Review by Fanfunctional -- A Good Boy by Anthony Andre

[Fanfunctional]

[Following is a volunteer review of "A Good Boy" by Anthony Andre.]

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1 out of 4 stars

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<r>Dissatisfied and bored are two words I’ll use to describe my immediate feelings upon finishing <I><s></s>A Good Boy <e></e></I>by Anthony Andre. While I’m by no means easy when it comes to reviews, my honest thoughts are nothing more than that, and I don’t forget that like the author, I enjoy reading too. Caution: fire ahead.<br/>
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<I><s></s>A Good Boy <e></e></I>follows new, inexperienced preacher Welsley Aames as he maneuvers the church setting among a cast of unlikeable characters and unrealistic scenarios. When a young girl in town takes her own life, and everyone is quick to point fingers, Welsley has to cope with his role as preacher versus his own values- but barely. Conflicts between religion, small town gossip, teenage life and suicide were appealing to me and after reading the summary, I had hopes I’d be pleasantly surprised with a sophisticated take on all of these. After all, much could be done with these topics in mind.<br/>
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My initial thoughts several chapters in were that nothing was really being said. Certainly nothing that seemed relevant to the summary given. The plot was simply uninteresting and there was far too much filler and unnecessary dialogue to hold my interest. I waited until the supposed driving force of the novel- the unfortunate suicide- to see if things would change and they did, for the worse.<br/>
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This leads to my second issue with the story. Without spoiling anything, I’ll simply say I was almost offended at how caricature-esque the characters were. Forgive me for getting my expectations up but I was almost laughing at how bad the portrayal of the girl’s suicide was. Again- this is all in the summary. To be frank, it was as if the author had never seen a teenage girl in his life, because I had to ask myself if it was a parody or not. As a result of how stereotypical and unrealistic both the characters and scenarios were, I developed no feelings for the characters; in fact quite the opposite. The worst example comes from the young girl texting her friend, and it’s just embarrassing to read. Her suicide is an insult to people struggling with abuse/ mental illness and the way the story exaggerates while simultaneously downplaying it is awful to read. Nobody seems to really be affected by her death, and the protagonist especially gets lost in whatever thought he has at the moment, leading me to think the town is right in doubting his preaching abilities. The stereotypes and misrepresentation are something to behold- another notable moment being a scene with a pitbull. I actively thought, “I bet this dog is in dogfights just because hey, it’s a pitbull.” Sure enough- that’s exactly what happened.<br/>
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Speaking of misrepresentation- a lot of it could have been avoided with proper language. Not all, but much of it. Regarding the texting between characters at one point in the story, instead of every line reading ‘So and So to Mary Sue: ......’ the author could have spared my eyes some pain by simply writing ‘So and So:’ After all, that is how texting works. Social medial also comes into play through Facebook posts, and these are just as bad if not worse. I appreciate anyone’s tenacity and endurance to write an entire book but I have to wonder if the author knows how Facebook works- particularly regarding inappropriate Facebook posts and other media. Additionally, there are a few grammatical/ structure errors, but nothing that removed me from the point of the sentences.<br/>
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However, my last item on the agenda is that while often the writing isn’t bad, it’s not good. It’s not enough to write okay sentences. Maybe this was someone’s first novel, or maybe (and I suspect) it was an ambitious labour of love. But as mentioned, the plot is hardly there, and what is there is grossly exaggerated among otherwise mundane exposition. It’s a lot like finding an ugly, ugly doll among a yard sale of forgettable clutter. I’m not sure what’s worse but it’s certainly not a yard sale I’m interested in. <br/>
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I think every author deserves credit for their time and effort put into writing a story. But <I><s></s>A Good Boy<e></e></I> takes itself far too seriously for what feels like a first time writer. The language is repetitive, the characters bizarrely exaggerated, and the story laughably boring at best. That’s why I’m giving it a solid <B><s></s>1 out of 4 stars.<e></e></B></r>

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A Good Boy
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Like Fanfunctional's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Brittany J]

Thanks for the honest review. It's a shame such serious topics seem to have a mockery made out of them.

[Fanfunctional]

I think it was out of inexperience than anything else, but I’m glad someone read the review!!