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A review by adamsfall
Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi
2.0
Man, I’ve really struck out with Malfi so far. I’m just gonna list bullet points of my thoughts:
- main character is lame and a played out trope
- his brother has a disability and it’s handled questionably and is constantly described as fat or large in various degrading ways
- the female character is there to drive the “fulfill your destiny” plot
- the black character has a skin disease and it’s handled really poorly and the descriptions of it seem harmful
- the beginning is strong and the main bad guy seems promising
- the adult sections were a slog and nothing interesting happened
- the book is heavily derivative of IT and the Outsider but doesn’t do any of what it steals well. Honestly… it’s kinda like what he does with the second main bad guy…
SPOILERS
- they kill the main bad off screen halfway through the book and replace him with a different bad guy… but he does mostly the same things but not in a supernatural way? Seriously it’s like if Stephen King decided to kill Pennywise off screen and then have Henry Bowers take the spot as the main antagonist… but like… still wear a clown mask to fake you out… but poorly.
- the “real magic” part is really underdeveloped
- they kill the only likable character in the whole book
- seriously Ronald Malfi seems like he hates fat people
Final Thoughts:
I thought this was a book. It had pages. The prose was very well written, but the plot was a mess and didn’t seem like it did anything worthwhile. The book ended like one of those 80s sitcom drug awareness episodes.
“Hey friends, we all had fun here today. But seriously, drinking and drugs are bad. Don’t drink, smoke, or chew, or go with girls who do.”
- main character is lame and a played out trope
- his brother has a disability and it’s handled questionably and is constantly described as fat or large in various degrading ways
- the female character is there to drive the “fulfill your destiny” plot
- the black character has a skin disease and it’s handled really poorly and the descriptions of it seem harmful
- the beginning is strong and the main bad guy seems promising
- the adult sections were a slog and nothing interesting happened
- the book is heavily derivative of IT and the Outsider but doesn’t do any of what it steals well. Honestly… it’s kinda like what he does with the second main bad guy…
SPOILERS
- they kill the main bad off screen halfway through the book and replace him with a different bad guy… but he does mostly the same things but not in a supernatural way? Seriously it’s like if Stephen King decided to kill Pennywise off screen and then have Henry Bowers take the spot as the main antagonist… but like… still wear a clown mask to fake you out… but poorly.
- the “real magic” part is really underdeveloped
- they kill the only likable character in the whole book
- seriously Ronald Malfi seems like he hates fat people
Final Thoughts:
I thought this was a book. It had pages. The prose was very well written, but the plot was a mess and didn’t seem like it did anything worthwhile. The book ended like one of those 80s sitcom drug awareness episodes.
“Hey friends, we all had fun here today. But seriously, drinking and drugs are bad. Don’t drink, smoke, or chew, or go with girls who do.”