Cabal
The most interesting thing about Clive Barker’s Cabal is who falls on which side of the line. You have Boone, Lori, and the Nightbreed against Dr. Decker, Eigerman, and the mob of cops and good ole’ boys. From an early age we are trained to respect police officers and doctors, here Barker portrays them as the villains. Dr. Decker has been manipulating Boone from the beginning. “By having the Nightbreed face off against a small but intolerant army led by representatives of three of the more recognizable social forces dedicated to maintaining the illusion of cultural and ontological stability, Barker locates the denizens of Midian as positive alternatives to the repressive ideological and state apparatuses at work in late capitalist culture” (McRoy). (McRoy is discussing the movie “Nightbreed” and has roped Ashbery in with Decker and Eigerman. In the book, Ashbery is being coerced by Eigerman, and tried to get them to stop the slaughter, though in the last chapter Ashbery promises to take Eigerman to “God” amid his insane babbles of Cabal and Baphomet.)
Usually monsters are the bad guys, and the status quo is mercifully recaptured at the end of the story. Not so here. Eigerman and his goons do succeed in destroying Midian, but the Nightbreed will rebuild, with Boone at their helm. The book ends on a note of determined hope, “So discretion was the by-word. They would take meat only when the hunger became crippling, and only victims who were unlikely to be missed. They would refrain from infecting others, so as not to advertise their presence. Of one was found, no other would risk exposure by going to his aid. Hard laws to live by, but not as hard as the consequences of breaking them” (Barker 204). But their prayers are full of Cabal (because even monsters pray to something). Sure they eat flesh, but we eat flesh, too. How can anyone accuse little Babette of being evil. As I read, I pictured her as Newt from “Aliens”.
Lori’s decision at the end, forcing Boone to make her one of them, was an excellent twist from what seems to have become standard urban fantasy fare. Superhuman boyfriend loves human girlfriend, but won’t change her, even though it means they can never be together, because he respects and honors her humanity. We slogged through three Twilight books carried by this premise alone. I would much prefer to be with my fellow AND have superpowers than have neither, but still my humanity. I thought we were in for more of the same as Lori told Boone to go away, she never wanted to see him again. Then she stabs herself, and say “I lied. Boone…I lied. You’re all I ever want to see” (201). Then Boone is forced to choose between letting her die and making her one of the Nightbreed. I choose to believe that making her one of them worked out well for them both. It nicely echoed with the book’s opening lines of Boone ruminating on the foolishness of “I’ll never leave you” (16).
I liked the premise and the prose, but the characters felt a little wooden to me. They seemed too stoic, and too noble, even when they were at their worst. When I read King I feel like I’m reading about real people, but Boone, Lori, Decker and Babette felt like constructions to hold up Barker’s (gorgeous) prose. As a result I felt like a spectator, and not a participant in the story.
Works Cited:
McRoy, Jay. "There Are No Limits: Splatterpunk, Clive Barker, and the Body in-extremis." Paradoxa 17 (2002): 130-150. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 205. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Apr. 2010.
Barker, Clive. Cabal. New York: Poseidon Press, 1985. Print.
Usually monsters are the bad guys, and the status quo is mercifully recaptured at the end of the story. Not so here. Eigerman and his goons do succeed in destroying Midian, but the Nightbreed will rebuild, with Boone at their helm. The book ends on a note of determined hope, “So discretion was the by-word. They would take meat only when the hunger became crippling, and only victims who were unlikely to be missed. They would refrain from infecting others, so as not to advertise their presence. Of one was found, no other would risk exposure by going to his aid. Hard laws to live by, but not as hard as the consequences of breaking them” (Barker 204). But their prayers are full of Cabal (because even monsters pray to something). Sure they eat flesh, but we eat flesh, too. How can anyone accuse little Babette of being evil. As I read, I pictured her as Newt from “Aliens”.
Lori’s decision at the end, forcing Boone to make her one of them, was an excellent twist from what seems to have become standard urban fantasy fare. Superhuman boyfriend loves human girlfriend, but won’t change her, even though it means they can never be together, because he respects and honors her humanity. We slogged through three Twilight books carried by this premise alone. I would much prefer to be with my fellow AND have superpowers than have neither, but still my humanity. I thought we were in for more of the same as Lori told Boone to go away, she never wanted to see him again. Then she stabs herself, and say “I lied. Boone…I lied. You’re all I ever want to see” (201). Then Boone is forced to choose between letting her die and making her one of the Nightbreed. I choose to believe that making her one of them worked out well for them both. It nicely echoed with the book’s opening lines of Boone ruminating on the foolishness of “I’ll never leave you” (16).
I liked the premise and the prose, but the characters felt a little wooden to me. They seemed too stoic, and too noble, even when they were at their worst. When I read King I feel like I’m reading about real people, but Boone, Lori, Decker and Babette felt like constructions to hold up Barker’s (gorgeous) prose. As a result I felt like a spectator, and not a participant in the story.
Works Cited:
McRoy, Jay. "There Are No Limits: Splatterpunk, Clive Barker, and the Body in-extremis." Paradoxa 17 (2002): 130-150. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 205. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Apr. 2010.
Barker, Clive. Cabal. New York: Poseidon Press, 1985. Print.