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Supernatural Minnesota #2
The M.D.: A Horror Story
Six-year-old Billy was given a present that would change the world - the power over life and death, granted to him by the mischievous god, Mercury. Billy soon learns to use his gift to extraorindary and horrific effect, visiting his best and worst impulses on childhood friends and enemies.
541 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
11 people are currently reading
630 people want to read
About the author
Thomas M. Disch
379 books313 followersPoet and cynic, Thomas M. Disch brought to the sf of the New Wave a camp sensibility and a sardonicism that too much sf had lacked. His sf novels include Camp Concentration, with its colony of prisoners mutated into super-intelligence by the bacteria that will in due course kill them horribly, and On Wings of Song, in which many of the brightest and best have left their bodies for what may be genuine, or entirely illusory, astral flight and his hero has to survive until his lover comes back to him; both are stunningly original books and both are among sf's more accomplishedly bitter-sweet works.
In later years, Disch had turned to ironically moralized horror novels like The Businessman, The MD, The Priest and The Sub in which the nightmare of American suburbia is satirized through the terrible things that happen when the magical gives people the chance to do what they really really want. Perhaps Thomas M. Disch's best known work, though, is The Brave Little Toaster, a reworking of the Brothers Grimm's "Town Musicians of Bremen" featuring wornout domestic appliances -- what was written as a satire on sentimentality became a successful children's animated musical.
In later years, Disch had turned to ironically moralized horror novels like The Businessman, The MD, The Priest and The Sub in which the nightmare of American suburbia is satirized through the terrible things that happen when the magical gives people the chance to do what they really really want. Perhaps Thomas M. Disch's best known work, though, is The Brave Little Toaster, a reworking of the Brothers Grimm's "Town Musicians of Bremen" featuring wornout domestic appliances -- what was written as a satire on sentimentality became a successful children's animated musical.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
April 29, 2016
Newsweek called him our “most formidably gifted unfamous American writer.” Talk about damning praise. When Thom Disch shot himself in 2008, I felt the loss deeply, though I'd only met the man once and could hardly have called him a friend. But then I imagine that many of his readers reacted this way.
Disch was always something of a phenomenon. His novels – especially The Genocides, Camp Concentration, 334 and On Wings of Song – loom among the classics of New Wave science fiction, and connoisseurs of the genre still speak of him in tones bordering on the reverential. Such an extraordinary body of work! The man’s versatility alone astonishes. Forget all the awards his fiction won. His six volumes of poetry were praised by critics, and his nationally published theatre reviews consistently displayed rare levels of erudition. (The legal problems that his own play, The Cardinal Detoxes, encountered with the Catholic Church became the stuff of off-off Broadway legend.) Then – after more than 25 years as a respected figure – he suddenly turned his hand... to horror.
I think it was the last thing anyone expected. But in truth, though his oeuvre resists categorization, dark elements could always be detected. Early collections like Getting into Death and Fun with Your New Head infused the weary literature of dread with some desperately needed creative vigor, even going a long way toward providing a veneer of counter-cultural chic. But it was the science fiction magazines of the sixties that nurtured the man’s iconoclastic talent, and it’s this very background that continued to render him so radical a force. Whereas SF stems from a long tradition of enlightened speculation about the nature and fate of mankind, few horror novels since Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus can boast a philosophical basis. (This isn’t the place to editorialize about how reactionary the horror genre has become, but decades of popular novels in which some nasty creature of foreign origin and/or ambiguous sexuality menaces a nice family have all but defanged it. Buy me a beer sometime, and I’ll talk your ear off on the subject.) The MD may be nearly unique among contemporary works of supernatural terror: a serious and thoughtful novel that seeks to provoke a response altogether more complex than goosebumps. Though it possesses many of the elements of traditional horror (a creaking staircase in an old dark house, something ghastly hidden in the cellar), the fears it catalogs are not culled from folklore. As in the most intellectually valid forms of SF, those efforts rooted in Wellsian traditions of social commentary, Disch employed freewheeling invention to emphasize influences already present in everyday life, postulating an America in which public ignorance, governmental corruption, and industrial greed have collaborated in rendering the planet barely habitable. New diseases abound, and fundamentalist groups oversee concentration camps for plague victims.
Horrible.
The book ventures into that most alarming of speculative realms -- the all-too-plausible future. The premise, however, remains as fantastic as any nightmare.
At the root of all human evil, somewhere deep in the chromosomes, lie supernatural influences. One such malignant creature appears to young Billy, first in the guise of a pagan Santa Claus, later as the god Hermes. And his gift to the boy – a dead bird with some wire twisted about a stick – very nearly destroys the world, for this grisly Caduceus can truly heal but only in direct proportion to the extent that it first afflicts. Thus begins a savage dialectic on the corrupting influence of power. If the plot possesses a major flaw, that flaw lies in its vigorously schematic nature, but its rewards claim a similar source. The construction of The MD may appear convoluted, with its many asides and epiphanies of character analysis, but as it traces Billy’s growth to adulthood and his climb toward becoming the most powerful physician in the world, it attains a rare purity of function: it induces absolute horror.
Disch was always something of a phenomenon. His novels – especially The Genocides, Camp Concentration, 334 and On Wings of Song – loom among the classics of New Wave science fiction, and connoisseurs of the genre still speak of him in tones bordering on the reverential. Such an extraordinary body of work! The man’s versatility alone astonishes. Forget all the awards his fiction won. His six volumes of poetry were praised by critics, and his nationally published theatre reviews consistently displayed rare levels of erudition. (The legal problems that his own play, The Cardinal Detoxes, encountered with the Catholic Church became the stuff of off-off Broadway legend.) Then – after more than 25 years as a respected figure – he suddenly turned his hand... to horror.
I think it was the last thing anyone expected. But in truth, though his oeuvre resists categorization, dark elements could always be detected. Early collections like Getting into Death and Fun with Your New Head infused the weary literature of dread with some desperately needed creative vigor, even going a long way toward providing a veneer of counter-cultural chic. But it was the science fiction magazines of the sixties that nurtured the man’s iconoclastic talent, and it’s this very background that continued to render him so radical a force. Whereas SF stems from a long tradition of enlightened speculation about the nature and fate of mankind, few horror novels since Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus can boast a philosophical basis. (This isn’t the place to editorialize about how reactionary the horror genre has become, but decades of popular novels in which some nasty creature of foreign origin and/or ambiguous sexuality menaces a nice family have all but defanged it. Buy me a beer sometime, and I’ll talk your ear off on the subject.) The MD may be nearly unique among contemporary works of supernatural terror: a serious and thoughtful novel that seeks to provoke a response altogether more complex than goosebumps. Though it possesses many of the elements of traditional horror (a creaking staircase in an old dark house, something ghastly hidden in the cellar), the fears it catalogs are not culled from folklore. As in the most intellectually valid forms of SF, those efforts rooted in Wellsian traditions of social commentary, Disch employed freewheeling invention to emphasize influences already present in everyday life, postulating an America in which public ignorance, governmental corruption, and industrial greed have collaborated in rendering the planet barely habitable. New diseases abound, and fundamentalist groups oversee concentration camps for plague victims.
Horrible.
The book ventures into that most alarming of speculative realms -- the all-too-plausible future. The premise, however, remains as fantastic as any nightmare.
At the root of all human evil, somewhere deep in the chromosomes, lie supernatural influences. One such malignant creature appears to young Billy, first in the guise of a pagan Santa Claus, later as the god Hermes. And his gift to the boy – a dead bird with some wire twisted about a stick – very nearly destroys the world, for this grisly Caduceus can truly heal but only in direct proportion to the extent that it first afflicts. Thus begins a savage dialectic on the corrupting influence of power. If the plot possesses a major flaw, that flaw lies in its vigorously schematic nature, but its rewards claim a similar source. The construction of The MD may appear convoluted, with its many asides and epiphanies of character analysis, but as it traces Billy’s growth to adulthood and his climb toward becoming the most powerful physician in the world, it attains a rare purity of function: it induces absolute horror.
July 28, 2009
Thomas M. Disch, The M.D. (Berkley, 1991)
There's a scene about halfway through The M.D. that really shows why Thomas M. Disch, though not a household name in letters, is revered by critics and discerning bibliophiles. I'm usually the harshest of reviewers when it comes to message fiction, that strain of writing where the plot is stopped in order for the writer to advance a point of view. But there's a debate here between a tobacco advocacy group executive and a bright thirteen-year-old boy that is so sparkling, not to mention well-written, that it's actually one of the best parts of the book. And I don't even agree with the viewpoint that wins. Of course, this could be because unlike most message fiction, Disch actually manages to make this debate integral to the plot. Yes, I mean integral; it sets up a couple of things that aren't exactly plot points, but that the whole framework of the fourth part of the book rests on. This isn't just some guy ranting, it's some guy who's plotted his book out in such detail that he knows exactly how far he can go with this diatribe and still get away with it. That's the mark of a master, and make no mistake about it—Thomas M. Disch defines “master”. He's like the Einsturzende Neubauten of American writers; not well-known by the public, but hugely influential among those who do the same thing he does.
The M.D. is the story of Billy, who is six years old and stuck in Catholic primary school as we start the book. After being told by a nun that Santa Claus doesn't exist, Billy contradicts her—after all, he's seen Santa Claus with his own two eyes. This exchange ends with Billy being sent to the office, but he never gets there. Instead, he runs away (without his coat in the middle of winter) to his private place, a secluded part of the local park, where we find out that maybe Billy isn't kidding, for Santa Claus appears to him again and promises that he's going to tell Billy a secret sometime soon. And when he does, this time appearing in the guise of the god Mercury, what a secret it is. Billy's annoying older brother Ned has created a makeshift caduceus in order to terrorize Billy; he took two twined sticks and tied a dead bird to them. Not your classic caduceus, to be sure, but where the sign of Mercury exists, he can invest it with power. And he bequeaths the caduceus to Billy, who can use it to heal. But it has a finite amount of energy. In order to replenish it, Billy must also make things sick...
This is your basic three-wishes story, but unlike most stories of this type, we have a thoughtful protagonist who actually learns from his mistakes as he goes along. That alone would make it worth your time, for it's one of the few innovations that could make such a clichéd storyline worth reading again. But Disch writes with an eye to, well, just about everything. We often love writers for doing one thing exceptionally well; Stephen King's absolute mastery of characterization, Dorothy Dunnett's intricate plotting, James Michener's meticulous research. Disch has taken all of the ways in which a writer can specialize and balanced them. It all works here, and it all works exceptionally. My only problem with the book is something that couldn't have been foreseen in 1991; he sets the fourth part of the book in 1999, and as usual with such things, what it looks like on paper and what it actually looked like are such different things that I can't help laughing at it. Also, as you might expect from some of my comments above, Disch tends towards fairy tale-style language here. Most of the time it's not at all intrusive, and it lends the book an interesting, amusing tone for being the drama/medical thriller novel that it is. Once we get into the fourth section, though, and head into the world of fantasy/sci-fi, the mix falls flat. Perhaps I've been spoiled by the recent steampunk and mythpunk books that have done it so perfectly, but that part of the book doesn't work as well as the first three. Still, the obscurity into which this book has fallen is a crime. Not surprising, given that Disch is not the literary rockstar he deserves to be, but saddening anyway. Find a copy and discover, or rediscover, the wonderful world of Tom Disch. *** ½
There's a scene about halfway through The M.D. that really shows why Thomas M. Disch, though not a household name in letters, is revered by critics and discerning bibliophiles. I'm usually the harshest of reviewers when it comes to message fiction, that strain of writing where the plot is stopped in order for the writer to advance a point of view. But there's a debate here between a tobacco advocacy group executive and a bright thirteen-year-old boy that is so sparkling, not to mention well-written, that it's actually one of the best parts of the book. And I don't even agree with the viewpoint that wins. Of course, this could be because unlike most message fiction, Disch actually manages to make this debate integral to the plot. Yes, I mean integral; it sets up a couple of things that aren't exactly plot points, but that the whole framework of the fourth part of the book rests on. This isn't just some guy ranting, it's some guy who's plotted his book out in such detail that he knows exactly how far he can go with this diatribe and still get away with it. That's the mark of a master, and make no mistake about it—Thomas M. Disch defines “master”. He's like the Einsturzende Neubauten of American writers; not well-known by the public, but hugely influential among those who do the same thing he does.
The M.D. is the story of Billy, who is six years old and stuck in Catholic primary school as we start the book. After being told by a nun that Santa Claus doesn't exist, Billy contradicts her—after all, he's seen Santa Claus with his own two eyes. This exchange ends with Billy being sent to the office, but he never gets there. Instead, he runs away (without his coat in the middle of winter) to his private place, a secluded part of the local park, where we find out that maybe Billy isn't kidding, for Santa Claus appears to him again and promises that he's going to tell Billy a secret sometime soon. And when he does, this time appearing in the guise of the god Mercury, what a secret it is. Billy's annoying older brother Ned has created a makeshift caduceus in order to terrorize Billy; he took two twined sticks and tied a dead bird to them. Not your classic caduceus, to be sure, but where the sign of Mercury exists, he can invest it with power. And he bequeaths the caduceus to Billy, who can use it to heal. But it has a finite amount of energy. In order to replenish it, Billy must also make things sick...
This is your basic three-wishes story, but unlike most stories of this type, we have a thoughtful protagonist who actually learns from his mistakes as he goes along. That alone would make it worth your time, for it's one of the few innovations that could make such a clichéd storyline worth reading again. But Disch writes with an eye to, well, just about everything. We often love writers for doing one thing exceptionally well; Stephen King's absolute mastery of characterization, Dorothy Dunnett's intricate plotting, James Michener's meticulous research. Disch has taken all of the ways in which a writer can specialize and balanced them. It all works here, and it all works exceptionally. My only problem with the book is something that couldn't have been foreseen in 1991; he sets the fourth part of the book in 1999, and as usual with such things, what it looks like on paper and what it actually looked like are such different things that I can't help laughing at it. Also, as you might expect from some of my comments above, Disch tends towards fairy tale-style language here. Most of the time it's not at all intrusive, and it lends the book an interesting, amusing tone for being the drama/medical thriller novel that it is. Once we get into the fourth section, though, and head into the world of fantasy/sci-fi, the mix falls flat. Perhaps I've been spoiled by the recent steampunk and mythpunk books that have done it so perfectly, but that part of the book doesn't work as well as the first three. Still, the obscurity into which this book has fallen is a crime. Not surprising, given that Disch is not the literary rockstar he deserves to be, but saddening anyway. Find a copy and discover, or rediscover, the wonderful world of Tom Disch. *** ½
January 26, 2024
Thomas Disch wrote primarily science fiction and horror before branching out into more literary horror, like The M.D., in the 80s and 90s, although trying to pigeonhole this one into one genre is neigh impossible. This largely follows the life of Billy, a young boy in the Twin Cities, starting in the early 70s and finishing up at the turn of the century, although not in a linear manner; each section is basically a time capsule of major events.
When Billy was 6 years old, he stole his older brother's 'magic stick', which used to terrify him. Basically the stick looks like a caduceus, the old entwined serpents that now symbolize the medical arts. Billy, however, was able to use the stick; all he had to do was swear his allegiance to the Greek God Mercury (devil?). He was informed by Mercury (and soon found out the hard way) that every time the magic is used for good, it must also induce some bad, so, cure someone's illness one day, but that would mean cursing someone else.
Disch's storyline meanders quite a bit, however, as this is much more than a horror tale. On the one hand, The M.D. darkly satirizes suburbia via Billy's upbringing and organized religion; on the other, we have a dark tale of 'magic' and ego run amok. The real jabs, however, are directed at religion. When Billy is 13, his elder step-sister becomes a catholic fanatic, although that does not stop her from entering carnal relations with Billy which in the end generated a child. This child later becomes a fanatic of some crazy television preacher, who turns out to be not just fake, but entirely made up and only appears as a cartoon. We also have in the 1990s various splits in the catholic church, but I will stop with the details.
What makes literary horror different from horror in general? I would argue it goes beyond clever prose and 5 dollar words; it really needs to induce a reflection of the world around us. Not just scare the reader therefore, but make a reader critically think about the world around them. Disch does accomplish that here, but the critical reflection came across as rather sophomoric to me and as a morality tale, The M.D. never really broke new ground-- "be careful what you wish for" "all good must be balanced by bad" and so forth.
Nonetheless, this novel has some very entertaining scenes and does build up a good creep factor at times. The social commentary reminded me a bit of George Carlin, but toned down a bit. This really is a door stopper, however, at almost 500 pages of small font, and the pacing is rather erratic to say the least. I did not love it, but I did not hate it, and probably glad a read it. I have read other books by Disch and really enjoyed them, but this one may not be the best place to start. 3 magic sticks!!
When Billy was 6 years old, he stole his older brother's 'magic stick', which used to terrify him. Basically the stick looks like a caduceus, the old entwined serpents that now symbolize the medical arts. Billy, however, was able to use the stick; all he had to do was swear his allegiance to the Greek God Mercury (devil?). He was informed by Mercury (and soon found out the hard way) that every time the magic is used for good, it must also induce some bad, so, cure someone's illness one day, but that would mean cursing someone else.
Disch's storyline meanders quite a bit, however, as this is much more than a horror tale. On the one hand, The M.D. darkly satirizes suburbia via Billy's upbringing and organized religion; on the other, we have a dark tale of 'magic' and ego run amok. The real jabs, however, are directed at religion. When Billy is 13, his elder step-sister becomes a catholic fanatic, although that does not stop her from entering carnal relations with Billy which in the end generated a child. This child later becomes a fanatic of some crazy television preacher, who turns out to be not just fake, but entirely made up and only appears as a cartoon. We also have in the 1990s various splits in the catholic church, but I will stop with the details.
What makes literary horror different from horror in general? I would argue it goes beyond clever prose and 5 dollar words; it really needs to induce a reflection of the world around us. Not just scare the reader therefore, but make a reader critically think about the world around them. Disch does accomplish that here, but the critical reflection came across as rather sophomoric to me and as a morality tale, The M.D. never really broke new ground-- "be careful what you wish for" "all good must be balanced by bad" and so forth.
Nonetheless, this novel has some very entertaining scenes and does build up a good creep factor at times. The social commentary reminded me a bit of George Carlin, but toned down a bit. This really is a door stopper, however, at almost 500 pages of small font, and the pacing is rather erratic to say the least. I did not love it, but I did not hate it, and probably glad a read it. I have read other books by Disch and really enjoyed them, but this one may not be the best place to start. 3 magic sticks!!
October 29, 2025
Disch reescribe las historias de genios que conceden deseos en esta novela que empieza siendo una sátira sobre la imposibilidad de los individuos para domeñar el mundo, aunque a veces parezcan tener el poder para ello, y termina en el terreno de la distopía sobre todo lo que rodea a la salud en su país (y lo peor de la epidemia del SIDA). Su crueldad se alimenta del pesimismo finisecular de un Disch que vierte toda su furia sobre la desprotección de la infancia debido a la desestructuración familiar y los fallos de otras jerarquías (política, educativa, religiosa). Tan despiadada y acre como bien escrita, petardea un poco en el tercer y último acto, no del todo bien conectado con los dos anteriores donde el autor de Campo de concentración recurre a un psicokiller surgido de la nada para resolver el argumento. Una pira funeraria espectacular a la que se ha visto arrastrado por la rabia; una tónica de esta etapa de su obra.
June 27, 2024
Family saga containing a magical staff. Your verse is its command. Silly little rhymes, huge consequences. Some intentional, some not. Oh sure, it's naive and funny at times and the tone is more cynical slash satirical than anything else, but it gets pretty dark and horrific every now and then as well. The author sure loves putting this family through the wringer. And something tells me that he isn't very fond of religion.. I enjoyed this, but not always. I sometimes felt like I was reading stuff that didn't need to be there, parts that could easily have been cut out. It's all a bit much. Messes with the flow of things. Glad I read it, though!
July 16, 2017
With 'The M.D.', Disch rips into the American family, religion, and science with a uniquely tenderhearted abandon. A play on 'The Monkey's Paw', this novel parodies the dangers of 'careful what you wish for.' A modern family drama, a comedy about happenstance, and in typical Disch fashion, an evocative dystopia. Nearly brilliant.
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September 3, 2022Thomas Disch was known for his original science fiction premises, but this late-career turn to pure fantasy is a modern riff on a well-worn theme: "the deal with the devil." What sets it far above the genre standard are the depth of its characterizations, the high quality of its prose, and the gathering sense of inexorable tragedy that permeates its every page. The M.D. contains grotesque imagery and disturbing scenes that continued to haunt me long after I'd closed the book. I might have found reading it unbearable had it not also been leavened, here and there, with a dark, subversive humor. Only a relatively weak ending prevents this excellent novel from being quite a great one.
June 11, 2019
4,5.
Menuda orgía de muertes alucinante.
Por favor, por favor, POR FAVOR, leed a este autor.
Nunca me cansaré de repetirlo, y es que este escritor tiene una inventiva que ya desearían para sí la inmensa mayoría de escritores vivos. Sus novelas son sumamente originales e impactantes e, incomprensiblemente para mí, es un autor injustamente infravalorado, que casi nadie conoce, ni siquiera los fans de la literatura de género (sobre todo cifi y terror). Sus libros están descatalogados, son imposibles de encontrar y en español solo se han traducido un puñado de ellos. Desde aquí hago un llamamiento a aquellas editoriales cuyo catálogo incluya o esté especializado en literatura de ciencia ficción y/o terror para que recupere a este magnífico escritor que sigue yaciendo en el olvido y que no lo merece.
De verdad, aparte de toda esta apología de la obra de Disch, no sé qué más hacer para que se lea a esta mente prodigiosa de la literatura.
Así que leedlo, maldita sea.
Menuda orgía de muertes alucinante.
Por favor, por favor, POR FAVOR, leed a este autor.
Nunca me cansaré de repetirlo, y es que este escritor tiene una inventiva que ya desearían para sí la inmensa mayoría de escritores vivos. Sus novelas son sumamente originales e impactantes e, incomprensiblemente para mí, es un autor injustamente infravalorado, que casi nadie conoce, ni siquiera los fans de la literatura de género (sobre todo cifi y terror). Sus libros están descatalogados, son imposibles de encontrar y en español solo se han traducido un puñado de ellos. Desde aquí hago un llamamiento a aquellas editoriales cuyo catálogo incluya o esté especializado en literatura de ciencia ficción y/o terror para que recupere a este magnífico escritor que sigue yaciendo en el olvido y que no lo merece.
De verdad, aparte de toda esta apología de la obra de Disch, no sé qué más hacer para que se lea a esta mente prodigiosa de la literatura.
Así que leedlo, maldita sea.
January 15, 2017
This is in many ways a powerfully written novel of dark humour mixed in with horror. A huge story is packed into 541 pages, covering among other things. inherited genetic disease, climate change (very prescient for something published in 1991), mass plague and tyrannical governmental response, corporate corruption, the tobacco industry, eating disorders, religious fanaticism and racism. All these themes are woven into the narrative with sometimes breathtaking virtuosity and the characters are for the most part strong and individual.
The story begins in the 1970s with six-year-old Billy, who lives with his dad and his dad's second wife, Madge, and her older son Ned, and elderly mother. Billy, who attends a Catholic kindergarten, refuses to accept the assertion by the overbearing nun in charge of his class that Santa Claus is an invented figure based on paganism. We learn that Billy actually sees Santa and converses with him - though before long, Santa is revealed to be another guise of a creature that introduces itself as the god Mercury. I wasn't quite sure if this was just one more persona it took on, although as it is fairly consistent throughout the book, maybe it actually is meant to be the god. Except this version of Mercury is rather malevolent. He transforms a 'poison stick' created by Billy's step-brother Ned from twisted twigs and a sparrow's skeleton, into a caduceus, Mercury's staff and traditional symbol of the medical profession, and imbues it with the ability to charge itself with power. This power can be dispensed for good, for example, to give Billy's family members good health. But there is a catch: to charge the caduceus Billy must dispense curses as well, and the power gained is in proportion to the awful nature of the curses. Being a six-year-old boy, Billy not only dishes out curses to people who have upset him in some way, he also bungles majorly on occasion, .
The book is divided into a number of parts which skip through the stages of Billy's life from the time of President Nixon's impeachment to an imagined 1999 (the book was published in 1991). The first four sections are an enjoyable page-turning read. In the first, Billy uses his newfound powers with tragic results. In the second, he is still living with his father and family and, undeterred by what he has already done, uses his powers for both good and for evil - with an outcome that although not directly due to his curses can be seen to stem from them .
In the third section, Billy is living with his mother and her second husband, Ben, plus Judith, Ben's daughter by his own first marriage. Judith is bright and engaging but suffers from anorexia. At her instigation, he begins calling himself William. This section focuses on Billy's 13th birthday and his birthday dinner to which an obnoxious spokesman for the tobacco industry, who indirectly funds Ben's work, invites himself, sparking a confrontation where Billy once again uses the caduceus with devastating results. William is now focused on becoming a doctor and is working hard at school to that end, with the intent of using the caduceus for finding cures for diseases, and curing Judith of anorexia. In part 4, he's older and is trying for accelerated entry to the program that will get him into university a few years early. He has become more adept at using the caduceus - with disastrous and tragic results.
In part 5, the book takes an odd turn with the introduction of Madge's long lost first husband and the father of Ned, who does some very bizarre things. Many years have passed since the ending of part 4, and William is now married with sons of his own. Although he is doing well and the supposedly non-profit organisation he runs has produced a vaccine against AIDS, society in generally is crumbling under the pressure of a new and highly contagious disease for which his organisation is trying to find a cure.
Ironically, it is in performing an unselfish action - and there is no explanation as to why someone so callous does so - he is hoist on his own petard .
One of the issues some readers might have with this story is the huge number of characters including various second husbands and wives and step-children. Mostly I managed to keep them clear, helped by the strong characterisation, though this started to become more difficult in the final section. However, in my opinion there is a much greater flaw. Part 5 - comprising the book's final third - falls apart in a bloodbath unleashed by a newly introduced character, and the epilogue gives a spurious 'explanation' of that character's behaviour. It is almost as if the author wanted to kill off just about everyone in a unwarranted grand guignol finale, rather than work out the implications of everything that had gone before with the wider storylines of the plague etc. There is also the odd behaviour of Madge's first husband, which introduces further complications, and the dark humour surrounding his and Madge's fate. The main problem however is that in this section, after being the focus of the story, William is largely passive and is a victim at the mercy of others, eventually pushed off to the sidelines. This final section in my opinion constitutes a large flaw after the earlier absorbing story, which was heading for at least a 4-star rating, and therefore reduces the book's overall rating to 3-stars.
The story begins in the 1970s with six-year-old Billy, who lives with his dad and his dad's second wife, Madge, and her older son Ned, and elderly mother. Billy, who attends a Catholic kindergarten, refuses to accept the assertion by the overbearing nun in charge of his class that Santa Claus is an invented figure based on paganism. We learn that Billy actually sees Santa and converses with him - though before long, Santa is revealed to be another guise of a creature that introduces itself as the god Mercury. I wasn't quite sure if this was just one more persona it took on, although as it is fairly consistent throughout the book, maybe it actually is meant to be the god. Except this version of Mercury is rather malevolent. He transforms a 'poison stick' created by Billy's step-brother Ned from twisted twigs and a sparrow's skeleton, into a caduceus, Mercury's staff and traditional symbol of the medical profession, and imbues it with the ability to charge itself with power. This power can be dispensed for good, for example, to give Billy's family members good health. But there is a catch: to charge the caduceus Billy must dispense curses as well, and the power gained is in proportion to the awful nature of the curses. Being a six-year-old boy, Billy not only dishes out curses to people who have upset him in some way, he also bungles majorly on occasion, .
The book is divided into a number of parts which skip through the stages of Billy's life from the time of President Nixon's impeachment to an imagined 1999 (the book was published in 1991). The first four sections are an enjoyable page-turning read. In the first, Billy uses his newfound powers with tragic results. In the second, he is still living with his father and family and, undeterred by what he has already done, uses his powers for both good and for evil - with an outcome that although not directly due to his curses can be seen to stem from them .
In the third section, Billy is living with his mother and her second husband, Ben, plus Judith, Ben's daughter by his own first marriage. Judith is bright and engaging but suffers from anorexia. At her instigation, he begins calling himself William. This section focuses on Billy's 13th birthday and his birthday dinner to which an obnoxious spokesman for the tobacco industry, who indirectly funds Ben's work, invites himself, sparking a confrontation where Billy once again uses the caduceus with devastating results. William is now focused on becoming a doctor and is working hard at school to that end, with the intent of using the caduceus for finding cures for diseases, and curing Judith of anorexia. In part 4, he's older and is trying for accelerated entry to the program that will get him into university a few years early. He has become more adept at using the caduceus - with disastrous and tragic results.
In part 5, the book takes an odd turn with the introduction of Madge's long lost first husband and the father of Ned, who does some very bizarre things. Many years have passed since the ending of part 4, and William is now married with sons of his own. Although he is doing well and the supposedly non-profit organisation he runs has produced a vaccine against AIDS, society in generally is crumbling under the pressure of a new and highly contagious disease for which his organisation is trying to find a cure.
Ironically, it is in performing an unselfish action - and there is no explanation as to why someone so callous does so - he is hoist on his own petard .
One of the issues some readers might have with this story is the huge number of characters including various second husbands and wives and step-children. Mostly I managed to keep them clear, helped by the strong characterisation, though this started to become more difficult in the final section. However, in my opinion there is a much greater flaw. Part 5 - comprising the book's final third - falls apart in a bloodbath unleashed by a newly introduced character, and the epilogue gives a spurious 'explanation' of that character's behaviour. It is almost as if the author wanted to kill off just about everyone in a unwarranted grand guignol finale, rather than work out the implications of everything that had gone before with the wider storylines of the plague etc. There is also the odd behaviour of Madge's first husband, which introduces further complications, and the dark humour surrounding his and Madge's fate. The main problem however is that in this section, after being the focus of the story, William is largely passive and is a victim at the mercy of others, eventually pushed off to the sidelines. This final section in my opinion constitutes a large flaw after the earlier absorbing story, which was heading for at least a 4-star rating, and therefore reduces the book's overall rating to 3-stars.
September 17, 2017
Good in so many ways, and truly disturbing. It's not as stylishly written as The Businessman or as focused as The Priest - it's the most self-consciously Stephen King-like one in the series, and it could be read as just a nicely plotted deal-with-the-devil story. But on second reading, I got the same sense that John Clute did (in his fine foreword to the Minnesota U.P. edition), that Disch isn't just writing about one misguided kid who makes bad things happen, but a whole world riddled with fatal flaws; Billy isn't the first to go this way, it may be happening all the time (and that would explain a lot), and the supernatural evil isn't always the worst part. (Corruption in business and bureaucracy are vividly portrayed here; ironically, they didn't really figure in The Businessman.) Still, amid all the despair, Disch has some love for all of his characters - even when he's making very deadpan fun of them or putting them through hell - and his world isn't just dark but full of a kind of playful mystery, a feeling that even though both your body and your spirit may be vulnerable to all kinds of horrible things, they're both pretty amazing.
(Edited to add: I put together some annotations I made during a recent reread here.)
(Edited to add: I put together some annotations I made during a recent reread here.)
August 6, 2024
This novel was my introduction to Disch. I was "literally" blown away.
I felt like I'd been reading "fluff" horror prior to this story. Wow.
It's been over 30 years since I read it but it remains on my all time favorites list
Enjoy.
I felt like I'd been reading "fluff" horror prior to this story. Wow.
It's been over 30 years since I read it but it remains on my all time favorites list
Enjoy.
October 21, 2021
Billy becomes the owner of a stick/caduceus powered by a god that allows him to heal, but only if it's balanced by an equal amount of harm.
This is a wonderfully literate horror novel. It doesn't rely on gross-outs or 'jump scares' but instead slowly drags you into the life of Billy, who seems like a pretty good kid, as his decisions build into something extremely monstrous. I would have given this five stars until the last part (Book Five) where things went off the rails a bit including moving Billy to more of a side character. Still, this was good enough for me to add "The Businessman" and "Camp Concentration" (which I've always kind of wanted to read) to my TBR.
This is a wonderfully literate horror novel. It doesn't rely on gross-outs or 'jump scares' but instead slowly drags you into the life of Billy, who seems like a pretty good kid, as his decisions build into something extremely monstrous. I would have given this five stars until the last part (Book Five) where things went off the rails a bit including moving Billy to more of a side character. Still, this was good enough for me to add "The Businessman" and "Camp Concentration" (which I've always kind of wanted to read) to my TBR.
January 19, 2024
The first major event in the book is so unspeakable it left me wondering where else could this go? But M.D. keeps going and through the book, it maintains a calculated ruthlessness. Blow after blow, M.D. finds a new ways to twist the cruel knife of fate. As the story progresses the book transitions from being more of a pure horror to a philosophical one. There are questions in the 2nd half of the book, about technology, A.I., pollution and how they intersect with human nature that feel relevant even 34 years after the book's release. M.D. is thoughtful, calculated and cruel. I enjoyed it very much.
November 11, 2021
I picked this one up to take a break from reading memoirs and because it has promotional blurbs by not only Stephen King but Dean Koontz too. I enjoyed the majority of the book but in the last 60-80 pages it wrapped up in a hurry. I felt cheated after investing my time the previous 380 some pages only for the writing to take on a galloping pace. It was as if the author wanted to be done with this book and move on to other things.
April 6, 2014
The M.D. offers an intriguing premise: what if the ancient Greek gods were real? In mythology they often actively intervened in the lives of mortals. In this novel, the god Mercury offers godlike powers to young Billy Michaels in exchange for his worship. Billy receives the caduceus, the ancient symbol of medicine consisting of twisted sticks topped with the desiccated carcass of a bird, and with it can cast spells to heal and protect anything. However, much like anything so powerful, there is a catch. In order to keep the caduceus charged with its magical power, Billy must perform an equal amount of damaging spells with it. Hence, for every person he saves, he must injure another. When he grows up to become a doctor, he truly plays god.
Thomas Disch offers many prescient insights of the "future", including a degraded environment, catastrophic plagues, climate change and worldwide economic meltdown. Impressive, considering this novel was published in 1991 and divides its setting between the 1970s and 1999.
What comes across loud and clear is Disch's dislike of religion, both the organized and fundamentalist flavors. Readers of the same persuasion may find themselves knowingly chuckling along with his sly observations. And the character of Judge perfectly illustrates blind, fundamentalist devotion to dogma and demagoguery.
While the story itself is interesting and I was excited to find out what became of the characters, the pace is uneven, flagging in the middle before picking up again at the end. The mix of politics, science, medicine, religion and family drama (almost all of the adults are remarried divorcees which makes keeping tracks of all of the family combinations a bit tedious) overwhelms the plot at times.
Recommended for fans of science-based horror, such as the novels of Robin Cook, though this is much more far-fetched and requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief.
Thomas Disch offers many prescient insights of the "future", including a degraded environment, catastrophic plagues, climate change and worldwide economic meltdown. Impressive, considering this novel was published in 1991 and divides its setting between the 1970s and 1999.
What comes across loud and clear is Disch's dislike of religion, both the organized and fundamentalist flavors. Readers of the same persuasion may find themselves knowingly chuckling along with his sly observations. And the character of Judge perfectly illustrates blind, fundamentalist devotion to dogma and demagoguery.
While the story itself is interesting and I was excited to find out what became of the characters, the pace is uneven, flagging in the middle before picking up again at the end. The mix of politics, science, medicine, religion and family drama (almost all of the adults are remarried divorcees which makes keeping tracks of all of the family combinations a bit tedious) overwhelms the plot at times.
Recommended for fans of science-based horror, such as the novels of Robin Cook, though this is much more far-fetched and requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief.
July 13, 2016
Visited by a mysterious supernatural being, who may or may not be the god Mercury, a child gains the magical power to heal... but every miraculous healing he performs must be balanced by causing injury or pain. It's a terribly tempting superpower, one that would be disastrous in the hands of an evil person, but luckily, our protagonist isn't evil... he's very idealistic and only wants to improve the world.
And that's where the slow slide into doom begins.
"The M.D." follows that child as he grows to a teenager and then an adult, trying to deal with his powers, sometimes spurning them, sometimes using them. This isn't a horror novel so much as an epic tragedy, a story spanning 30+ years where characters' flaws and vanities end up coming back to bite them in (supernaturally) horrible ways. A huge cast of characters, most of them very three-dimensional, almost no one is totally good or totally evil... which is great of course. It has a vaguely Stephen King-ish feeling, giving us peeks into the lives of lots of different people in small-town America, and featuring lots of disarming (but not distracting) humor. It's a lot more focused than a typical King novel, though, and ultimately much bleaker and more cynical.
I don't want to summarize the plot too much except to say: several reviewers here say they didn't like the final act, but personally, I *loved* it. The book ends marvelously, and there are lines that chill me to this day.
And that's where the slow slide into doom begins.
"The M.D." follows that child as he grows to a teenager and then an adult, trying to deal with his powers, sometimes spurning them, sometimes using them. This isn't a horror novel so much as an epic tragedy, a story spanning 30+ years where characters' flaws and vanities end up coming back to bite them in (supernaturally) horrible ways. A huge cast of characters, most of them very three-dimensional, almost no one is totally good or totally evil... which is great of course. It has a vaguely Stephen King-ish feeling, giving us peeks into the lives of lots of different people in small-town America, and featuring lots of disarming (but not distracting) humor. It's a lot more focused than a typical King novel, though, and ultimately much bleaker and more cynical.
I don't want to summarize the plot too much except to say: several reviewers here say they didn't like the final act, but personally, I *loved* it. The book ends marvelously, and there are lines that chill me to this day.
December 13, 2012
This is subtitled "A Horror Story", and while that's accurate I wouldn't say this is horror in the sense most of us think when we hear the term. It's not scary, and few of the normal trappings of a horror story are present. Still, this is a tale of something horrible, even monstrous.
The M.D. is the story of a young boy who is faced with a monstrous bargain: he can heal, but only in direct relation to the amount of life-force he uses to charge up his caduceus. I love the twisting of this medical symbol into a magic wand of sorts, especially one geared toward creating as much death and suffering as it does healing. Disch took the idea even further, and it gets very interesting, but no spoilers here.
This is the second book in the Supernatural Minnesota quartet, and while the books don't form a series there is a definite theme and feel that ties them together. Like King, Disch writes deep, sympathetic characters, and he's not afraid to make you love a character and then have horrible things happen to them. This is his strength, along with a quiet, slow-burning way of writing that belies the dark nature of these tales. Good stuff.
The M.D. is the story of a young boy who is faced with a monstrous bargain: he can heal, but only in direct relation to the amount of life-force he uses to charge up his caduceus. I love the twisting of this medical symbol into a magic wand of sorts, especially one geared toward creating as much death and suffering as it does healing. Disch took the idea even further, and it gets very interesting, but no spoilers here.
This is the second book in the Supernatural Minnesota quartet, and while the books don't form a series there is a definite theme and feel that ties them together. Like King, Disch writes deep, sympathetic characters, and he's not afraid to make you love a character and then have horrible things happen to them. This is his strength, along with a quiet, slow-burning way of writing that belies the dark nature of these tales. Good stuff.
July 19, 2010
Ok, Heres a Doozy for ya.
I had not went the Disch route before and quickly found that this guy
is pretty darn GOod.
The book is Intelligent and Cruel. The main character is a boy who
see's Santa Clause and is givin a wand stick(ITs Magic Baby) Well he
soon grows up enough and does not believe in Santa any Longer. So
Santa turns into something more believable. That Stick has some kinda
Voodoo on it I tell ya. Only thing is, theres always that damn price
you gotta pay for using it.
I have to say the boy was a character you really cared and felt for.
even though he kept innocently wrecking peoples lifes. his story went
on so long you wondered when Disch would finally get to the Adult part
of his tale. Unfortunately when it does. The story seems rushed and he
really isn't someone you care about anymore. Freakin Dumbass with a
Magic Stick.
This story was still very well written for the most part and very Dark.
Disch was obviously a very cynical man.(a recent suicide victim/May he
Rest in Peace)
4 Hail Larrys outta 5
I had not went the Disch route before and quickly found that this guy
is pretty darn GOod.
The book is Intelligent and Cruel. The main character is a boy who
see's Santa Clause and is givin a wand stick(ITs Magic Baby) Well he
soon grows up enough and does not believe in Santa any Longer. So
Santa turns into something more believable. That Stick has some kinda
Voodoo on it I tell ya. Only thing is, theres always that damn price
you gotta pay for using it.
I have to say the boy was a character you really cared and felt for.
even though he kept innocently wrecking peoples lifes. his story went
on so long you wondered when Disch would finally get to the Adult part
of his tale. Unfortunately when it does. The story seems rushed and he
really isn't someone you care about anymore. Freakin Dumbass with a
Magic Stick.
This story was still very well written for the most part and very Dark.
Disch was obviously a very cynical man.(a recent suicide victim/May he
Rest in Peace)
4 Hail Larrys outta 5
December 4, 2018
Where to begin? The beginning is great; creepy, well-written, draws you right into the family & all the characters. There is a lot of interesting foreshadowing. Then someone dies, book two begins & we're somewhere completely different. But it's okay, you get back into the rhythm of the story & persevere and it's pretty cool, although not as cool as before. And then someone dies, book three begins & we're somewhere completely different. And by that point you are tearing your hair out because enough is enough and nothing makes any sense any more. Somehow William has started this plague just because he can and he has a wife from out of nowhere who gets literally half a page of play before she's murdered, and everyone just dies, sometimes for no reason (see Ben and Madge and Lance/Launce/whatever his name is) and he has this son who's psycho & none of the foreshadowed elements actually had anything to do with the story & I threw the book across the room & shouted "Fie!"
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 13, 2012
Back in my Stephen King days I was always trying to find a writer like him. Well Thomas M. Disch is not like him but in his own way, just as good.
It ha been so long since I've read this book (Read it in Dutch and still have a Dutch copy) but i do remember I loved this book.
So If you like King, try this book. Very good blend mixing horror and fantasy.
It ha been so long since I've read this book (Read it in Dutch and still have a Dutch copy) but i do remember I loved this book.
So If you like King, try this book. Very good blend mixing horror and fantasy.
July 15, 2022
I really enjoyed this horror novel, which was quite unlike almost anything I've read before. The pacing was unusual and seemed off, but the author stuck the landing so well that I couldn't give it less than four stars.
April 9, 2019
Read this for the second time. Very layered and extremely well written novel.
January 16, 2021
The Conflict between Sister Mary Symphorosa and Billy Michaels
Good readers become good detectives, with lots of practice of course. The decision by the author to portray the nun who teaches in elementary school by "Mary Symphorosa" recalls the ancient persecution of the church by the Emperor Hadrian. Symphorosa is a venerated saint of the Catholic Church who was martyred by the Emperor because she and her seven sons were tormenting him upon the completion of his palace on the Tibur in Rome. Hadrian, always the good pagan, demanded sacrifices to the foolish gods of the Romans, Jupiter, et al. From our point of view, the gods of Rome were merely demons taking on disguises so as to interfere with human affairs. When Symphorosa and her children prayed to the True and Everlasting Father of visible Universe, His Son, Our Savior and Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit that binds them in Love, she and her children were strapped with rocks and drowned in the Anio river.
Now that we've established the work of the demons we can see more clearly Disch's purpose in setting up the conflict between Sister Mary and Billy Michaels. Billy's temper tantrum was occasioned by Symphorosa's denial of Santa Claus. She condemned the presence of Santa Claus at Christmas as a pagan intrusion into a Holy Event, the Birth of Our Lord and Savior, Redeemer of All Mankind and Womankind. Billy upon hearing of the condemnation of Santa Claus and Sister's evoking of the First Commandment to the Hebrews, a tribe lost in the desert, produced numerous gurgling sounds, as though he were being strangled. Whenever I have faced demons, and I have plenty of examples, I tend to gasp for air, as if I were being asphyxiated. Billy was choking and he was on the floor wailing. Soon Billy would require discipline, the rod and the line. Billy tells the class that he has seen Santa Claus, most recently at the shopping mall. "He is fat and he wears a big red suit and he has a bag full of presents."
Corporal punishment loomed on the horizon when Billy refused to disavow Santa Claus. Feeling dejected and conflicted Billy decides to spend the night out in the cold Minnesota landscape, dotted with freezing lakes and mischievous nocturnal creatures. There he meets Santa Claus who tells him, "Your teacher knows so little about affair in the North Pole, the best thing for you is to ignore her." And that's exactly what Disch tried to do by writing four books condemning the practices of the Catholic Church as he understood them in elementary school.
Good readers become good detectives, with lots of practice of course. The decision by the author to portray the nun who teaches in elementary school by "Mary Symphorosa" recalls the ancient persecution of the church by the Emperor Hadrian. Symphorosa is a venerated saint of the Catholic Church who was martyred by the Emperor because she and her seven sons were tormenting him upon the completion of his palace on the Tibur in Rome. Hadrian, always the good pagan, demanded sacrifices to the foolish gods of the Romans, Jupiter, et al. From our point of view, the gods of Rome were merely demons taking on disguises so as to interfere with human affairs. When Symphorosa and her children prayed to the True and Everlasting Father of visible Universe, His Son, Our Savior and Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit that binds them in Love, she and her children were strapped with rocks and drowned in the Anio river.
Now that we've established the work of the demons we can see more clearly Disch's purpose in setting up the conflict between Sister Mary and Billy Michaels. Billy's temper tantrum was occasioned by Symphorosa's denial of Santa Claus. She condemned the presence of Santa Claus at Christmas as a pagan intrusion into a Holy Event, the Birth of Our Lord and Savior, Redeemer of All Mankind and Womankind. Billy upon hearing of the condemnation of Santa Claus and Sister's evoking of the First Commandment to the Hebrews, a tribe lost in the desert, produced numerous gurgling sounds, as though he were being strangled. Whenever I have faced demons, and I have plenty of examples, I tend to gasp for air, as if I were being asphyxiated. Billy was choking and he was on the floor wailing. Soon Billy would require discipline, the rod and the line. Billy tells the class that he has seen Santa Claus, most recently at the shopping mall. "He is fat and he wears a big red suit and he has a bag full of presents."
Corporal punishment loomed on the horizon when Billy refused to disavow Santa Claus. Feeling dejected and conflicted Billy decides to spend the night out in the cold Minnesota landscape, dotted with freezing lakes and mischievous nocturnal creatures. There he meets Santa Claus who tells him, "Your teacher knows so little about affair in the North Pole, the best thing for you is to ignore her." And that's exactly what Disch tried to do by writing four books condemning the practices of the Catholic Church as he understood them in elementary school.
April 8, 2019
A 5-star book for me usually means I will re-read it someday, but that won't happen with this book. It 's just too dark to read twice.
The 5-star is warranted because there are so many themes here, so many different ways to interpret the story. I view life differently now because of this book. I think more deeply now about the "Why" of things. Why did such-and-such happen? And why didn't it happen? I may never know, but it's fun to ponder.
Sidenote: I noticed that others thought of Billy as a protagonist. I can't say that I felt the same. Although I could relate to him when he was younger, he willingly pawned-off his soul folks, and succumbed to the worst temptations in the end (greed, power, fame. to name just a few). I really couldn't stand his arrogant, vengeful, spiteful, petty, and self-important attitude in Part II, when he was 13. The twist at the end did create some sympathy for me for him. Judge did some horrible things as well, but proved stronger than Billy in the end.
The 5-star is warranted because there are so many themes here, so many different ways to interpret the story. I view life differently now because of this book. I think more deeply now about the "Why" of things. Why did such-and-such happen? And why didn't it happen? I may never know, but it's fun to ponder.
Sidenote: I noticed that others thought of Billy as a protagonist. I can't say that I felt the same. Although I could relate to him when he was younger, he willingly pawned-off his soul folks, and succumbed to the worst temptations in the end (greed, power, fame. to name just a few). I really couldn't stand his arrogant, vengeful, spiteful, petty, and self-important attitude in Part II, when he was 13. The twist at the end did create some sympathy for me for him. Judge did some horrible things as well, but proved stronger than Billy in the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2021
Un bambino, prescelto dal dio Mercurio, investito con il potere di infliggere pestilenze o garantire la salute con il tocco di un bastone magico... cosa potrebbe mai andare storto?
Il taumaturgo è un libro strano, quasi perfetto per i primi due terzi (fino all'adolescenza del giovane psicopatico protagonista), per poi implodere in un finale confuso fra pandemie, malattie ereditarie e momenti distopici piombato improvvisamente (e stupidamente) a rovinare quanto di buono letto in precedenza.
Mi resta il dubbio di una volontà dell'autore di accorciare il tutto e portare a casa (malamente) la vicenda sotto le quattrocento pagine. Che spreco questa sufficienza risicata.
Il taumaturgo è un libro strano, quasi perfetto per i primi due terzi (fino all'adolescenza del giovane psicopatico protagonista), per poi implodere in un finale confuso fra pandemie, malattie ereditarie e momenti distopici piombato improvvisamente (e stupidamente) a rovinare quanto di buono letto in precedenza.
Mi resta il dubbio di una volontà dell'autore di accorciare il tutto e portare a casa (malamente) la vicenda sotto le quattrocento pagine. Che spreco questa sufficienza risicata.
October 16, 2017
Billy Michaels is a precocious kid at 6. One day Sister Symphorosa tells the kids right before Christmas break that Santa Claus is not real. She is offended by the pagan connotations. Billy refuses to believe it as he has seen the real Santa. It turns out that that “real Santa” is something dangerous and powerful who manages to get a little kid wound up in his clutches for the rest of his life. This is one of those supremely scary books that gives one shivers yet one is compelled to see what happens next.
September 13, 2018
A unique story overall. It's divided into 5 books, and I enjoyed 1-4 quite a bit. It was in book 5 that it feels like everything the plot was building up to got lost. It became hard to follow, and the conclusion was very unsatisfying for me. I'm still happy to have read it, and I particularly liked the main character. The horror was subtle, which I loved. No monsters jump out in your face or anything, it's just the very real horror of "what if a boy had more control than he should".
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2025
Almost a year later but I have finally finished this book!!
Yaani, it survived all the reading slumps I had last year. Did I want to sometimes DNF it, yes, but I didn't cause I had to know how it would end. Honestly, I just couldn't stop midway. I believe there was a lot of unnecessary information throughout the book, and I think it would have been better if it were shorter. Nonetheless, I liked it.
Yaani, it survived all the reading slumps I had last year. Did I want to sometimes DNF it, yes, but I didn't cause I had to know how it would end. Honestly, I just couldn't stop midway. I believe there was a lot of unnecessary information throughout the book, and I think it would have been better if it were shorter. Nonetheless, I liked it.
June 28, 2025
Aglow with reading joy I hurry to Goodreads to tell the world. Tom Disch is laugh out loud funny and ridiculously good at writing. Can we really be having fun reading about the sinister machinations of the Catholic Church? Alcoholism? Incest? Anorexia? What the hell's wrong with me?
Young Ned's priest advises he take up some moderate fasting, maybe give up desserts, to help lead his unmarried divorced parents from their world of sin. His brother Billy finds a totem wand which gives the power to curse anything and anyone just as long as the enchantment ryhmes. Cue random accidental voodoo on all the wrong people, cooked up by a very young, innocent mind.
'One touch of this leafy twig will make you bald as porky pig'
Billy grows older and the story grows (much) darker as each chapter unfolds and the curses become more targeted and purposeful, and horrific.
I am wary of big books, having been tortured by Stephen King's booze-fuelled overwrites in a previous life, and this clocks in just over 500. But I chomped 100 page chunks without pausing for breath.
You won't find 90-year-olds shouting batsh*t c@ntlicker every 5 pages, 38 year old mums retaining their 18-year-old figures (shortly before the balding main protagonist - the reader- humps them), cheesy mainstream U2 song lyrics and advert jingles to help keep juvenile readers plugged safely into their consumerist US propaganda-laden lifestyles. There's no parenthesised behind-the-hand whispering every page, or endless italic-laden 'second voice' passages every other para to maintain the attention of poor readers.
No, the writing is much deeper, sharper, and grown up than King and Koontz - who both tell a great story but rely too much on blunt violence and adolescent profanity to pay the mortgage.
'Take the money from this purse
And you will suffer Ondine's curse'
(ondine being an illness that stops automated breathing. Oops, there goes another life. Poof!)
You can tell Disch was a poet at heart. The best writers love poetry (even though I don't) and his word choice, similie and metaphor are exquisite. Ultimately the book is about surviving life. Broken families, drunk parents, odd compulsive siblings, school, work, Christmas, Halloween. Success and failure, life and death. Oh, and religion - the gift that keeps on giving.
Finding Disch reminds me of when I discovered the deep cushiony velvet of Richard Matheson or the perfect English ebb and flow of Daphne du Maurier. There's subtle humour tucked into every crack. It's the teasing of the next setup.
Disch possesses unbridled mischief. The amusing shocks tease and build. It's quite like Morgan and Wong's Final Destination films where death hides in unexpected places, but you know it's coming again and again via Billy's curses. If you enjoyed Drag Me to Hell / Last Night in Soho, even Child's Play you'll thoroughly enjoy The MD. It's dark but laugh out loud funny.
So why haven't I heard much about Tom Disch? Well good readers know him (thanks again, Scott Bradfield), but loony-toon cultist America might have struggled with him because of constant mockery of the real horror show - religion, and specifically the Catholic Church. Also, he was gay, hence why he never won any (now pretty meaningless) Hugos or Nebulas.
Well , I'm awarding him one of each today, posthumously - Bless you, Tom Disch. My life is better because of this book. The Priest is up next.
A quick big thank you to the wonderful master bather Scott Bradfield and his unmissable youtube channel for putting me on to another great writer (along with Tiptree, Russ, Wilhelm and Brackett of late).
Young Ned's priest advises he take up some moderate fasting, maybe give up desserts, to help lead his unmarried divorced parents from their world of sin. His brother Billy finds a totem wand which gives the power to curse anything and anyone just as long as the enchantment ryhmes. Cue random accidental voodoo on all the wrong people, cooked up by a very young, innocent mind.
'One touch of this leafy twig will make you bald as porky pig'
Billy grows older and the story grows (much) darker as each chapter unfolds and the curses become more targeted and purposeful, and horrific.
I am wary of big books, having been tortured by Stephen King's booze-fuelled overwrites in a previous life, and this clocks in just over 500. But I chomped 100 page chunks without pausing for breath.
You won't find 90-year-olds shouting batsh*t c@ntlicker every 5 pages, 38 year old mums retaining their 18-year-old figures (shortly before the balding main protagonist - the reader- humps them), cheesy mainstream U2 song lyrics and advert jingles to help keep juvenile readers plugged safely into their consumerist US propaganda-laden lifestyles. There's no parenthesised behind-the-hand whispering every page, or endless italic-laden 'second voice' passages every other para to maintain the attention of poor readers.
No, the writing is much deeper, sharper, and grown up than King and Koontz - who both tell a great story but rely too much on blunt violence and adolescent profanity to pay the mortgage.
'Take the money from this purse
And you will suffer Ondine's curse'
(ondine being an illness that stops automated breathing. Oops, there goes another life. Poof!)
You can tell Disch was a poet at heart. The best writers love poetry (even though I don't) and his word choice, similie and metaphor are exquisite. Ultimately the book is about surviving life. Broken families, drunk parents, odd compulsive siblings, school, work, Christmas, Halloween. Success and failure, life and death. Oh, and religion - the gift that keeps on giving.
Finding Disch reminds me of when I discovered the deep cushiony velvet of Richard Matheson or the perfect English ebb and flow of Daphne du Maurier. There's subtle humour tucked into every crack. It's the teasing of the next setup.
Disch possesses unbridled mischief. The amusing shocks tease and build. It's quite like Morgan and Wong's Final Destination films where death hides in unexpected places, but you know it's coming again and again via Billy's curses. If you enjoyed Drag Me to Hell / Last Night in Soho, even Child's Play you'll thoroughly enjoy The MD. It's dark but laugh out loud funny.
So why haven't I heard much about Tom Disch? Well good readers know him (thanks again, Scott Bradfield), but loony-toon cultist America might have struggled with him because of constant mockery of the real horror show - religion, and specifically the Catholic Church. Also, he was gay, hence why he never won any (now pretty meaningless) Hugos or Nebulas.
Well , I'm awarding him one of each today, posthumously - Bless you, Tom Disch. My life is better because of this book. The Priest is up next.
A quick big thank you to the wonderful master bather Scott Bradfield and his unmissable youtube channel for putting me on to another great writer (along with Tiptree, Russ, Wilhelm and Brackett of late).
March 14, 2025
Wat is er enger dan een jongen die de kans krijgt op een magische manier wraak te nemen op mensen?
Het boek is soepel geschreven en de eerste 300 bladzijden waren spannend. Daarna wordt het vooral raar.
Het boek is soepel geschreven en de eerste 300 bladzijden waren spannend. Daarna wordt het vooral raar.
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