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thelibraryofklee's review against another edition
4.0
“It was the beginning for me of thinking about why some people had history, and other people had lives.”
Scary Monsters tackles misogyny, ageism and racism in two eerily uncomfortable novellas. One is the story of Lili, set in 1980s France. The other is about Lyle, living in near-future Australia. Both are migrants of Asian descent.
Lili's story is unsettling. As a woman, those cowering feelings for fear of advances and violence from men are something all easy to empathise with. She exists at a time where the Yorkshire Ripper is terrorizing women. Her neighbour downstairs lurks in the shadows and his subtle advances are often of a creepy nature. Alongside these feelings, we are met with the maddeningly casual and sometimes just plain overt racism that Lili has to face. She often has to prove the legality of her visa while she watched North African immigrants herded up in squares for deportation.
Lyle lives in dystopic Australia where bush fires rage all year round, the infamous GBR is now no more than a mausoleum of bleached corral and trash, and there is an over-arching government that can repatriate anyone from the country they like who has at least one grandparent from another country. Islam is banned and ex-Muslims are forced to attend Sunday church services. Pandemics are a part of near memory. But it is dangerous to talk of all these things. To top it off, Lyle must contend with fears for his two children - one living a exotic global lifestyle, the other who has submerged themselves into a mysterious green community. And then there is Ivy. His mother. Left with quite an inheritance from her dead husband (Lyle's step father), Ivy is a quirky old lady who refuses to see the doctor for her ills and is relatively happy in her existence: often throwing left field comments at her son Lyle, who has to work through the complexity of their relationship.
The book is literally flipped, which left me amused and confused to begin with, but the author explained this confusion is meant to symbolise the migrant experience. You can chose to begin with either, so I started with the past. Lili's story comes across seemingly light-hearted but slowly delves into the deeper and darker themes of misogyny and racism. It highlights the power of loneliness, which no doubt, is often a terrifying part of the migrant experience. Then I traveled with Lyle to future Australia. I was mortified with the landscape set but oddly found myself laughing in moments of absurdity. Lyle and his wife of Chanel are consumed with "fitting in" to the Australian lifestyle, which appears to leave Lyle in constant terror. He struggles to assimilate with the the new normals, and with the individualistic dreams of his wife. This novella particularly focuses on racism and horrifically, ageism.
My only criticism, and this comes from the type of reader I am, is that both endings of the novellas are very opaque and open to interpretation. Don't read this book expecting a clear ending (I do like my clear endings). I finished with a complex set of emotions - some I understood and some I will be processing for some time. I imagine this feeling of unsureness and confusion are a drop in the bucket of emotions migrants feel moving to new countries.
Thanks to Allen & Unwin for the free copy for an honest review.
Scary Monsters tackles misogyny, ageism and racism in two eerily uncomfortable novellas. One is the story of Lili, set in 1980s France. The other is about Lyle, living in near-future Australia. Both are migrants of Asian descent.
Lili's story is unsettling. As a woman, those cowering feelings for fear of advances and violence from men are something all easy to empathise with. She exists at a time where the Yorkshire Ripper is terrorizing women. Her neighbour downstairs lurks in the shadows and his subtle advances are often of a creepy nature. Alongside these feelings, we are met with the maddeningly casual and sometimes just plain overt racism that Lili has to face. She often has to prove the legality of her visa while she watched North African immigrants herded up in squares for deportation.
Lyle lives in dystopic Australia where bush fires rage all year round, the infamous GBR is now no more than a mausoleum of bleached corral and trash, and there is an over-arching government that can repatriate anyone from the country they like who has at least one grandparent from another country. Islam is banned and ex-Muslims are forced to attend Sunday church services. Pandemics are a part of near memory. But it is dangerous to talk of all these things. To top it off, Lyle must contend with fears for his two children - one living a exotic global lifestyle, the other who has submerged themselves into a mysterious green community. And then there is Ivy. His mother. Left with quite an inheritance from her dead husband (Lyle's step father), Ivy is a quirky old lady who refuses to see the doctor for her ills and is relatively happy in her existence: often throwing left field comments at her son Lyle, who has to work through the complexity of their relationship.
The book is literally flipped, which left me amused and confused to begin with, but the author explained this confusion is meant to symbolise the migrant experience. You can chose to begin with either, so I started with the past. Lili's story comes across seemingly light-hearted but slowly delves into the deeper and darker themes of misogyny and racism. It highlights the power of loneliness, which no doubt, is often a terrifying part of the migrant experience. Then I traveled with Lyle to future Australia. I was mortified with the landscape set but oddly found myself laughing in moments of absurdity. Lyle and his wife of Chanel are consumed with "fitting in" to the Australian lifestyle, which appears to leave Lyle in constant terror. He struggles to assimilate with the the new normals, and with the individualistic dreams of his wife. This novella particularly focuses on racism and horrifically, ageism.
My only criticism, and this comes from the type of reader I am, is that both endings of the novellas are very opaque and open to interpretation. Don't read this book expecting a clear ending (I do like my clear endings). I finished with a complex set of emotions - some I understood and some I will be processing for some time. I imagine this feeling of unsureness and confusion are a drop in the bucket of emotions migrants feel moving to new countries.
Thanks to Allen & Unwin for the free copy for an honest review.
clairewilsonleeds's review against another edition
1.0
The second book this week that tried to be clever with its structure and ended up being boring AF.
'Lili' is about a woman living in France in the 80s, paranoid she's going to be murdered and experiencing mild racism. I didn't mind this, really. It was readable.
The other half of the story, 'Lyle', was probably the worst attempt at dystopia I've ever had the misfortune to read. So clunky and cold - I was bored to pieces. The stupid character names weren't clever, just annoying.
'Lili' is about a woman living in France in the 80s, paranoid she's going to be murdered and experiencing mild racism. I didn't mind this, really. It was readable.
The other half of the story, 'Lyle', was probably the worst attempt at dystopia I've ever had the misfortune to read. So clunky and cold - I was bored to pieces. The stupid character names weren't clever, just annoying.
jpsiphonophorae's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book for the gimmick (the front cover to the middle is Lyle’s story, then the back cover to the middle is Lili’s—two in one), then found out the author’s Sri Lankan (you know how I feel about Lankan authors), then discovered it’s actually a stunning look at the hell of intersectionality: gender, race, age, class, religion, sexuality, nationality, and more. This book felt like a delicate piece of origami that managed to become more beautiful as it was unfolded to reveal the intrigue within.
annabelle6969's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bookish_arcadia's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
misha_ali's review against another edition
2.0
This was my first Michelle de Krester book. Based on the blurb, I expected stories about the migrant experience, possibly with some kind of essential link between them since the two halves are two separate stories and can be read in any order.
I read the Lili part and then Lyle, so I'll review them in order:
Lili: 1 Star
This part was incredibly dull for me because not much happens plot-wise and the whole thing is about a transient bit of travel rather than an immigrant experience. I assumed the lynchpin relationship between Minna and Lili would resolve in some meaningful way, but it never does and nothing else of note happens. The best parts of this were the scant descriptions of the danger sense all women have venturing in the dark when there is a creepy man trying to get access to her nearby. Overall, I was bored and didn't get anything meaningful out of this part.
Special shout out to this contender for worst sentence in this book: "A week had passed since he went away forever, but my small, high breasts still grew warm as I thought of him."
Lyle: 2 Stars
Lyle's story is certainly more grounded in the migrant experience but the satire is far too clumsy and heavy-handed for me to enjoy. I enjoyed it initially as a change from the boredom of Lili's story, but quickly the satire became too obvious to enjoy. There are grains of interesting ideas in here, such as discarding your old identity to assimilate, judging other immigrants as lesser than, despite being an immigrant yourself, and the idea of dealing with older people when you come from a culture where assisted dying for the elderly is unthinkable. None of these come to much and the characters are all unlikeable caricatures so not interesting.
Overall, I gave this book a two for the grains of interesting ideas but otherwise I did not enjoy this at all.
I read the Lili part and then Lyle, so I'll review them in order:
Lili: 1 Star
This part was incredibly dull for me because not much happens plot-wise and the whole thing is about a transient bit of travel rather than an immigrant experience. I assumed the lynchpin relationship between Minna and Lili would resolve in some meaningful way, but it never does and nothing else of note happens. The best parts of this were the scant descriptions of the danger sense all women have venturing in the dark when there is a creepy man trying to get access to her nearby. Overall, I was bored and didn't get anything meaningful out of this part.
Special shout out to this contender for worst sentence in this book: "A week had passed since he went away forever, but my small, high breasts still grew warm as I thought of him."
Lyle: 2 Stars
Lyle's story is certainly more grounded in the migrant experience but the satire is far too clumsy and heavy-handed for me to enjoy. I enjoyed it initially as a change from the boredom of Lili's story, but quickly the satire became too obvious to enjoy. There are grains of interesting ideas in here, such as discarding your old identity to assimilate, judging other immigrants as lesser than, despite being an immigrant yourself, and the idea of dealing with older people when you come from a culture where assisted dying for the elderly is unthinkable. None of these come to much and the characters are all unlikeable caricatures so not interesting.
Overall, I gave this book a two for the grains of interesting ideas but otherwise I did not enjoy this at all.
loujbee's review against another edition
4.0
This is an excellent book from de Kretser, which have been hit and miss for me. I’ll need to gather my thoughts but this is one I’m ready to start all over again tonight.
amayasmith1457's review against another edition
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
After reading the book, I do have mixed feelings about it. It wasn't something I absolutely hated, but there were issues with it, and as a result, I could have been satisfied with returning the book without finishing it. It is difficult to explain why, but the main reason, for me, is because the book lacked a definitive conflict even though it discusses racism, misogyny, and ageism. As a reader, they are "noted", but more or less, the book is just about the everyday lives of people, which is unfortunate because Lyle's story, especially the scenario with his mother, could have made a 300-page book. How is the author going to give the reader 30 or less pages of the fact he has to euthanasia his mother? For me, Lyle's story could have been the bread and butter of these topics. As for Lili, the author could have made a separate book about her, detailing the youth culture and the racism in 1980s France.
Overall, I enjoyed reading both parts, especially Lili's since it was set in a different time period and country, but the author did not validate Lyle as a character or the subject matter, which left me disappointed and unsatisfied.
Overall, I enjoyed reading both parts, especially Lili's since it was set in a different time period and country, but the author did not validate Lyle as a character or the subject matter, which left me disappointed and unsatisfied.
shambhavi_basnet's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0