Week 11 – My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris (6 points)

    I knew nothing about this book going in, so basically up until the end of the book I thought it was an actual memoir.  Too many out there things happened for me to believe it, but I think the book is successful in mimicking a non-fiction memoir.

    The reason I was drawn to this book in particular, is because monsters are also my favorite things! But as a read it, I was genuinely surprised by the eerie relatability of the protagonist. I too was a confused gay child who would have rather been a non-human (especially a werewolf) to avoid the pressures of being perceived by society. Because monsters don’t have expectations, nobody cares about a monster’s gender, race, or sexuality. It’s just a big monster in the woods. I think many people in the margins are envious of such a life.

    I was a bit disappointed to find out that this memoir was complete fiction because I found the wolf-girl character so relatable. But I also think that these story and character moments, however fictitious, are likely based on the author’s own personal experiences.

    That is what this book does very well – authenticity. Just having the entire story being on scanned notebook pages makes it feel real, like somebody scribbled this comic during class at school. The medium also being purely ballpoint pen (with some markers) also lends credibility to the idea that a child drew it, since a child would not have access to a large variety of art supplies. A lot of thought went into how to make this book feel authentic, and I really appreciated getting lost in the experience while reading it.