Reviews

My Name is Monster by Katie Hale

Only show reviews with written explanations

sherri_berri's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

3.5 stars

This review can also be found on my blog.

I can really appreciate the appeal behind this novel, even if it didn't do much for me personally. This is a quiet post-apocalyptic character study of two characters: Monster-turned-Mother and Monster (the second). The naming seems confusing, but it absolutely makes sense within the story and is quite easy to follow. The first half of the novel follows Monster (to-be-Mother) as she travels home following an apocalyptic war slash disease. The "Sickness" itself is more of a backstory and isn't much focused on itself, but some of the flashbacks did remind me of the current situation we're dealing with. Close to the halfway point, Monster comes across a young girl and decides to change her own name to Mother while referring to the girl as Monster.

I have not survived this long only to die on a shit-splattered beach in Scotland.

The concept is strange, but it works. The first half is a combination of flashbacks and present-day as Monster-to-be-Mother reflects on her life and deals with the struggles of surviving alone in a lonely, barren landscape. This is flipped in the second half as (the new) Monster bemoans the woes of her restrictive life and looks down upon Mother for her fear and dependency on their lifestyle. It was so frustrating for me to read Monster's perspective since she's the post-apocalyptic version of the spoiled brat. We learn in the first half of the novel the extensive trauma Mother has undergone and the pains she took to get where she is now. Monster follows this up by insisting she is braver than Mother and by continually placing herself in dangerous situations -- or trying to.

People always marvel at waterfalls, and nobody pays enough attention to the chasm underneath.

I think, though, this is part of the point of the novel. Because Mother tries to forget her trauma instead of processing it and teaching Monster about the true dangers of the world, she enables this way of behavior and thinking. Monster cannot learn from Mother's experiences if Mother does not share them. The problem is that it is just too difficult for me to read books where things could be solved by some simple communication. If Mother had just opened up, or given some kind of explanations to Monster, this all could have been averted. Regardless, it is fairly well-written and as I said, I can see the appeal.

Decisions made at night are tricksters, elusive and fickle, slippery as fish.

I do wish some things were explained further. I don't know if certain plot points just went over my head, or what. (The second) Monster's past was so confusing to me. I know it was difficult to spell things out more clearly since she did not have the language to communicate it, but I was... not really sure what had happened to her. I think one of the plot points of her past was weirdly far-fetched and didn't make any sense without explanation. Every time it came up, I was so confused!

[...]maybe healing really means making something different. Maybe getting better doesn’t mean going back to how it used to be, but moving forwards instead[...]

Overall, though, I'd say this is worth reading if it sounds like it suits you. Like I said, it is a character study so there isn't a TON of plot. It's not your typical post-apocalyptic read, so I'd go for this if you like something a little more literary.

content warnings: apocalyptic war; graphic depictions of wounds; death of a loved one.

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Ko-fi

ehiggs88's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

gerwigverse's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: ★★★★

GREAT take on an apocalyptic world, great worldbuilding, couldn't keep it down. Katie Hale's skilled writing has transported me to this deserted landscape and I could vividly see every single detail, which honestly is such a big reason why I liked this one so much. It reminded me of a few sci-fi movies I've already seen, which I dig a lot.

The narrative and style were great, too, can't complain about that.

The only thing I didn't like was that I was interested in finding out who released the mysterious 'sickness' into the world, because I'm a curious reader, but it didn't hurt the rest of the book for me, which was great. Look forward to read more of Katie Hale soon.

lucymereading's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

peckreadsbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

samwitches's review

Go to review page

5.0

An atmospheric dystopian tale about motherhood, and the costs that come with it. My Name is Monster tells a story of planet earth’s sole survivor after some unknown source of Sickness left her in total isolation—or so she thinks. Monster, the name pressed onto her before civilisation’s collapse, had always struggled to fit in with other people and she often kept her distance from emotional connection.
Once this might have been a weakness, but as the world crumbles around her, Monster’s aversion to others is the very thing that keeps her alive. Perhaps on the outside, at least. She does almost anything that she can to stay alive, including indifference to the death of those who were most close to her. Monster is utterly isolated, in pain, starving, and constantly on the move to survive as we as readers follow her on her journey and intermittently are given glimpses into her past.
Until she finds someone. A girl—younger than her. And she is no longer a Monster, but now a mother. As the story twists it soon evolves from isolation and survival into motherhood, love, and instinct. My Name is Monster describes an uncomfortable and desperate insight into motherhood, but one that is absolutely necessary and will definitely make your heart ache.
I have said it and I’ll say it again: get this book. I found it a little slow at the start, but once I laid back and became acclimatised with the languid rhythm of Hale’s writing the whole narrative experience became almost poetic. The story is delivered through two perspectives and certain chunks of information were often left out because of this, in another book this might have been frustrating. But if I’m honest, I thought that the omissions made the narratives even better because what we aren’t told simply reflects in the uncertainty of the characters themselves. My Name is Monster is a tale of tenderness, of life, and survival in an utterly decimated world. The prose is specked with thought-provoking lines on femininity, power, and fertility throughout and it really is utterly beautiful.