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A review by kylielovesbooks
Howl by Shaun David Hutchinson
4.0
I quickly requested this book because I loved Shaun David Hutchinson's book We Are the Ants. While I did love We Are the Ants more than this one for personal experience reasons, this one was really good too!
It starts out with an absolute bang, Virgil has been attacked and crawls bloody and battered to the ice cream shop where he gets help. This is his first impression in a new town, unfortunately. His experience does not get better. He claims to have been attacked by a monster (no, not a bear or gator) and no one believes him. He gets bullied and harassed by peers as well as guilt tripped by his dad and grandparents because his hospital bill was so expensive. And to make matters worse, his boyfriend and best friend from back home are becoming more and more distant.
I liked Virgil, but he was just super passive about literally everything and that kind of bothered me. He just wanted to keep his head down and become friends with people who were obviously not people to be friends with, Jarritt and Finn. My absolute favorite characters were Virgil's cousin Astrid and the actual good friend he makes, Tripp. Astrid is literally the only "different" person in Marritt and she sticks up for herself and for Virgil. Tripp is just a good guy. He's funny and loyal and every time Virgil blew off Tripp for Jarritt I was so mad because it's so obvious Tripp is such a better friend. I also loved Virgil's drama teacher Mr. Hiliker. He was very supportive of Virgil's love of acting and even recommended a therapist for him.
This book is almost trippy. We never really get the full account of Virgil's encounter with the monster because he doesn't completely remember himself despite only having one drink. We just get snippets here and there. So we are left wondering the entire book, did an actual monster attack him, or is he blocking out what really happened by imagining this horrific "monster?"
This attack gave Virgil PTSD and extreme anxiety. He had to sleep in his closet, he jumped when anyone touched him. He was constantly triggered by little every day things that happened throughout the whole book. The mental illness in this book was not shunned (except by certain older characters typically), therapy was welcomed, with both a one on one therapist as well as group therapy. This book was set in a town set in it's old ways where anything to do with mental health is NOT OK. It was hard for Virgil coming from Seattle where mental health and being gay is totally accepted going to Merritt where he is an anomaly and it was really nice to see the characters who did accept him for who he was and did want to help him get better and not just take what happened to him and shut it away in the back of his mind.
Definitely one to check out if you enjoy LGBTQ+ horror!
It starts out with an absolute bang, Virgil has been attacked and crawls bloody and battered to the ice cream shop where he gets help. This is his first impression in a new town, unfortunately. His experience does not get better. He claims to have been attacked by a monster (no, not a bear or gator) and no one believes him. He gets bullied and harassed by peers as well as guilt tripped by his dad and grandparents because his hospital bill was so expensive. And to make matters worse, his boyfriend and best friend from back home are becoming more and more distant.
I liked Virgil, but he was just super passive about literally everything and that kind of bothered me. He just wanted to keep his head down and become friends with people who were obviously not people to be friends with, Jarritt and Finn. My absolute favorite characters were Virgil's cousin Astrid and the actual good friend he makes, Tripp. Astrid is literally the only "different" person in Marritt and she sticks up for herself and for Virgil. Tripp is just a good guy. He's funny and loyal and every time Virgil blew off Tripp for Jarritt I was so mad because it's so obvious Tripp is such a better friend. I also loved Virgil's drama teacher Mr. Hiliker. He was very supportive of Virgil's love of acting and even recommended a therapist for him.
This book is almost trippy. We never really get the full account of Virgil's encounter with the monster because he doesn't completely remember himself despite only having one drink. We just get snippets here and there. So we are left wondering the entire book, did an actual monster attack him, or is he blocking out what really happened by imagining this horrific "monster?"
This attack gave Virgil PTSD and extreme anxiety. He had to sleep in his closet, he jumped when anyone touched him. He was constantly triggered by little every day things that happened throughout the whole book. The mental illness in this book was not shunned (except by certain older characters typically), therapy was welcomed, with both a one on one therapist as well as group therapy. This book was set in a town set in it's old ways where anything to do with mental health is NOT OK. It was hard for Virgil coming from Seattle where mental health and being gay is totally accepted going to Merritt where he is an anomaly and it was really nice to see the characters who did accept him for who he was and did want to help him get better and not just take what happened to him and shut it away in the back of his mind.
Definitely one to check out if you enjoy LGBTQ+ horror!