A review by serendipitysbooks
Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

 In Monsters:A Fan’s Dilemma the author attempts to interrogate how fans should/could/might react to art produced by monstrous men. I have very mixed feelings about this book. The topic is certainly a timely one and the fact that the author didn’t reach a firm conclusion did not bother me at all. I’d much rather read information and the musings of others and reach my own conclusion than be told that there is only one correct response and that I must follow it. One of the main problems for me came in the second half of the book when the author shifted her focus from monstrous men (not a term I’m personally fond of; men who have done monstrous things is more nuanced and accurate, certainly less inflammatory) and starts looking at women. The crimes of the male artists included paedophilia; the crimes of the women she considered involved prioritising their art over motherhood and she explored her own feelings of mother guilt. Mothers who do not devote the entirety of their lives (or even their children’s childhoods) to their children are not monsters, although those who expect them to do so and judge them if they dare do something for themself might possibly be. I wish I’d DNF’d at this point. Things went meandering and issues got more than a little muddied in the second half, although the book did finish on a strong note. Overall the author raised some good points to consider, but for my money the worthwhile content (and my interest) ran to an essay or two rather than an entire book. 
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