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book_bookman 's review for:
Catmagic
by Jonathan Barry, Whitley Strieber
I'm being extremely generous with the 3/5, but after having read two Graham Masterton novels in the past month it was a breath of fresh air to read something with even the slightest bit of an authorial tone. My main takeaway here is that this feels like proto-Neil Gaiman, or like something Vertigo would have published in their heyday. This isn't "good" per se, it's overstuffed and yet there's not enough happening for it to be 441 pages, but there's enough Paperbacks from Hell nonsense going on here to keep it from being a chore.
On that note, assorted thoughts on the Paperbacks from Hell type moments: The noble savage exoticizing of Wicca is really funny in how tone deaf and sincere it is. Strieber, dude, they're just hippies. Also weird that evangelical Christianity is specifically portrayed as bad (the leader of the town's congregation is a child molester and murderer), but all of the other Christian denominations are given a pass because they're cool with the witch coven. I really don't think Catholics in the 1980s were okay with witchcraft existing in small-town America, but I wasn't alive then so what do I know.
The Flatliners subplot about a scientist trying to bring people back from the dead should have been its own novel. As it stands it feels like an out of place contrivance to have the main character die and then come back from the dead. Still, I can't knock a bizarre plot device like that.
Also of note: the one character whose backstory is that she lied about being molested in Catholic school so she could get a mean teacher kicked out. A really bad taste, confusing decision. But in a way that's what reading pulpy horror novels is all about, those head-scratcher moments.
On that note, assorted thoughts on the Paperbacks from Hell type moments: The noble savage exoticizing of Wicca is really funny in how tone deaf and sincere it is. Strieber, dude, they're just hippies. Also weird that evangelical Christianity is specifically portrayed as bad (the leader of the town's congregation is a child molester and murderer), but all of the other Christian denominations are given a pass because they're cool with the witch coven. I really don't think Catholics in the 1980s were okay with witchcraft existing in small-town America, but I wasn't alive then so what do I know.
The Flatliners subplot about a scientist trying to bring people back from the dead should have been its own novel. As it stands it feels like an out of place contrivance to have the main character die and then come back from the dead. Still, I can't knock a bizarre plot device like that.
Also of note: the one character whose backstory is that she lied about being molested in Catholic school so she could get a mean teacher kicked out. A really bad taste, confusing decision. But in a way that's what reading pulpy horror novels is all about, those head-scratcher moments.