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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I friggen LOVED THIS BOOK!!
This has been on my TBR from the second I heard the premise, and it got bumped and bumped for way too long. When I was able to snag it on Libby, I was so invested in this story I couldn’t put it down.
This is a story of grief, of family, of instinct & of humanity. This was a debut novel which also blows my mind, as the writing and the perspective changes in each section along the way were masterfully done. I don’t have one bad thing to say about this book, I absolutely think if this is on your TBR, bump it up!!
This has been on my TBR from the second I heard the premise, and it got bumped and bumped for way too long. When I was able to snag it on Libby, I was so invested in this story I couldn’t put it down.
This is a story of grief, of family, of instinct & of humanity. This was a debut novel which also blows my mind, as the writing and the perspective changes in each section along the way were masterfully done. I don’t have one bad thing to say about this book, I absolutely think if this is on your TBR, bump it up!!
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Faz alguns dias que terminei mas esse livro ainda não me deixou. Por isso vim aqui escrever, dado que só pensar não foi suficiente. Tantas coisas que só entendi depois que tudo acabou, assim como acontece fora das páginas. As coincidências cuidadosamente construídas no universo do livro pelo autor continuam a aparecer pra mim, de tempo em tempo, quando me lembro de alguma parte da leitura em que os narradores se intercambiavam. Uma experiência literária com um quê latino que só quem nasce consegue entender. Maravilhoso.
medium-paced
sooooo good at the beginning, but beyond magos' pov it didn't really do anything for me :( I would've really loved to be in her pov through the entire book. I will be following this author in the future though TRUST
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I would describe this as a quirky little horror story borne out of love and grief. It’s dark (obviously) but if you’re into horror, it’s actually quite mild. Also quietly (maybe not so quietly?) queer.
What’s interesting is that it feels like both a story about Monstrilio but also a story and exploration of each character as the narrator role moves from one primary character to the next.
The book starts out with Margos and Joseph crying over their dead son’s body (Santiago). I can’t quite remember how old Santiago is, somewhere between 8 and 11, but he lived much longer than doctors thought he would given he only had one lung and it was underdeveloped.
After his death, Margos dissects him and takes a piece of his lung while Joseph (a soft boi) is asleep after sobbing. Margos and Joseph grieve in different ways and soon she leaves him (separated - pre-divorce but divorce is coming) in upstate NY to go to her mom’s in Mexico City. She brings the lung in a jar (which makes me wonder if she packed it in her luggage or how she got it through TSA)
In Mexico City we meet Lucia, Margos’ mom, Jackie, her live-in maid and soon we find out her life partner after Margos’ father’s death. We also meet Lena, who Margos calls “flacky” I am sure it’s spelled differently and potentially has a meaning in Spanish, but that’s what it sounds like from the audiobook and I don’t speak enough Spanish to know.
Someone tells Margos an old wives tale about a lady who grew a new child from a part of their dead child and Margos attempts to do the same with the piece of lung she keeps in a jar of water and some homemade chicken soup from her mom’s fridge.
It does grow. It eats the soup. On the day of Santiago’s wake/memorial, Lena and Margos find it broke out of the jar and grew what they call an armtail - a prehensile tail with a little claw at the end of it. That’s its only appendage but otherwise it is fuzzy, has a mouth, and beady black eyes.
Margos keeps it a secret from her mom and Jackie while she continues to feed it. One night it attacks the dog and finally when it attacks Lucia she has to tell everyone what’s going on. Joseph comes to MC because he misses her and she shows him, of course he is disgusted but by then it has grown significantly. He thinks she is crazy until it says it’s first word at him: Papi. So then Jo moves to MC and they, along with Lena spend a lot of time together like one big happy family. They start to call it Monstrilio.
Lena’s story reveals that she’s been kind of in love with Margos since they met but she was Joseph’s friend first. Lena starts hiring sex workers to bathe her every Monday and this helps address her insomnia. She seems to not really date people but she does start having sex with her bathers. She’s pretty well off since she’s a surgeon, and could afford a house but prefers her small apartment.
Margos and Jo (mostly Margos) ask Lena to amputate Monstrilio’s armtail. Margos’ motherly instinct makes her think that having it is inhibiting Monstrilio’s development. It is starting to develop other limbs like arms and legs but mostly still relies on the armtail. Lena is really against the idea - pointing out that M and J said they loved Monstrilio as it is. Margo’s grief about Santiago is clearly pushing her to try to bring him back in Monstrilio - even though Monstrilio is clearly something else (he has a hunger for blood and raw flesh, but he has begun speaking and has the same love for Fruit Loops
What’s interesting is that it feels like both a story about Monstrilio but also a story and exploration of each character as the narrator role moves from one primary character to the next.
The book starts out with Margos and Joseph crying over their dead son’s body (Santiago). I can’t quite remember how old Santiago is, somewhere between 8 and 11, but he lived much longer than doctors thought he would given he only had one lung and it was underdeveloped.
After his death, Margos dissects him and takes a piece of his lung while Joseph (a soft boi) is asleep after sobbing. Margos and Joseph grieve in different ways and soon she leaves him (separated - pre-divorce but divorce is coming) in upstate NY to go to her mom’s in Mexico City. She brings the lung in a jar (which makes me wonder if she packed it in her luggage or how she got it through TSA)
In Mexico City we meet Lucia, Margos’ mom, Jackie, her live-in maid and soon we find out her life partner after Margos’ father’s death. We also meet Lena, who Margos calls “flacky” I am sure it’s spelled differently and potentially has a meaning in Spanish, but that’s what it sounds like from the audiobook and I don’t speak enough Spanish to know.
Someone tells Margos an old wives tale about a lady who grew a new child from a part of their dead child and Margos attempts to do the same with the piece of lung she keeps in a jar of water and some homemade chicken soup from her mom’s fridge.
It does grow. It eats the soup. On the day of Santiago’s wake/memorial, Lena and Margos find it broke out of the jar and grew what they call an armtail - a prehensile tail with a little claw at the end of it. That’s its only appendage but otherwise it is fuzzy, has a mouth, and beady black eyes.
Margos keeps it a secret from her mom and Jackie while she continues to feed it. One night it attacks the dog and finally when it attacks Lucia she has to tell everyone what’s going on. Joseph comes to MC because he misses her and she shows him, of course he is disgusted but by then it has grown significantly. He thinks she is crazy until it says it’s first word at him: Papi. So then Jo moves to MC and they, along with Lena spend a lot of time together like one big happy family. They start to call it Monstrilio.
Lena’s story reveals that she’s been kind of in love with Margos since they met but she was Joseph’s friend first. Lena starts hiring sex workers to bathe her every Monday and this helps address her insomnia. She seems to not really date people but she does start having sex with her bathers. She’s pretty well off since she’s a surgeon, and could afford a house but prefers her small apartment.
Margos and Jo (mostly Margos) ask Lena to amputate Monstrilio’s armtail. Margos’ motherly instinct makes her think that having it is inhibiting Monstrilio’s development. It is starting to develop other limbs like arms and legs but mostly still relies on the armtail. Lena is really against the idea - pointing out that M and J said they loved Monstrilio as it is. Margo’s grief about Santiago is clearly pushing her to try to bring him back in Monstrilio - even though Monstrilio is clearly something else (he has a hunger for blood and raw flesh, but he has begun speaking and has the same love for Fruit Loops