A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I'm torn on this book because it's not that I didn't enjoy it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed. I think what some others have said about this book, that the author had a good idea but couldn't execute, is in line with what I feel about it, as well.

I love novels that teeter the line between mental illness and straight up demonic possession (that's an odd thing to love, right?...) and keep the reader guessing as to which condition we're dealing with. But for some reason, this one didn't as much teeter the line, but rather convincingly crossed over to one side (spoiler alert: demonic possession), yet still refused to fully give up on the potentially schizophrenic protagonist scenario. It didn't seem believable, and it came across a bit as the author saying "I don't want to alienate myself and seem like an overly religious nut job, so I'll add in a few questionable scenes so that people can still make a case for this being about someone who's mentally ill, rather than someone who's most definitely possessed by a demon". Or maybe I'm looking too much into it, and the author really isn't saying that, but just wanted me to think he was saying that, and in turn completely succeeded in his mission - in which case - bravo. Wow. Hm. Now I'm not even sure of my own convictions.

Anyway, the storyline was pretty good, the characters were okay, but there were missing pieces that had they been included, could have taken this novel to another level. Too many important things were left unexplained - and I am not even referring to the overly ambiguous ending. Kurt's unfortunate situation and the events that followed, George's father's "visions" (not to mention his actual reason for going to Honduras), the whole existences of Tom, uncle Freddie and Clarissa, the much too convenient appearances and then disappearances of the demon... I don't know. For a 300+ page novel, there were an oddly large amount of unresolved plot points.

And the writing style, while I enjoyed the past to present flip flopping, didn't seem to serve any purpose. Why did the "journals" adult George wrote sound like a verbatim account of events transpired with every single detail down to someone's accent accounted for, rather than someone reflecting on their memories? And when adult George was speaking in present day, why was the story recounted as if he was at all times speaking with his psychologist, even though there was no indication of this?

I even began to think child George wasn't to be trusted as a narrator and all the "memories" he was jotting down were pure fiction and a way to blame a so called demon for his terrible actions. Maybe the author was way ahead of me the whole time and laughing at anyone who thought his story was a cut and dry religiously inspired demonic novel. But hey - clearly I am overthinking this and possibly missing the true point that the author was trying to make. I suppose l'll never know.



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