Why 'Playground' is the worst book I've ever read.
A review of 'Playground' an extreme horror novel by Aron Beauregard
After finishing Beargard's most renowned novel, I regretted my decision. I pushed the book out of my mind, hoping to erase any memory of it.
Recently, however, I've come to the realization that the book is well-received by its readers. Goodreads, a website notorious for its harsh reviews, gave the book an average of 3.5 on 11,000 ratings, higher than that of other books I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Amazon reviews took it a step further, giving the book an average of 4 stars on 3,000 ratings. Of course, this is coming from user reviews, not experts, but nonetheless, I am certainly in the minority in claiming the book to be the worst I’ve read
In light of this, I decided to reflect on the novel and give it another chance. Despite this “soul-searching” (or rather soul-crushing) excursion I forced upon myself, my opinion remains unwavering. I realize my opinion may be controversial, so I'd like to explain my reasoning.
Source: https://www.amazon.com/Playground-Aron-Beauregard/dp/B0BN21JFB6
INITIAL REACTIONS
One afternoon, I had a long drive ahead of me and I was looking for a new audiobook to listen to. I couldn't think of anything off the top of my head, so I decided to do something unexpected - I decided to give "Booktok" a chance. An entire conversation could be had on why this was a horrible choice in itself, but I figured that having nowhere to turn, I might as well see what was popular among my generational peers.
In the mood for something in the horror genre (my favorite among fiction), I began using the search bar to find something that would suit my interests.
I stumbled upon Beauregard's work right away. No matter which video I watched, all the users seemed to recommend his infamous book, "Playground." After hearing so much praise for it being "the most horrific" book they had ever read, I decided to give Beauregard a chance. However, I have to say that I found it horrific for different reasons than the ones I saw on TikTok.
I finished the 7-hour book in just two days because I couldn't imagine reading it any longer.
The first two chapters start off rather interestingly and at a fast pace, which made the experience enjoyable for me. To be fair, the characters all fit into common horror tropes (for example, the bully being abused by his alcoholic father for never being enough), but the writing still held my attention nontheless.
The story essentially consists of a rich woman, Geraldine, who has developed extreme sexual delinquencies (obsessions leading to incest and fecal matter play. Yes, I know.) and takes advantage of young families to get off on their misery. She brings in families hiding behind the facade that they are getting paid to test out a new playground for their city. Once they get there, she holds the parents hostage and forces the children to endure ‘games’ in which they are tortured and subsequently killed. Geraldine uses Rock, her adopted son, as her muscle to keep everyone in check. Rock is physically and sexually abused by Geraldine throughout the story, explained in painful detail.
After reading the book for the first time, I found it to be gratuitously gory. Unfortunately, my second reflection did not improve my opinion.
Pros?
I must admit that the story was not all bad. The idea of a deadly playground serving as a knock-off SAW movie using kids sounds and is rather fun. The infighting between characters added a sense of realism in an otherwise completely disconnected story.
Geraldine could have been a good villain had her background been adequately established. Why is it that she is so obsessed with torture and sexual abhorrency? Good question, unfortunately we never get an adequate answer. Either way, her obsession with sex can be moreso explained as her need to be in control and to boost her ego. She even goes as far as to claim that she would let the last living kid from her torture playground live with her so she could continue abusing them. Geraldine also claims that the reason shes doing all of this is because shes unable to have a child of her own and is taking it out on the families that can. But considering every other action and statement she makes in the story contradicts this (She gets sexual gratification out of abusing others) its hard to believe shes doing all this out of spite.
It should be noted that witnessing some of the despicable characters getting a taste of their own medicine is a satisfaction that most novels fail to deliver. It is nice that not only children were tortured in this book but random adults were too!
Edgy For the Sake of Being Edgy
The worst thing you can say of a horror novel is that “its just edgy for the sake of being edgy.” Unfortunately ‘Playground’ is the quintessential example of this expression.
Even among fans of Beaurgard there is an infamous chapter known specifically as being exceptionally graphic without adding much of any value to the story. I wont be going into much detail here as its pointles to to rehash the depravity of the story, but feel free to read it yourself if you’re feeling brave. For instance, in this chapter Geralidne sexually assaults her mother to death (yes actually) for literally no reason other than she was into it. We also get the pleasure of hearing Geralides heartwarming recollection of eating her mothers feces just to to top off the excellent world building. And don’t forget the adopted sons account of being sexually assaulted; a scene so graphic i had to skip ahead as i was genuinely afraid of having to pull over and lose my lunch.
Graphic detail can be an effective tool in horror writing, as it has the power to evoke strong feelings of disgust and fear in the reader. However, in this particular case, the excessive detail seemed to lack depth and meaning, serving only to provoke shock and generate attention rather than adding substance to the story.
The characters all lacked any depth or any redeemable qualities, even Rock, who managed to show some development when he decided to brutally beat a woman to death (to be fair, she was an abusive mother and he was using it as an cathartic substitution for Geralidne) ended up being nearly as depraved as his mother (although, again he did attempt to be better.) Aside from him the rest of the characters felt like puppets used as an excuse to show the most edgy scenes one could think up.
It’s needless to say, but the descriptions here don’t do the depravity of this novel justice. Rather, the point being made here is that extreme levels of graphic nature without necessity just provides shock value to get people talking without any substance being added to the story.
“You Just Dont Get Extreme Horror!”
A fan of Beaguard may be tempted to exclaim “You just don’t get it!” and I have to concur, in fact I don't. More power to all of those who love this book but I just cannot understand how one in good faith could rate this book above two stars. The book had its fun moments, but come on! Think about some of the plot points previously mentioned. How could one honestly claim these are conducive to a good story without being chronically online to the point where all sensitivity to depravity has been eroded.
It may be a fair point to say that I don’t typically engage with extreme horror, as its true I don't. However, I’ve loved horror since I was a teenager and can say that this book fails to stack up with any of the greats in the genre, hell even to the mediocricies! Take ‘Blood Meridian’ by Cormac McCarthy for example. That novel is about as graphic as it gets without being strategic shock value, yet its known as one of the best in American history.
Again, to those who love the book, it’s nice to see a smaller author get such love. To those who may find the book interesting, as long as you can stomach it, I implore you to give it a chance. As for me, this book lack all of the ingredients necessary to generate good receptivity and yeildied all of those needed to keep the book living in infamamy in my mind.