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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i hated everyone in this book. extremely well constructed and utterly bizarre. very in love with its own themes. very sad and somehow extremely funny in a really messed up way. i have no idea if I even liked it.
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The story begins when Magos takes a piece of her dead son Santiago's lung and feeds it until it turns into a monster. As Monstrilio grows, his family grapple with whether he can (or should) assimilate into human society. The final section is narrated by Monstrilio himself, who must choose between living his life as a human or as a monster. I liked the horror elements and the struggle between doing what's socially acceptable and acting purely on impulse. I also enjoyed the complex ride-or-die family dynamic. I wasn't crazy about the writing style and found the narrative structure a bit ineffective. There are four narrators, and I thought some of them lacked a distinct voice, which made their parts feel a bit flat. If you like weird books and the found family trope (and don't mind some gore), this could be for you.
dark
emotional
sad
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:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
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
dark
emotional
tense
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you love deeply flawed and complicated human beings (and creatures) and themes of mourning/change/grief like I do Monstrilio will be a delight. Reminded me of Kafkas 'metamorphosis' and Shirley Jacksons 'we have always loved in the castle'... just incredible and disturbing and heartfelt.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Grief can be scary. Or at least personified it is. Monstrilio is the tale of a mother who, in the throes of grief cuts out a piece of lung from her deceased son’s chest. Acting upon some baseless folklore, she “feeds” this piece of lung and watches it grow. Over time it gains sentience, first into a weird carnivorous creature, and eventually gorwing into the Santiago this family once lost.
Well this was a weird little book on grief, but extremely thought provoking. Monstrilio/M/Santiago is grief given sentience, grief given a life. His mother will forever realize that this creature is not hte son that she lost, but still she cannot accept his innate desire to consume. A monster that only a mother could love. The prose in this is absolutely beautiful and each perspective gave new insight to this story that made me want to pick this up and keep going. M’s perspective was especially good, and tied up the book really nicely. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this, even if it was a bit weird. Five stars.