthwhile (or enjoyable) to reprint.