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

informative reflective slow-paced

1.0

This book basically feels like the author is being an apologist for “monstrous” behavior without coming right out and saying it because she’s a self-proclaimed feminist. I see her feminism, but I think it’s very simplistic and minimally intersectional. She starts the book off by arguing that use of the word “monster” for men who are abusers (i.e. Harvey Weinstein, Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby, etc.) is so that as individuals, we don’t need to acknowledge our own potential for those kinds of behaviors. Which is an interesting perspective, but also a flimsy excuse. At times, it seemed like the author was arguing this point simply to make herself feel better about continuing to consume art when she felt guilty doing so because of the creator’s crimes and behaviors. She also goes on to blame the internet because now people have to know that their beloved cultural icons have done horrible things - it seems to me she’d rather live in ignorance? There’s a simple solution, of course. The author personally does not have to engage with social media, the very thing she blames.

There were a few bits that really felt yucky to me:
  • criticizing queer kids’ use of tumblr for “unbodied connection” with fandoms. Tell me you’re not queer without telling me? This is so ignorant of how isolating it can be to exist as queer, especially in small communities, and how important it can be to connect with others like you over something meaningful. But it’s wild because she later talks about being a weird kid needing connection and she got that from David Bowie music and fans? So she clearly understands the need, but maybe not the context.
  • Listed men who have been found to be abusive and pedophilic as examples of cultural “monsters,” and THEN followed that by listing women who had mental health problems and said “does self harm count?”
  • On Picasso’s abusive behavior towards women: “Picasso is the victim of, the servant to, his own impulses.”
  • Implied that the reason society went after Woody Allen and Roman Polanski for their pedophilia is because they are Jewish and our society is anti-Semitic… not because they assaulted children or anything…
  • Sylvia Plath is included in this book on cultural “monsters” because her suicide was a “violent act” against patriarchy, supposedly. The reality is that she was clinically depressed in the midst of heartbreak. The author does state that Plath was not a monster, so why is she even included in this discussion?
  • She conflates recovery from addiction to someone needing support for their “monstrous” behavior (i.e. pedophilia, abuse, violence)

The message at the end, summed up: we’re all monsters and all victims and what we do doesn’t make a difference anyway, so consume the media created by perpetrators 👎🏻

I will give her this: she made a point to say that memoir should be description and not prescription, meaning she doesn’t feel a person’s views espoused in their memoir(s) should automatically be taken as life advice by readers. Which is good, because I certainly won’t with hers.
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