A review by vildfarenraev
My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf

dark informative sad fast-paced
 In 2011, I was irrationally afraid of Jeffrey Dahmer and also entirely obsessed with true crime. A law teacher in my high school encourage my interests and I spent many hours reading as much as I could possibly get my hands on. I wasn’t aware of this graphic novel until 2017 when the film adaptation was premiering at Toronto After Dark. The story gave me mostly information I was already familiar with but there was also something more there. This memoir provides a perspective that doesn’t exist within the FBI’s  records or the Dateline interviews. It’s hard to describe but there’s a degree of sadness that Backderf grants readers to feel. A sadness that isn’t necessarily about Dahmer but about any weird kid that no one thinks to check in on. How many people could have been saved if someone had noticed “Jeff” before everyone would only know him by “Dahmer”? It’s a question that hurts. There is no excusing the crimes or forgiving the man, but things could have been so very different and that is something allowed to be mourned. 
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