My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Book One

Originally read July 2017 as a library book. Just as good the second time. Mesmerized by the artwork. Love the story within the story and how they illuminate each other. Love the focus on family and identity and mystery. Excellent use of perspective (in multiple ways). It makes my own imagination open up.

One of the most physically challenging books I've read. The deliberately hand drawn art is absorbing and detailed. The hand lettering is varied in its texture, depth and orientation. The unnumbered pages seem to stretch to infinity and I frequently felt lost - had I read three pages or thirty in this sitting?

The lost and disorienting reading experience mimicked the plot. The pre-teen protagonist's inconsistent grasp on time, consequences, and even reality creates layers of displacement as the plot slowly resolves into focus.

One of the best and most challenging graphic novels I've read in several years.

This is an excellent book, a really absorbing masterwork, so good it's hard to believe it's Emil Ferris's first graphic novel. Karen is a pre-teen girl growing up in 1960s Chicago, and as the title indicates, her favorite thing is monsters-- she's obsessed with schlocky horror comics and movies. At the same time she has to navigate being a pariah at her Catholic school, she also must survive racism, deal with her mother's cancer, and investigate the murder of her glamorous German neighbor. The book is amazingly drawn, all done in ballpoint pen on looseleaf; you're reading Karen's journal's account of the events of the story. There's a lot of collage/montage, with Ferris's artwork blending the realistic with the fantastic, and the use of show more color is astonishing at times. Who knew pen could be so beautiful? A prolonged series of flashbacks to the Holocaust are captivating. I have little idea where this honking enormous book is going (the second half is due this fall, I believe), but I really want to know. show less

Set in Chicago, in the late 60s, this dazzling, graphic novel, is presented as a fictional diary, written by a ten year old named Karen. She has a devout adoration for monsters and envisions herself as a female werewolf, or were-girl, if you will. After a neighbor dies, mysteriously, Karen decided to do some sleuthing herself and finds herself navigating some dark, twisty, places, confronting the drug world, freaks and the Holocaust.
I would rather not divulge any more details but I will start hurling a few more superlatives- This is a powerhouse work, written and illustrated, with depth, beauty and horror. An unsettling creepshow that would make Robert Crumb shudder.
Yes, it is early in the year but I would be hard pressed to think, I show more will read a better GN in 2017. As an added bonus, this is only part one...wolfish grin. show less

A young girl growing up in 1960s Chicago with an obsession with monsters finds herself uniquely positioned to solve a mystery. Her upstairs neighbor, Anka, who she is close with is found murdered in her apartment on Valentine's Day. All the doors and windows are locked from the inside so the police must rule it a suicide. However, Anka was shot in the chest in the living room but was found tucked into her bed.

It's up to our protagonist to get to the bottom of this dark matter. She will learn more about Anka's life and the way she survived the holocaust. She will learn more about her family and the relationships Anka had with men. Her mother's progressively worsening health will become a catalyst that reveals unexpected truths.

This is show more an amazing story about self-discovery and the secrets we keep from those we love the most. Deep down, in the right circumstances, everyone is a monster. show less

This book sucked me in immediately with its art, concept, and wonderful main character. I love the blend of color and black-and-white art, and even though over-full pages in graphic novels sometimes drive me a little batty, it all works so well here, I loved it!

That said, the middle of the book diverges into the history of another character apart from our child narrator, and I have to admit I didn't enjoy that section as much--it felt like the book had changed focus completely and turned into a different book all of a sudden, and I'm not sure I ever completely fell back in love with the book after that, the story and focus felt torn in so many different directions.

I loved the art throughout, and the way we got to understand the adults show more in the story through a child's POV, which was accomplished in such nuanced fashion that I'll forever be impressed. I haven't quite decided whether I'll go onto the next volume. The end portion of the book felt scattered, and I'm just not sure how I feel about the ending, which felt a bit more cliff-hangery than resolute in any true sense.

For the art, and for the concept and presentation of the main character, I'd definitely recommend it. Lovers of literary graphic novels are probably the best audience. show less

a s t o n i s h i n g
this is why i love graphic novels
an amazing story married to accomplished and moving artwork and it all exists as one perfect entity. it's so ambitious and genuine and beautiful and i really hate having to be pulled out of the world it creates.
painful and real, but also mysterious and haunting, and funny and smart - can't wait for vol.2. highly recommended!
AND DAT CROSSHATCHING