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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was so, so good! Really thrilling, felt exactly like beginning to unravel a family secret and the feeling of opening the proverbial closet in slow motion in the dark. Fascinating work here, really beautifully written, wrenches your heart in twain while making you look over your shoulder. Wow!!!
dark
reflective
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:
Complicated
Magos and Joseph have a son, Santiago; born with only a single underdeveloped lung, Santiago dies in childhood. Overwhelmed by grief, Magos cuts off a piece of his lung to keep, and when she begins feeding it, it grows into a small, furry monster that likes to kill and eat animals and suck human blood. But can the monster -- Monstrilio -- grow up to be a real boy? That is the question.
I view this book as an argument against impulse control. Monstrilio eventually grows into a young man, but he continues to have violent urges (he wants to kill and eat people, basically) which he struggles to restrain. The novel suggests that if a person tries to control or escape their own natural urges, they are essentially amputating an aspect of their true selves, and they will never be happy. (One might compare Freud's idea of repression as essential to society in Civilization and its Discontents.) The only route to happiness is to follow your natural urges, wherever they may lead.
I view this book as an argument against impulse control. Monstrilio eventually grows into a young man, but he continues to have violent urges (he wants to kill and eat people, basically) which he struggles to restrain. The novel suggests that if a person tries to control or escape their own natural urges, they are essentially amputating an aspect of their true selves, and they will never be happy. (One might compare Freud's idea of repression as essential to society in Civilization and its Discontents.) The only route to happiness is to follow your natural urges, wherever they may lead.
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
When Magos and Joseph’s son Santiago dies at a young age, Magos cuts out a portion of his lung in a fit of grief and, influenced by a folktale of being able to grow a human from a portion of their body, keeps and feeds the lung. The lung grows into a creature they call Monstrilio who displays feral and dangerous behavior but, despite everyone in her life hoping she will end Monstrilio’s life, Magos continues to feed and humanize him. Monstrilio grows into a humanlike adult they call M who fights against his innate urges and tries to fit into society while everyone around him, most of all Magos, navigates their relationship with this non-Santiago being.
For me, the strongest thing about this book is the premise. I was immediately hooked when I read the synopsis and while there are things about it that will stick with me, I wanted to love the entire thing more than I do.
Ultimately I think the writing style was just a bit too slow for me - up until about the 65% mark I found it easy to set the book down and go multiple days without picking it back up. The writing is broken up into four parts, each from a different character’s perspective, and I usually like multiple POVs but I felt like the first three parts were told from very similar-sounding voices, even though the characters themselves were quite different. Because of this, I felt like the story kind of dragged on even though I was really interested in the core of what was happening.
When I got to Joseph’s point of view my feelings about the book began to shift (I’ll be thinking about the art performance scene for quite a while, damn) but when I got to the final part from M’s perspective, my attitude entirely changed. I don’t think I would’ve liked for the book to be entirely told from his point of view, but his section was SO much stronger and more captivating than the others and it really changed how I feel about this book as a whole. I don’t usually like when someone says “you should read this book but you’re gonna have to get through the first half to enjoy the second half” but that’s how I feel about this one - I’m so glad I read it, and the last chunk was worth it.
If you like queer creatures, stories about grief and online dating gone violently awry, then this might be for you.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.
Also, a lot of the horrors I’ve read this year have been intensely heartbreaking. This is a story of the loss of a child. The literal creation of a monster out of that grief. And how every single character has loss deeply, loved deeply, hurt deeply, and tried to live. But I felt so deeply for M and Joseph. While I could understand Magos’ grief, and I appreciate the story highlights how people handle grief differently…she is the least redeeming character as the other acts unfold. M/Monstrilio is my favorite character through and through.
And like many of the recent horrors I’ve read, this story, while having LGBTQIA representation, is also a telling of queer suppression. And you see how the characters come into who they are, regardless of age.
I do feel like some of the pacing was slow, but I felt very compelled to know how M’s story unfolded. So it was well worth it.
Also, a lot of the horrors I’ve read this year have been intensely heartbreaking. This is a story of the loss of a child. The literal creation of a monster out of that grief. And how every single character has loss deeply, loved deeply, hurt deeply, and tried to live. But I felt so deeply for M and Joseph. While I could understand Magos’ grief, and I appreciate the story highlights how people handle grief differently…she is the least redeeming character as the other acts unfold. M/Monstrilio is my favorite character through and through.
And like many of the recent horrors I’ve read, this story, while having LGBTQIA representation, is also a telling of queer suppression. And you see how the characters come into who they are, regardless of age.
I do feel like some of the pacing was slow, but I felt very compelled to know how M’s story unfolded. So it was well worth it.
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-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