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dmbcrush91103's review against another edition
3.0
A interesting read. Starkly paints a picture of how a troubled child can be forgotten and lost. Feels a bit slight - maybe the graphic novel format?
pasc96's review against another edition
4.0
How is a monster formed? Artist Derf Backderf attempts to find out in his graphic memoir showing his time in high school alongside the to-be infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Unsettling, empathetic, questioning, repulsive, saddening...this book brought out a wild ride of emotions. When I finished it, I instinctively pushed it to the farthest end of the couch; when I stood up, my legs folded beneath me from pins and needles. I realized I hadn't moved for its duration, only to turn the pages. It's a novel-length lament, really, of so many missed interventions and what-ifs, a close look at inherited unacknowledged mental illness, and a devastating portrayal of abandonment taken to its most extreme ends. Read it and be haunted.
unbalancedminds01128899's review against another edition
5.0
A completely different look into the monster from someone that actually knew him.
Wow.
Just wow.
Wow.
Just wow.
lexcraftahoy's review against another edition
5.0
Eerie and unsettling look at the killer before he became a killer. The author never condones Dahmer, but he also raises the troubling question: there was something clearly wrong with this kid, so why didn't anyone try to step in and help? Wo knows if it would have made any difference. Uncomfortable to read knowing what became of Dahmer, but that's the point. Very interesting format to look at the life of a serial killer. Author appears to have done his homework and not just gone by is own memory of events, which likely could have been distorted after knowing what happened. Disturbing, but a good read.
erica_klein's review against another edition
4.0
An excellent read. The author went to high school with Dahmer and this book includes his recollections as well as researched (and documented) details.
rebecca_oneil's review against another edition
5.0
Fascinating, dark, depressing, and deeply creepy. I have been thinking about this every day since I read it. Backderf went to high school with Jeff Dahmer and recalls his memories of the teen who became the serial killer. Seen through the lens of what we now know Dahmer did, it's hard not to look at the many factors at play in his life and try to make some conclusions. Could he have been saved at any point? Was his outcome the product of genetics, times, ignorance, mental illness, repressed sexuality, drugs, or just overwhelming lack of attention? (Having just read [b:Outliers: The Story of Success|3228917|Outliers The Story of Success|Malcolm Gladwell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255608670s/3228917.jpg|3364437], I'm now thinking of how factors stack up to make something extreme happen -- there were definitely an inordinate amount of factors that had stacked up by the time Jeff turned 18. Not excusing his actions; just pondering...)
Also, my knowledge of Dahmer before this book was only the urban-legend kind. The human side is far more compelling and heartbreaking. As the author points out, much of his life has been reported incorrectly. Finally, I didn't know that Dahmer grew up in Ohio. I thought the pictures did a good job of setting that small-town, Midwest feel; one even shows a Sohio sign. Dahmer also briefly went to OSU.
Of note:
"At school Jeff, for the first time, had friends. OK, he was more mascot than pal."
Page 67. Not easily forgotten.
Also, my knowledge of Dahmer before this book was only the urban-legend kind. The human side is far more compelling and heartbreaking. As the author points out, much of his life has been reported incorrectly. Finally, I didn't know that Dahmer grew up in Ohio. I thought the pictures did a good job of setting that small-town, Midwest feel; one even shows a Sohio sign. Dahmer also briefly went to OSU.
Of note:
"At school Jeff, for the first time, had friends. OK, he was more mascot than pal."
Page 67. Not easily forgotten.
sean_mann's review against another edition
3.0
Not the greatest. Many of the revelatory or "thought-provoking" questions throughout the narrative felt as if they were written by the high school version of the author, and not a person who had a long time to reflect on his high school experience. A lot of it felt like a book of "boys will be boys" moments/justifications as the author looked back on his life. The evolution of Dahmer and insight into how he interacted was interesting and saved this from a lower rating for me.
waxbiplane's review against another edition
3.0
maybe 3.5. Easy to read, but I'm not sure it's going to stick with me. As much about the fun of perceived taboo-busting as a teenager as about Jeffrey Dahmer. It's interesting as a speculation about how people who can go more than one way mentally/emotionally end up due to mitigating circumstances (if he had a more stable home life, would he have been able to get someone to hear the horrible shit that was happening in his head and work it out therapeutically and save himself from doing terrible things he knew were terrible and had not outlet for otherwise? or was this always the path he was going to end up on?), but ultimately, Dahmer ends up a character in a book as much about the narrator as him.
bgraham5's review against another edition
5.0
This was a quick 100 page read, but it was a tough one. Backderf does a great job of setting the scene for the world of the now seemingly alien 1970s, and approaching his subject, ostensibly one of the worst monsters in recent history, with as much sympathy as possible. He presents his experience with only as much judgement as we all have for our most embarrassing teenage escapades, only his rings of darkness and of close calls lurking at just the edges of the page. There is a vague defensiveness to some of the stories, clearly in response to the countless people who brazenly accused his high school “friends” (if you could really call them that) of not foreseeing the future and single-handedly putting a stop to it. He points out, rightly, that if there are people other than Dahmer to blame it should be on the adults, but really the blame rests squarely on Dahmer himself. There are no lessons to be learned here; I’m genuinely not sure anything could have been done to stop this heinous descent other than Dahmer turning himself in to authorities or institutionalizing himself before he committed any crimes. Backderf and his friends were right to back away from this increasingly dark, disturbing young man.