moto1480's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
4.0
My Friend Dahmer is an interesting real life story of Backderf's experiences growing up with Jeffrey Dahmer. It's well-written and quickly sucks you in. It would have been very easy for the author to pretend to have been closer to Dahmer than he was, but he's very clear about the high school friendship(?) that he had with him. The art is different and I'm not an huge fan of Backderf's style. It's sweaty MAD magazine-esque, if that makes sense.
While Backderf says repeatedly that he didn't write this to engender sympathy for Dahmer, you can't help but wonder what could have been if anyone was paying attention to him before he killed for the first time. I actually think this graphic novel is Backderf's way of coming to terms with being unable to do anything for and about Dahmer. I enjoyed this immensely, though the end ran out of steam.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, and Ableism
amarj33t_5ingh's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
An insightful gaze into Dahmer's past to argue he wasn't born evil but made evil by his dysfunctional family.
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Grief, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, Cannibalism, and Stalking
flamesocks's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
3.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Bullying, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, and Murder
Minor: Ableism
booksborrowed's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
3.0
A former classmate of Jeffery Dahmer shares his personal experiences and collective research of others to show a speculative story into Dahmer's childhood.
This graphic novel was easy enough to follow and kept my dark interest into the human psyche entertained. There is a lot of added materials and notes to get even more information from at the end.
It could have been interesting if there was less explanation in writing and the author used the drawings for more of an emotional impact.
Overall, this was a quick on sitting read, and held a lot of opinions reading as a memoir. I wouldn't say don't try it, but it didn't "wow" me.
This graphic novel was easy enough to follow and kept my dark interest into the human psyche entertained. There is a lot of added materials and notes to get even more information from at the end.
It could have been interesting if there was less explanation in writing and the author used the drawings for more of an emotional impact.
Overall, this was a quick on sitting read, and held a lot of opinions reading as a memoir. I wouldn't say don't try it, but it didn't "wow" me.
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Sexual violence, and Violence
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