A review by katiecatbooks
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris
5.0
Horror. Mystery. Told from the perspective of a child.
Story: Karen is a young girl who would prefer to live her life in the world of monsters and demons than deal with the harsh realities of her lower class neighborhood in Chicago. When an upstairs neighbor is found dead, Karen decides to investigate and gets wrapped up into a web of rumors, stories, criminals and shadowy, questionable figures, all while trying to sort our her own troubles with school, friends, bullies and family.
Language: This is a huge graphic novel, physically in size and weight, and length. It is separated into chapters by pulp magazine covers and told in first person perspective by Karen. The art is pencil based, and primarily black and white with accents of red, blue and yellow. The drawings are so rich and precise that readers may find themselves touching parts of the pages to find out if it's two or three dimensional. This is a very dark and adult story with violence, foul language and sexual art.
Characters: Karen is ten years old and writes and draws this story as a sort of diary or journal. She lives with her mother and older brother, Diego, in an apartment in 1960's Chicago. Karen has a huge imagination and a huge amount of self confidence and bravery.
I was surprised at how much I liked this book, especially as it progressed. This is a very deep and complex story with many layers and our little unreliable protagonist gives us enough information to piece things together ourselves and at the same time experience many twists and surprises along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed the art style, and the artist's use of real paintings to tell the story and her use of color. Looking forward to part two.
Story: Karen is a young girl who would prefer to live her life in the world of monsters and demons than deal with the harsh realities of her lower class neighborhood in Chicago. When an upstairs neighbor is found dead, Karen decides to investigate and gets wrapped up into a web of rumors, stories, criminals and shadowy, questionable figures, all while trying to sort our her own troubles with school, friends, bullies and family.
Language: This is a huge graphic novel, physically in size and weight, and length. It is separated into chapters by pulp magazine covers and told in first person perspective by Karen. The art is pencil based, and primarily black and white with accents of red, blue and yellow. The drawings are so rich and precise that readers may find themselves touching parts of the pages to find out if it's two or three dimensional. This is a very dark and adult story with violence, foul language and sexual art.
Characters: Karen is ten years old and writes and draws this story as a sort of diary or journal. She lives with her mother and older brother, Diego, in an apartment in 1960's Chicago. Karen has a huge imagination and a huge amount of self confidence and bravery.
I was surprised at how much I liked this book, especially as it progressed. This is a very deep and complex story with many layers and our little unreliable protagonist gives us enough information to piece things together ourselves and at the same time experience many twists and surprises along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed the art style, and the artist's use of real paintings to tell the story and her use of color. Looking forward to part two.