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twilliamson 's review for:
Daphne
by Josh Malerman
My original thoughts on Malerman's Bird Box were fairly ambivalent, the novel not delivering much of substance for me at the time. It isn't that the book was bad by any means, but that I didn't feel it had very much to say or explore. There was no cohesive statement that stood out about that particular book, and while it was very popular, I moved on from Malerman without having given any of his other books a second thought.
But Daphne--and the social media campaign put together by Malerman and many of his other fans--tugged at my interest enough to pick it up. I'm really glad I did, too; I had written Malerman off on account of Bird Box only to find that Daphne contained all of that thematic substance I was looking for in his earlier work.
This book is much more than the sum of its parts, largely on account of how well Malerman executes his dialogue with anxiety through the course of this book. His prose, too, feels much more polished and unconventional, taking what should be a fairly standard ghost slasher to new heights. Throughout Daphne, Malerman explores issues of collective grief, of the inconvenient truths of trauma, and the devastating effect anxiety can have on a person--while simultaneously finding ways to utilize things like anxiety for personal empowerment.
If Daphne is what Malerman is capable of, I'm ready for everything else he puts out.
But Daphne--and the social media campaign put together by Malerman and many of his other fans--tugged at my interest enough to pick it up. I'm really glad I did, too; I had written Malerman off on account of Bird Box only to find that Daphne contained all of that thematic substance I was looking for in his earlier work.
This book is much more than the sum of its parts, largely on account of how well Malerman executes his dialogue with anxiety through the course of this book. His prose, too, feels much more polished and unconventional, taking what should be a fairly standard ghost slasher to new heights. Throughout Daphne, Malerman explores issues of collective grief, of the inconvenient truths of trauma, and the devastating effect anxiety can have on a person--while simultaneously finding ways to utilize things like anxiety for personal empowerment.
If Daphne is what Malerman is capable of, I'm ready for everything else he puts out.