Negative Positive
Title: Impressive character development but mostly morbid.
Review: "The Magic Barrel" was a collection of stories that intrigued me, if only for the whimsical sounding name. I was disappointed, however, to find that the stories themselves were themselves not whimsical in the least. Malamud has created a world where paranoia is abundant, and worse, where poor, lackadaisical decisions are abound equally. There are no winners in any of Malamuds stories. I found myself becoming angry at the characters, for the way in which they responded to conflicts was alarmingly pathetic. His character development is strong, however, and I did enjoy maybe one or two of the stories until I found the ending rather dreary. If a literary work is "sad," that is not a deterrant for me. Malamud's characters, on the other hand, are hopeless. I can't seem to enjoy reading about people who operate in such ways.
Is the review positive or negative? 