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A review by spiritedfaraway
PET by Akwaeke Emezi
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
What does a monster look like? Jam asked.
Her mother focused on her, cupping her cheek in a chalky hand. "Monsters don't look like anything, doux-doux. That's the whole point. That's the whole problem.”
Evil takes many forms and shapes and monsters don't look or seem like monsters, until suddenly they do. Monsters are people and can be anyone: your neighbor you say good morning to, the little old lady you sit next to on the bus, a favorite family member.
And in Lucille, where it is taught that there are no more monsters? Where the adults refuse to believe that there are any bad people left?
What do you do when you have to reconsider everything you’ve ever been taught? And that, in fact, there is still a monster and it’s in your friend’s house.
“The problem is, when you think you’ve been without monsters for so long, sometimes you forget what they look like, what they sound like, no matter how much remembering your education urges you to do. It’s not the same when the monsters are gone. You’re only remembering shadows of them, stories that seem to be limited to the pages or screens you read them from. Flat and dull things. So, yes, people forget. But forgetting is dangerous.
Forgetting is how the monsters come back.”
Jam is horrified when Pet, a being of colors and claws, tells her there is a monster lurking near her best friend. She's determined to figure out the truth, no matter what any of the adults have to say on the matter. Because the adults are sure that there couldn’t possibly be anything wrong.
But as Jam discovers, refusing to look and see the truth doesn’t fix anything. It doesn’t mean something isn’t happening. Denying the truth doesn’t make something any less true.
“A thing which is happening happens whether you look at it or not.”
This was an absolutely riveting and reflective read that truly packed a punch. I honestly have so many thoughts and feelings about this book, but not the words to describe how amazing this book was. I will definitely be thinking about this for quite a while.
Her mother focused on her, cupping her cheek in a chalky hand. "Monsters don't look like anything, doux-doux. That's the whole point. That's the whole problem.”
Evil takes many forms and shapes and monsters don't look or seem like monsters, until suddenly they do. Monsters are people and can be anyone: your neighbor you say good morning to, the little old lady you sit next to on the bus, a favorite family member.
And in Lucille, where it is taught that there are no more monsters? Where the adults refuse to believe that there are any bad people left?
What do you do when you have to reconsider everything you’ve ever been taught? And that, in fact, there is still a monster and it’s in your friend’s house.
“The problem is, when you think you’ve been without monsters for so long, sometimes you forget what they look like, what they sound like, no matter how much remembering your education urges you to do. It’s not the same when the monsters are gone. You’re only remembering shadows of them, stories that seem to be limited to the pages or screens you read them from. Flat and dull things. So, yes, people forget. But forgetting is dangerous.
Forgetting is how the monsters come back.”
Jam is horrified when Pet, a being of colors and claws, tells her there is a monster lurking near her best friend. She's determined to figure out the truth, no matter what any of the adults have to say on the matter. Because the adults are sure that there couldn’t possibly be anything wrong.
But as Jam discovers, refusing to look and see the truth doesn’t fix anything. It doesn’t mean something isn’t happening. Denying the truth doesn’t make something any less true.
“A thing which is happening happens whether you look at it or not.”
This was an absolutely riveting and reflective read that truly packed a punch. I honestly have so many thoughts and feelings about this book, but not the words to describe how amazing this book was. I will definitely be thinking about this for quite a while.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Medical content, and Grief
Minor: Rape
A character does dissociate in a scene and thinks about it a couple times as well.