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A review by kjanie
The Children God Forgot by Graham Masterton
2.0
2/5 stars
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. It is definitely one of the stranger and more unique horror books that I have ever read, and I had fun with the weirder aspects of it. It was truly horrifying and disgusting, with quite a lot of body horror. Because this is a horror book, the fact that I was truly horrified and creeped out is obviously a huge plus. Since this book follows multiple storylines, it was fun to explore how the twisty and horrific series of events connected. Regardless of my gripes I had with the writing and the plot in general (which I will discuss next), it was undeniably entertaining and gripping.
My main issue with this book is the uncomfortable feeling I had about some undertones to the story. I don't know if it was the purpose of the author or not, but it definitely had a very strong anti-abortion feel to it. The 'monstrous' and horrifically malformed fetuses in the story came from women who had aborted their pregnancy. It just felt like a sort of punishment for these women. Additionally, the ghost woman (trying to keep this spoiler free so I won't describe her more) kept saying how all human life was sacred and was punishing people for choosing abortion. I just don't like the idea of a male author writing a book that seems to have such a strong anti-abortion message, although I will reiterate that I am not accusing the author of harbouring these feelings or intending this message, but it was just a feeling I couldn't shake while reading.
Similarly, a lot of the dialogue came across feeling either sexist or mildly racist. It is that kind of grey area in which people debate whether it is okay for characters to say discriminatory things without it reflecting badly on the author. But for me, since it added absolutely nothing to the story and felt completely unnecessary, it just left me feeling uncomfortable. The two main female characters in particular, both Gemma and DS Patel, were treated with many micro-aggressions and underhanded comments. While it felt like the author was not necessarily condoning these comments but rather commenting about the characters that said them, it still felt wholly unnecessary. The dialogue more generally was also just quite difficult to follower. It felt quite stilted and all over the place, which took a while to get used to.
While these negative feelings about the book didn't negate the overall uniqueness and enjoyability of the story, it did leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. I feel like we are at a place in literature in which it is no longer tolerable to have major insensitivities in books, no matter how unique or enjoyable the book itself is.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. It is definitely one of the stranger and more unique horror books that I have ever read, and I had fun with the weirder aspects of it. It was truly horrifying and disgusting, with quite a lot of body horror. Because this is a horror book, the fact that I was truly horrified and creeped out is obviously a huge plus. Since this book follows multiple storylines, it was fun to explore how the twisty and horrific series of events connected. Regardless of my gripes I had with the writing and the plot in general (which I will discuss next), it was undeniably entertaining and gripping.
My main issue with this book is the uncomfortable feeling I had about some undertones to the story. I don't know if it was the purpose of the author or not, but it definitely had a very strong anti-abortion feel to it. The 'monstrous' and horrifically malformed fetuses in the story came from women who had aborted their pregnancy. It just felt like a sort of punishment for these women. Additionally, the ghost woman (trying to keep this spoiler free so I won't describe her more) kept saying how all human life was sacred and was punishing people for choosing abortion. I just don't like the idea of a male author writing a book that seems to have such a strong anti-abortion message, although I will reiterate that I am not accusing the author of harbouring these feelings or intending this message, but it was just a feeling I couldn't shake while reading.
Similarly, a lot of the dialogue came across feeling either sexist or mildly racist. It is that kind of grey area in which people debate whether it is okay for characters to say discriminatory things without it reflecting badly on the author. But for me, since it added absolutely nothing to the story and felt completely unnecessary, it just left me feeling uncomfortable. The two main female characters in particular, both Gemma and DS Patel, were treated with many micro-aggressions and underhanded comments. While it felt like the author was not necessarily condoning these comments but rather commenting about the characters that said them, it still felt wholly unnecessary. The dialogue more generally was also just quite difficult to follower. It felt quite stilted and all over the place, which took a while to get used to.
While these negative feelings about the book didn't negate the overall uniqueness and enjoyability of the story, it did leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. I feel like we are at a place in literature in which it is no longer tolerable to have major insensitivities in books, no matter how unique or enjoyable the book itself is.