Review of Malefic
2 posts
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Malefic" by joseph guberman.]
Mankind has been assigned Executives to help guide them: Buddha, Jesus Christ, and Mohammad. These Executives agreed that a system was needed to further help humanity. That system is called Malefic.
Malefic by Joseph Guberman starts with an outside look into the Isaac family, with reports from Malefic—a supernatural force—on the family’s “data”: their emotions, thoughts, actions, etc. The Isaacs started as a happy family, but Dorothy and Eric—the parents—grew apart. Eric started seeing other women, and Dorothy smoked more. Having an unwanted pregnancy and giving birth to Sam, an unwanted child, did not help their marriage. Sam grew up stealing, committing petty crimes, and doing drugs. He eventually got jobs, mostly dealing in mental health, but consistently jumped from job to job. Malefic reports his successes—but mostly failures—to the Executives. Malefic shows his journey of self-discovery, self-esteem, and his battle with his mental health issues. The book also includes stories about Sam’s other family members, such as his sisters, Glenda and Lily, and his brother, Frank.
Unfortunately, the only good thing I have to say about this book is that it was a fairly short read. I initially thought the concept of his book was interesting, but right off the bat, the story confused me. The prologue explains that mankind originally lived on Mars, but when they destroyed that planet, humanity was moved to Earth. It’s confusing because it’s never explained further in the story. Mars is never brought up again. So, I’m not sure why it was even included in the first place.
The story goes back and forth—frequently—in time. It’ll go from talking about Sam’s bar mitzvah and then switch to something that happened to him as a teenager and then go back. It did this a lot, and it really jumbled the story. The author will also start a story or explanation of something and then move on without making a point about it. For example, the narrator started saying how one time Sam tried to convince Frank to make a daring jump over a lawn chair but never finished the story. Did Frank jump? Did he chicken out? What was the point of that memory? I don’t know; it was never revealed.
Malefic honestly didn’t feel like a story. It felt like I read a report of a story; a play-by-play telling me what happened. I never got to actually experience anything with the characters because there was no emotion from any character, just flat, emotionless reports of what happened. All “tell”, no “show”. It made for a boring story, and I struggled to find a point at all to what I was reading.
This is supposed to be a story of Sam’s journey through mental health while he battles through the struggles Malefic gives him. I understand and appreciate what the author was trying to do once I finished the book, but my journey to get there was hard, slow, and confusing. I saw Sam’s growth, but because of the way the story was told, I couldn’t connect with Sam, so I didn’t really care about him.
Malefic is not a story I would recommend. There are many easier and more enjoyable books out there that impress the same idea onto readers as this one. Ultimately, because of the various issues I’ve mentioned throughout my review—and the sheer number of grammatical errors I encountered while reading (which was a lot)—I give Malefic2 out of 5 stars. I decided not to give it a 1 because of the message of mental health the author was trying to portray, which I appreciate. It just wasn’t executed very well.
******
Malefic
View: on Bookshelves
Mankind has been assigned Executives to help guide them: Buddha, Jesus Christ, and Mohammad. These Executives agreed that a system was needed to further help humanity. That system is called Malefic.
Malefic by Joseph Guberman starts with an outside look into the Isaac family, with reports from Malefic—a supernatural force—on the family’s “data”: their emotions, thoughts, actions, etc. The Isaacs started as a happy family, but Dorothy and Eric—the parents—grew apart. Eric started seeing other women, and Dorothy smoked more. Having an unwanted pregnancy and giving birth to Sam, an unwanted child, did not help their marriage. Sam grew up stealing, committing petty crimes, and doing drugs. He eventually got jobs, mostly dealing in mental health, but consistently jumped from job to job. Malefic reports his successes—but mostly failures—to the Executives. Malefic shows his journey of self-discovery, self-esteem, and his battle with his mental health issues. The book also includes stories about Sam’s other family members, such as his sisters, Glenda and Lily, and his brother, Frank.
Unfortunately, the only good thing I have to say about this book is that it was a fairly short read. I initially thought the concept of his book was interesting, but right off the bat, the story confused me. The prologue explains that mankind originally lived on Mars, but when they destroyed that planet, humanity was moved to Earth. It’s confusing because it’s never explained further in the story. Mars is never brought up again. So, I’m not sure why it was even included in the first place.
The story goes back and forth—frequently—in time. It’ll go from talking about Sam’s bar mitzvah and then switch to something that happened to him as a teenager and then go back. It did this a lot, and it really jumbled the story. The author will also start a story or explanation of something and then move on without making a point about it. For example, the narrator started saying how one time Sam tried to convince Frank to make a daring jump over a lawn chair but never finished the story. Did Frank jump? Did he chicken out? What was the point of that memory? I don’t know; it was never revealed.
Malefic honestly didn’t feel like a story. It felt like I read a report of a story; a play-by-play telling me what happened. I never got to actually experience anything with the characters because there was no emotion from any character, just flat, emotionless reports of what happened. All “tell”, no “show”. It made for a boring story, and I struggled to find a point at all to what I was reading.
This is supposed to be a story of Sam’s journey through mental health while he battles through the struggles Malefic gives him. I understand and appreciate what the author was trying to do once I finished the book, but my journey to get there was hard, slow, and confusing. I saw Sam’s growth, but because of the way the story was told, I couldn’t connect with Sam, so I didn’t really care about him.
Malefic is not a story I would recommend. There are many easier and more enjoyable books out there that impress the same idea onto readers as this one. Ultimately, because of the various issues I’ve mentioned throughout my review—and the sheer number of grammatical errors I encountered while reading (which was a lot)—I give Malefic2 out of 5 stars. I decided not to give it a 1 because of the message of mental health the author was trying to portray, which I appreciate. It just wasn’t executed very well.
******
Malefic
View: on Bookshelves
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