A review by nataliesnotinit
Master of Reality by John Darnielle

4.0

Leave it to John Darnielle to take an already engrossing premise for digging into the enduring appeal of a defining early metal album and turn it into a Trojan Horse for a bifurcated novella with a devastating structural twist that acts as an active condemnation of how the psychiatric system fails mentally ill youth and leaves them to helplessly fend for themselves once they become adults. Was not expecting this to nearly move me to tears. Possibly Darnielle's best work in the written word, maybe the most significant to supplementing his career-long artistic legacy in profound empathy.