mars2k 's review for:

This Young Monster by Charlie Fox

3.5

dark informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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This Young Monster is undeniably interesting, but not quite what I was expecting or hoping for. There’s a chapter about Buster Keaton, for example, which I felt didn’t quite fit the theme of monsterhood – I can kind of see what the author was going for, but it was a bit of a stretch. The chapter “Spook House,” a script for an experimental play, also seemed a little out-of-place, though I suppose the chaotic tangents and shifts in tone are part of this book’s charm.

I’m not sure how to feel about the book overall, in all honesty. It’s definitely not bad but I can’t quite say it’s good either. It’s fascinatingly uncategorisable, which itself is really satisfying – it just feels right for a book like this to leave me slightly bemused. I must say, there were some wonderfully thought-provoking lines that have stuck with me, like “a monster is a fear assuming a form” and “monsters cause trouble, they disturb definitions, they discombobulate what we think we mean.”

This is going to sound really strange but bear with me: This Young Monster reminds me of the Sixth Doctor from Doctor Who. Brash, erratic, unrelentingly in-your-face, and definitely not what I was expecting, for better or for worse.