Nameless Boys: Communicating Abuse in Magariel's Novel Jared Anthony Ingram College

Emotional and physical neglect take up many forms, yet abuse is always blind, irrational and unacceptable in any capacity. As a whole, the United States is not lenient when dealing with child abusers, domestic violence and overall child endangerment, which is why Daniel Magariel’s first novel One of the Boys is a harshly accurate depiction of what takes place in an unregulated, dysfunctional family system. This cryptic suspense novel begins shortly after two brothers are whisked away to New Mexico by their dangerously eccentric father following his crippling divorce. The first person perspective storytelling of the youngest son is imperative for the gravitational elements laced in this novel, elements that place readers in the figurative position of a social worker. One of the Boys is a chillingly casual debriefing of a child witnessing, enabling and perpetuating abuse forms such as substance abuse and domestic violence, including but not restrained to parenting by means of intimidation and brute force. Throughout the book, the reader is forced to come to the conclusion that serving as “one of the boys” was the psychopathic agenda of the overbearing yet negligent fickle Father character, who is the only true antagonist in One...