Monstress

            Monstress was truly terrifying. I don’t handle horror, gore, and violence well. I was deeply disturbed from the very beginning and did not think I would be able to finish. What kept me reading through my trembling and tears, was the compelling protagonist. Maika really spoke to me. She’s still young with no one to protect or guide her. There’s so much she doesn’t know and is struggling to find out. Who is she? What presence does she feel inside her? Why was her mother killed? Why is there so much hate between the races? Why was there a war? Why did so many people have to die? Why are so many people after her? Why does she hurt people when she doesn’t want to? What is her purpose?
            So much of the world built in Monstress reflects the world we live in. We deal with senseless hate and greed and violence. We can all relate to Maika, struggling to understand why the world is the way it is, why we hurt others even when we don’t intend to, what our purpose is in this crazy mixed-up life. Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda take all the pain, confusion, and evil in our world and transport it into a vividly illustrated magical world. In that way, it’s somewhat easier to contemplate than when we worry about our own world. And it’s far more interesting with its fantasy elements.
            The illustrations were beautiful in a grotesque way. Or perhaps they were grotesque in a beautiful way. Either way, they were masterful and captivating. It was very different experience for me to read a comic book. It had very little text, just dialogue and sparse narration. The illustration showed the visual details and the action. It felt disjointed for me to read in this way at first, being accustomed to novels that had all the dialogue, inner thoughts, descriptions, and action in one place, but I got used to it after a short while and then I really enjoyed it.

Though it will be hard for my oversensitive (or maybe the right amount of sensitive, because I don't think we should ever become desensitized to rape, torture, and murder, of children especially) soul, I intend to read volume two and other volumes thereafter, because I’m already thoroughly invested in Maika, Master Ren, the little fox girl (who is too damn cute!), and their journey to salvation.

-Erin

Comments

  1. MelodyOctober 21, 2017 at 4:40 PM

    Hi Erin,
    I resonated with your commentary about how Liu and Takeda take that which cannot be seen -- senseless hate, greed, and violence -- and convert it into images and words that we can process. They convert these forces into a visual world.

    And yes, the fox is adorable!! Especially when she is squeezing Master Ren.

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  2. Lila KOctober 23, 2017 at 3:49 PM

    Erin, what a great response! I really appreciated the way you identified the main thrust of this book and how you described the universality of the struggles that Maika faces, even in a fantastical world. I find it really beautiful (and somewhat comforting) that you were so effected by reading this novel. I felt that the fantastical elements insulated me against feeling a lot of sensitivity while reading this story. However, after reading your post, I realized how cynical that is! It begs the question: Why when given the opportunity to create a fantasy world do our imaginations so often go to a negative place? Why can't we use some of our brain power to imagine a better world, where the atrocities you mentioned don't exist/aren't tolerated? Your post was food for thought for me about this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ElmazwritesOctober 25, 2017 at 7:26 AM

    perhaps it was your ability to see the parallels with our own selfishness that made it so emotional. i appreciate your way of translating what seemingly is fantasy to the horrors of our present time. that works
    e

    ReplyDelete

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