A review by chronicallybookish
Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story by Sarah Myer
emotional
fast-paced
<i>Special thanks to FierceReads and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.</i>
I don’t rate memoirs. To me, there is something deeply uncomfortable about assigning a numerical value to a book that someone wrote about themself, their life, their experiences. Who am I to judge what they went through or how they chose to portray it? Sure I could get nitpicky on sentence structure and writing craft or in this case illustration, but a book is more than that, so I simply give memoirs no rating at all.
I think this was an impactful, important book. I think it’s going to mean so much to so many people, and I am so glad that it exists. I’m glad I read it, though it made me feel ill to read about some of the things that the author experienced.
I was a little uncomfortable with how many slurs were used, repeatedly. I understand that this is a memoir, set in the 90s, and these things were really said to the author, but I’m not sure how I feel about them repeating them directly, even if it was condemned in text. Many of these slurs were not this author’s to reclaim. The use of slurs is complicated, and I understand the point that they were trying to make, and I’m not even sure it was wrong of them to use these slurs in their memoir. I’m kind of confused on what the “right thing” is when it comes to that sort of thing, if there is one at all, but I did think it important to just, point out, especially since slurs can be very triggering to read, and basically every slur you can think of (except the N word) is used in this book, including ones I’ve never even heard of before.
That said, I do recommend this book. I think everyone should read it, if they are in a place to do so.
I don’t rate memoirs. To me, there is something deeply uncomfortable about assigning a numerical value to a book that someone wrote about themself, their life, their experiences. Who am I to judge what they went through or how they chose to portray it? Sure I could get nitpicky on sentence structure and writing craft or in this case illustration, but a book is more than that, so I simply give memoirs no rating at all.
I think this was an impactful, important book. I think it’s going to mean so much to so many people, and I am so glad that it exists. I’m glad I read it, though it made me feel ill to read about some of the things that the author experienced.
I was a little uncomfortable with how many slurs were used, repeatedly. I understand that this is a memoir, set in the 90s, and these things were really said to the author, but I’m not sure how I feel about them repeating them directly, even if it was condemned in text. Many of these slurs were not this author’s to reclaim. The use of slurs is complicated, and I understand the point that they were trying to make, and I’m not even sure it was wrong of them to use these slurs in their memoir. I’m kind of confused on what the “right thing” is when it comes to that sort of thing, if there is one at all, but I did think it important to just, point out, especially since slurs can be very triggering to read, and basically every slur you can think of (except the N word) is used in this book, including ones I’ve never even heard of before.
That said, I do recommend this book. I think everyone should read it, if they are in a place to do so.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Ableism, Racism, Homophobia, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, and Racial slurs