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A review by esdeecarlson
Goblin: A Novel in Six Novellas by Josh Malerman
3.0
**This book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.**
3 stars
This is a beautifully interwoven short story cycle, or composite novel. It’s delightful as a reader to see touches from other stories make an appearance, or finally reveal their true natures, in whatever story you’re currently reading.
On that note, the town of Goblin, in which all the stories are set and which by its very looming presence ties all of the stories together, is the real shining star of the book. All of the details and oddities that make Goblin such a unique town are utterly bizarre in the best possible way. I was charmed by this town, with its elaborate topiary statues and oddly-named streets and ghoulish police officers and haunted woods, and I would love to spend more time there.
Where the stories fall short for me has to do with the writing style. Most of the stories are primarily told in long flashbacks, and the characters spend most of their time either reflecting on their pasts or finding as many ways to articulate their singular driving force as possible. I would have highly preferred the stories if the fat was trimmed. The subtitle for this book reads “A Novel in Six Novellas,” and I think therein the problem lies: it should have been a novel in six short stories. Each of them felt just a little too long, to the point where I wanted to say “We get it!” two-thirds of the way through each narrative. It’s obvious Malerman loves a good build-up to a reveal, but the reveals are so obvious, each character’s foil so evident, that the atmospheric build-up falls flat, deflated.
What the book really lacks is a sense of humor. There are moments when characters are reflecting about the oddities of Goblin, particularly when they’re glowing with pride about their strange and spooky little town, that the narrative really comes into itself. However, far too often Malerman veers into taking it all far too seriously, indulging in an atmosphere of stale mystery. It feels as though he’s pushing to emulate Stephen King’s Derry or Castle Rock, when Goblin is crying out for a tone more along the lines of what you’d find in R.L. Stine.
There’s a lot here to enjoy, and I certainly had a fun time with this book. Any horror fan will certainly feel they got their money’s worth. It just needed a few tweaks, and a tonal shift, to be really spectacular.
3 stars
This is a beautifully interwoven short story cycle, or composite novel. It’s delightful as a reader to see touches from other stories make an appearance, or finally reveal their true natures, in whatever story you’re currently reading.
On that note, the town of Goblin, in which all the stories are set and which by its very looming presence ties all of the stories together, is the real shining star of the book. All of the details and oddities that make Goblin such a unique town are utterly bizarre in the best possible way. I was charmed by this town, with its elaborate topiary statues and oddly-named streets and ghoulish police officers and haunted woods, and I would love to spend more time there.
Where the stories fall short for me has to do with the writing style. Most of the stories are primarily told in long flashbacks, and the characters spend most of their time either reflecting on their pasts or finding as many ways to articulate their singular driving force as possible. I would have highly preferred the stories if the fat was trimmed. The subtitle for this book reads “A Novel in Six Novellas,” and I think therein the problem lies: it should have been a novel in six short stories. Each of them felt just a little too long, to the point where I wanted to say “We get it!” two-thirds of the way through each narrative. It’s obvious Malerman loves a good build-up to a reveal, but the reveals are so obvious, each character’s foil so evident, that the atmospheric build-up falls flat, deflated.
What the book really lacks is a sense of humor. There are moments when characters are reflecting about the oddities of Goblin, particularly when they’re glowing with pride about their strange and spooky little town, that the narrative really comes into itself. However, far too often Malerman veers into taking it all far too seriously, indulging in an atmosphere of stale mystery. It feels as though he’s pushing to emulate Stephen King’s Derry or Castle Rock, when Goblin is crying out for a tone more along the lines of what you’d find in R.L. Stine.
There’s a lot here to enjoy, and I certainly had a fun time with this book. Any horror fan will certainly feel they got their money’s worth. It just needed a few tweaks, and a tonal shift, to be really spectacular.