A review by bgraham5
My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf

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.