Customer Reviews
dratz... 
2008-04-24
... I was so excited about getting this book... then I began reading and was sorely disappointed. It took so much longer to read as it never took hold of me... it didn't suck me in like most of Clive's other books have. I kept reading little by little, hoping SOMEthing would grab me, but the content just wasn't there. I don't think I ever really felt for Mister B. I'm STILL not going to free Mister B. by burning the book, but it surely wants another owner.
Love ya Clive, no matter.
^..^
very dark 
2008-04-17
This book is an easy and quick read. I thought the way Barker wrote the book was very different than anything I've ever read before. Basically this nobody demon gets captured out of the 9th circle of hell and tells his story about his life up here on earth. In between telling you his story, he "talks" to you through the book. Basically he wants you to burn the book-and gets very convincing...If you want to be creeped out read it in the dark with a flash light alone. I can see why people wouldn't like it, but if you're a Barker fan you will just have to see for yourself.
Purging the Demon, or Each Little Horror is Money in the Bank... 
2008-04-10
This book is not merely BY a demon, it IS a demon. I really cannot remember anyone else using that premise- the book as a living thing. If its power to stick in your mind is any indication, then this book is alive.
It got me thinking- are not all novels really more artifacts of Hell than they are of Heaven? The novel is a modern invention that differs fundamentally from the sort of books that came before. Before the novel books, plays, stories going back to campfires, or even the plays of the Greeks, served a teaching function. They told stories of a mythological, even holy nature. Now, the novel is so much less than this- it does not seek to elevate, it seeks to titillate. A novel entertains, and distracts, it takes up time, it makes money. And, yes, as often as not, it lies.
One other thing, I found it significant that the ninth circle of Hell bore a remarkable resemblance to an abusive working class family and neighborhood. At least for a child who is sensitive or "different." I guess Barker literally wrote what he knew...
Of course this gives it a truer ring than most portraits of the infernal regions. It reads more like a description of the lower astral planes where the souls of greedy, self-centered, unloving, resentful persons are stuck. It is also interesting that this is where the author places the most "intellectual" of the demons; those who have come to the conclusion that existance is without purpose or meaning. These become the most monstrous demons of them all.
When all is said and done, Barker has left us with a lasting, lingering, believable portrait of Hell. However, his Demons are hardly necessary to populate it, for his humans are quite up to the task. In fact, any Hell that exists comes across as a mirror of what we create for ourselves and our fellows here on earth. After all, how could a greater Hell arise from a lesser?
Perhaps this novel does have a teaching purpose, if only it makes us reflect on the results of our actions in this world and the next. This book will give you nightmares, but that also serves a purpose- to see who will be master...
To All You Nay-Sayers 2008-03-24
Where's youze guyz sense of humor? Clive Barker's new book is one of the most entertaining and amusing books I've read in a long long time. It is clearly written with tongue-in-cheek. I read it with a smile on my face throughout and, often, with an out loud laugh. When was the last time you read a book narrated by a minor demon with both an evil and a humerous side? I've read all of Henry James, Edith Wharton, Dickens, Proust,Richard Russo and the John's Cheever & Updike as well as several others of Barker so I have something of a background against which to compare this book. It's not a masterpiece but what a refreshing change of pace! Nice work, Clive! Any chance of making it the first installment of a series?
Underwhelming 
2008-03-19
How can you not at least pick this book up and examine it? It looks . . . old. Very old.
Written in 1438, Clive Barker's Mister B. Gone tells the tale of a demon, Jakabok Botch, brought to the World Above by some enterprising "fishermen." Jakabok, or "Mister B," as he is sometimes referred, tries everything he can to get you to burn the book. "Burn this book" is his mantra. Why, though, isn't clear until the last pages. At times soft, other time full of venom and malice, Jakabok weaves his tale, from his home in the Ninth Ring through his experiences in our world. As one may guess, he didn't have a model childhood, being raised in Hell. His time in our world was spent travelling with another demon, causing all manner of death, until he comes to a small town in Germany around the year 1438. And now he speaks directly to you though this book.
Barker has created a very good environment for reading this book. It looks old and feels old, lending credence to the idea that this book has been gathering dust on someone's book shelf since 1438. In fact, I had several comments about reading such an old book. The stories that Jakabok relates are good, but, as a "Master of Horror," I was expecting more from Barker and Jakabok. Yes, we are told of some of Mister B's more horrific adventures, but looking back, they weren't exactly what I was expecting. Further, there could have been more written about his exploits. While the story flowed very well, and is a fast read, there could have been more added. Why there are some holes is explained toward the end. Speaking of the ending, there is a Secret. It proved to be an interesting twist.
But somehow, I feel as though I have given Barker my time and was not paid back with a great novel. Too much pressure on him? I don't think so, since this is his first adult horror novel in quite some time. He had the time, the premise, and the great environment. But the delivery was less than stellar.
Mister B. Gone 2008-06-10
Clive Barker took a break from horror for a while. He wrote some awesome fantasy novels, including Weaveworld and Imajica, which are profoundly effective in what they set out to accomplish. He wrote two volumes in a series of books for younger adults with three more on the way, and a couple of films. For a Master of Horror, there were a few years there where he rarely touched the visceral darkness that made his name with publications like "The Hellbound Heart" and the "Books of Blood".
"Mister B. Gone" is marketed as a triumphant return to Barker's particular style of uneasy, bloody horror. The premise is simple: within the pages of the neat little hardback the readers holds, a demon is imprisoned and talking to them. You, as the reader, are alternately coerced, seduced and threatened by the demon. Its sole concern? That you burn the book and forget it ever existed.
It's a compelling idea and certainly makes the first ten pages entertaining and refreshingly original. Not since Mark Z Danielewski's "This is not for you" has a reader been so determined to read further. On this occasion, you merely want to learn a bit more about this silver-tongued devil trapped between the pages. He reveals his name - Jakabok Botch - and that he was once chased by his abusive father right out of the highest level of hell and to the "Surface World", where he isn't well received by 14th Century humanity. He reluctantly provides pieces of his story, which is in turn humorous and repulsive - he is a demon, after all. Eventually his tale leads to a clash of events involving the creation of a wonderful new machine, and the conflict between demonic and celestial beings to decide who should control it.
Although the novel is an amusing, brief diversion, it unfortunately fails on a number of points. The primary hook of the story - that of Mister B. compelling the reader to end its life by burning the book that holds him - soon becomes a tiresome repetition of phrases and part of a predictable structure that really serves only to slow down the true story. It never really stops being amusing, but the reader will quite likely feel like using the book's nifty little bookmark-ribbon and taking a break every time Mister B. abruptly halts the story to once again complain about the reader's stubbornness.
That's another problem. It's amusing, perhaps too amusing. That's the big problem with marketing a novel as being of the horror genre: if it's not scary, or at least gruesome, then you're going to get a lot of pissed-off horror fans. Sadly this is the case this time. There are brief moments of bloodiness, but the protagonist deals with them in such a flippant manner - why should a denizen of Hell give a stuff if he fill his bath with the blood of babies? - that any glimpses of horrific acts fail to register. The tone of the novel is simply too light, and although the quality and style of the narrative is smooth and of a high standard, the tone lets the book down.
The characters and their relationships suffer from the brevity of the book, resulting in the reader caring little, if at all, about the actors in the story. Even the protagonist, who eventually describes his childhood and every emotional, significant or traumatic event since, is not quite three-dimensional and rarely manages to elicit any kind of emotional response from the reader. The characters intermingle in uncertain, sexually-ambiguous relationships that are reminiscent of Anne Rice's work, but even though Barker has established himself as a strong emotive writer, he still never quite succeeds in getting the point across with this one.
The fact that I read the book in three sittings means that there must be something decent there, something that retains interest, but I can't put my finger on it. The conclusion to Mister B.'s story is much built up, but is only satisfactory compared to the type of staggering denouements we're used to in such works as "Imajica". Are we expecting too much? Or is it just too much to ask to get at least a little fright from our horror fiction? It's not a bad novel, and it's very well presented. It's only a shame that it doesn't live up to expectations.
Do not Start Your Barker Experience with this Book, but Still an Enjoyable, Satirical Read. 2008-06-04
It is hard to be impartial when it comes to Barker, for I have been a fan of his work since I was in my mid to late teens. But, I will not recommend this to first time readers of Clive's work. You won't care for Barker if you take this as an introduction. This was obviously written for longtime Barkerophiles, and I have to be thankful for it. It is filled with satirical whimsy and tongue-in-cheek blasphemy Clive fans will enjoy and, trust me, you won't be able to stop yourself from chuckling out loud at some sections.
Jakabok is oddly endearing or, rather, becomes so over the course of the novel. Some stunning imagery and words, as always (particularly near the end), from Barker.
Again, not a book for newcomers to Barker, but if you have read "Imagica", "Books of Bloods", "Cabal," et al., this is a read I think you will enjoy, just enter with the caveat it is not a horror novel, it is a dark satire. A comical look at a lower demon's life, and his travels with a beloved fellow demon friend, after the lower demon is accidentally dragged from the lower levels of hell and into the human world.
Idiot reviewers 2008-05-22
I've read many of Barker's novels, and this has been a fun ride. Aside from The Thief of Always or his short fiction, it has been his easiest and most fun story to read.
Several reviews have complained about different typographical errors in the book. If any of them would actually use their brain they would realize that the book is coming strait from the mouth of a demon. It would make sense that the demon has not mastered the english language.
The audio book is better 2008-05-10
I know that the written version is full of grammatical errors. May I suggest the audio book? I just finished it and I can tell you that the acting from the reader is really good and I think it makes it a better book that way. And you wont get distracted with the errors in the text.
Great read - quick, funny, fun. 2008-05-03
Reading this book on a Kindle was a special treat given its postmodern self-reference. A pleasurable read. Recommended.
