Let's Go Play At The Adams' Book Review | Paperbacks From Hell
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- Опубліковано 20 лип 2024
- Kelsi reviews and analyzes Mendal W. Johnson's novel Let's Go Play At The Adams. The first half of the video is spoiler free & there is also a warning before any spoilers are discussed.
#booktube #paperbacksfromhell #horrortube
Has anyone else read the book? If so, drop your thoughts in the comments below!
You can check out more of my thoughts on older horror paperbacks by reading several of my blog posts:
Review of Ken Greenhall's Hell Hound:
kelsiexplains.com/hell-hound-r...
Review of Paperbacks From Hell:
kelsiexplains.com/paperbacks-f...
Reviews of The Reaping, Falling Angel, and The Elementals: kelsiexplains.com/recent-reads...
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I think a top level message to this story is that being good, kind, and idealistic puts one at a disadvantage in this world. And the kids had the advantage several times over.
*** SPOILER WARNING ***
*** SPOILER WARNING ***
Something else that comes to mind which adds to the horror is that these kids are doing something that adults do in the adult world. When a problem arises, they look for the easiest solution that minimizes risk to them. A solution that just removes the problem. And they think they've found that solution. That the solution involves death becomes acceptable. As others have pointed out about this story is that it takes place during the Vietnam War. I recall nearly daily news reports on the number of soldiers killed on each side. Almost like a football game. And that would have certainly been in the mind of these kids. Remember the story blurb is that "it's just a game", life is just a game. Some win, some lose. Adults do it all the time. So, so what if the easier way out involves someone dying. Life will be easier for others as a result. So, it's an all too common adult decision. And only in the last couple days does the babysitter comes to understand that she has transitioned from being a prisoner in a child's prank to being on real-life death row and she helpless to get out of it. The kids are just doing what adults do. A necessary action. And why this story did remind me of Lord of the Flies.
About not explaining the motives of the kids. One common writing advice is "Only describe, don't explain." And the writer does just that in this book. I've thought about this book a lot, maybe too much. But I think that's what makes this story more interesting is that it welcomes you in to try and figure out parts of the story yourself.
I have read this book...and researched it because it generated some controversy. Jack Ketchum's Girl Next Door is based on the same real-life events (the murder of Sylvia Likens) as this book, but I think Ketchum's book takes much less artistic license and is somewhat less brutal.
I will say that I think the message of this book is that when kind of unsupervised kids come under the influence of a particularly evil personality, they can do terrible things. Its kind of about how people can lose their humanity due to group-think.
You deserves more subscribers. Good review 👍🏼
Awe!!! This comment made my day!!! Thank you so much. This was a very difficult book to review, but I am so glad you enjoyed it nonetheless! I appreciate you leaving such a sweet and kind as well as checking this video out! 😊 That means a lot
In King's 1977 story Children of the Corn the antagonists were children. I wonder if he might have been inspired by Johnson's 1974 Let's Go Play at the Adams'.
Correction, the 1984 film Children of the Corn based on King's short story.
King's Children of the Corn short story was published in 1977, Let's Go Play... was published in 1974. Both have kids killing adults in a fallow corn field.
You mentioned that you didn't understand the oldest girl's motive. Impression I got was she loved planning and organizing. Even took it as a challenge. So when another brags that they planned a wedding. She can think to herself I planned a murder, ha ha ha.
hahaha I actually think that's a really solid theory!
@@SlimeAndSlashers Dianne is very cold hearted and calculating. After the half way point incident, she took charge. This still haunts me after a year and a half ago.
Question, should public libraries carry this book in their holdings?
Been thinking about this book and why it bothers me so much. In a simple and straightforward way I think it's a cautionary tale of how people can lead themselves into concluding that an ends can justify a means no matter how horrific it is. We do such be it as adults or children.
This book sounds so insane. I haven’t read but I watched the spoilers because it sounded so crazy 😂 also I have that shirt!
That's so cool that you have the same shirt 🦕🦖🤩 Haha, yes, the book is so crazy and disturbing 😬😭 Thank you so much for watching Nails 💖❤💖
Just got this and I can't wait to read it. I've heard nothing but crazy things
It is crazy that is for sure. It made me feel so many things. I would love to know what you thought of it when you are finished! Happy reading 😊🎉
I just noticed something that you said that is incorrect. The other 3 neighbor kids do not come from the same family. The 16 yo boy is from one family, whereas the 17 yo girl and her younger brother are from a second family. So counting the Adams, there were kids from 3 families involved. And I think that might add to what goes on. I think the girl might have been jealous of the 20 yo babysitter who was described as more attractive than average. Whereas the 16 yo seemed rather gangly. And it seemed obvious that the 16 yo boy was more attracted to the babysitter. I think this jealousy was a factor in the series of events to follow.
BTW, this book still haunts me.
The way the book is written, very much in the various character's heads, reminds me of Lord of the Flies.
YES! Very good comparison!
This is so much better than Lord of the Flies.
@@ryanand154 Lord of the flies has no women/girls in it. LGPATA has three, one good (very good) and two bad (one very bad.)
Fun video!!! I'm really impressed with the editing. That book sounds really messed up. I agree that horror doesn't have to be scary, that it can just make you feel something. There's all types of horror, but this one seems over the top with its story of torture. Thanks for going through the torture of reading it to give us this awesome review! Keep up the great work! I love your shirt!!!
Thanks Dave! I appreciate you watching my video! I tried some new things out with the editing this time, like with the close ups. And, yes, this book was indeed over-the-top. Definitely made me squirm uncomfortably. I truly hated those flipping kids in the story, haha.
What exactly did the kids do to Barbra
It's kind of giving away spoilers if I say what they did. They abused and tortured her in a few different ways essentially
Is it me or did he recreate a scene from Baron Blood? Ouch.
I don't know!
Nice review. It's a dark book. Reminded me of Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door.
Thank you! I am actually going to read the Ketchum book in a few months. I have heard a lot about it. Both seem like dark books that's for sure. I appreciate you watching and commenting 🙂
Read this book when it first came out. Must admit couldn't put it down. The kids were very disturbing yet found the missing adult neighbors and parents to be as bad. Throughout the book adults seem to be out of the picture. Barbara is constantly tortured, humiliated and alone.
Disturbing yet a good read.
Totally a tough, but good, read! I just recently read The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. There are some definite similarities between the two books (because they're both essentially based on the same true story, I believe.) However, there are some HUGE differences that make reading the two books two extremely different reading experiences, in my opinion. I think I was even more frustrated by the kids in Let's Go Play, but most of the kids in The Girl Next Door were horrible too. Both books are very emotional reads. I appreciate you watching my review! Thanks for checking it out 😊
I think the houses were pretty spaced out from each other- and it was the 70s so parents gave the kids a lot of freedom in the summer. This is total fiction, not the same story at all as the Jack Ketchum story. That one is based off a horrific true story, completely different.
I just finished it. Oh man it’s was such a difficult read. I hated the f*cking kids so much! And the ending… so… I don’t even have words. Well written but definitely will never need to pick it up again.
Definitely a difficult read. THOSE KIDS WERE THE WORST. I HATED THEM SO MUCH TOO. Haha, I think this book is still the book that has made me the most angry out of every book I've ever read 😂
I think the writer didn’t go into the reasoning so much…but in my opinion…I forgot I want to say this is gonna be full of spoilers
*****SPOILERS*********
IMO the majority of this whole thing is because of the influence of Diane and Paul. They are brother and sister and Paul is fully a psychopath, Diane tries to help him but she doesn’t actually care at all to keep him good, just keep him from getting hurt. And she finally reveals in the end that she feels a lot like him. They probably started a lot of their previous games because of those two’s influences. I wasn’t sure if John was their sibling or not but if he was that might make some sense but I think he was just really selfish. Cindy too. She was ten…she really wasn’t that young and not all that innocent. I was a little annoyed that the kids kind of were so easily led astray, like even Bobby, he’s the good one, but his problem is more like, he just doesn’t really want to do it because he thinks they might get in trouble and he’s not all into murder, but nobody, NOBODY is like, but we like Barbara and she’s a person and we will miss her. There were some things he wrote I thought were really brilliant writing of their thoughts and others that I hated, but I think part of it was a difference of the times. I absolutely hated the monologue by the roommate/best friend.
Oh, and I wanted to add..spoiler alert again…
I really, really kept hoping the ending was going to turn out different, I was rooting for her sooo hard! And of course the little assholes got away with blaming it on that poor guy who was just happy to have landed some extra work. Working an honest job for some extra pay and then to see that awful sight and then die, only to have your name tarnished for eternity.
Love your analysis of the story and the characters. There were some great thought-provoking passages in the book, but I think other parts fell flat. I also hated the monologue of the best friend at the end. SO MADDENING
I was rooting for her too, ugh! Such a tough read and frustrating the way it played out!
What the kids do is half the horror. Why they do it is the other half the horror.
Got to the end. Of course the ending was going to be contrived. And at times the story did seem to contrived. I think the sitter missed a couple opportunities escape or negotiate her release. One thing that worked against her was she kept trying to stay the adult v kids in this game.
And it's too bad she didn't know even a little martial arts.
My other big complaint is that in years afterwards one of them didn't talk. One of them didn't try to blackmail the others. If the community would have put up a monument to the sitter that the kids would have to pass everyday or often enough that some of them might start to unravel.
And the one girl's philosophy was flawed. She kept claiming that the world game was a zero-sum one. But if that were the case then civilization wouldn't happen. The world is a non-zero-sum game. Not every part of it, but enough that civilization could come about and progress.
Yeah I'm going to be angry about the book for a long time. But I'm a writer and will come up with alternate versions in my mind where the sitter survives.
Thanks for your video. Both highly entertaining and informative.
You've got some really great thoughts and theories about this book! Really enjoyed reading your thoughts and so glad you liked my video review! Thanks for checking it out 😊
@@SlimeAndSlashers I recommend your review frequently on this book. It is more lively and entertaining than most other reviews. Thanks.
BTW I have more thoughts on this book and wondering is there anyway to discuss it with you more directly? I know only one person who read this book and she will not talk about.