Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker
ISBN: 0061562491
256 pages
published in 2008.
Oh God was this a disappointing book. I think the worst part was that I had such high hopes for it, really, considering I’ve really loved everything I’ve read by Barker in the past and I really find all of his work really rich in imagination and innovation. What also sucks is that this book clearly had potential. I don’t know if it was just lack of direction or laziness or what, but it was REALLY not executed correctly, at all (I realize how arrogant that sounds, by the way, haha!)
The story is about Jakabok Botch, a minor demon from the 9th circle of Hell, Dante’s Inferno-style, who gets fished up onto Earth and does all sorts of horrible things. We get some sketches of what his life was like growing up, what his experiences were on Earth, his problems, insecurities, feelings and relationships (including one heated romantic relationship with another demon.) All of this really seems quite interesting at first, and it’s certainly the only book I’ve seen that seems to want to approach a story like this from this point of view. The fact that the book is written so that it seems that Botch *is* the book and has been trapped within the pages is also quite creative and fun. It opens with him insisting that you burn the book, and while this is startling and capturing in the first few pages, one of the book’s major downfalls is that this just continues. incessantly. for. half. the. length. of. the. book. Honestly, if I had the time I would subtract a page from the page count for each page where Barker repeats Botch’s requests to have you burn the book and all of the horrible consequences there will be for you if you don’t. I’m sure the book would lose most of its bulk. How it was allowed past the editor in that way is astonishing to me.
This also means that the little time story was given, it was poorly fleshed out and the characters especially suffered from this. You’d think you’d get a better feeling for Botch considering he is the narrator, but he is still only a shadow of a character — you have a sense of anticipation throughout the whole story, thinking you’re going to actually get to know what his deal is, but you never do. The rest of the characters, then, are just laughable. They may as well not be in the book, as the reader has little chance of attachment or interest in them at all.
I hate to give Barker such a low rating, but he really missed the boat. It wasn’t even a little bit spooky, for the record. Maybe next time!
