You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by jdh_ky
Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer
4.0
"That is: love us not reliant on judgement, but on a decision to set judgement aside. Love is anarchy. Love is chaos. We don't love the deserving; we love flawed and imperfect human beings, in an emotional logic that belongs to an entirely weather system than the chilly climate of reason.
Pearl Cleage-in her older, mellower days-softened toward Miles. She spoke of him with tenderness, with sadness, with feeling: " We can just hope the next time he comes around his spirit and personality will be as lovely as his music". We can just hope." (257)
-----
This is a hard book because of the content. From drunks, abusers, women who abandon children; the author really throws in the kitchen sink on the subject of monsters and the art we love. But the author writes a book honoring the voices of not just fans like herself but also the voices of victims like herself. I'm still not sure hiw to recommend this book. I think it's moving. I think it's a critique of a system that makes monsters. I think it's a critique of fandoms. I think it's a subtle critique of what we capp cancel culture. But it ends with a sense of hope that maybe art can be honored but also somehow how put in the context of horrible people but it starts with accountability and honesty of the art and the monsters who created. For a subject so complicated, the author ends us with that complicated solution. It'll take me some time to process this book but I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars.
Pearl Cleage-in her older, mellower days-softened toward Miles. She spoke of him with tenderness, with sadness, with feeling: " We can just hope the next time he comes around his spirit and personality will be as lovely as his music". We can just hope." (257)
-----
This is a hard book because of the content. From drunks, abusers, women who abandon children; the author really throws in the kitchen sink on the subject of monsters and the art we love. But the author writes a book honoring the voices of not just fans like herself but also the voices of victims like herself. I'm still not sure hiw to recommend this book. I think it's moving. I think it's a critique of a system that makes monsters. I think it's a critique of fandoms. I think it's a subtle critique of what we capp cancel culture. But it ends with a sense of hope that maybe art can be honored but also somehow how put in the context of horrible people but it starts with accountability and honesty of the art and the monsters who created. For a subject so complicated, the author ends us with that complicated solution. It'll take me some time to process this book but I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars.