Pet - Akwaeke Emezi

 

 “Monsters don't look like anything, That's the whole point. That's the whole problem.” 

This is my third Akwaeke Emezi book and though I didn't like it as much as You've Made A Fool of Death With Your Beauty, I think this is a solid entry in the YA genre. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Started: January 18th, 2024

Finished: January 26th, 2024

Synopsis:  In the city of Lucille, monsters have been purged. No longer do the citizens of the city have to be wary of monsters prowling the streets and harming anyone who comes across them. Jam, a young girl, unknowingly brings one of her mother's paintings to life, and its task...to kill a monster lurking in her best friend's, Redemption's, home. 

My Review: When you read anything from Akwaeke Emezi, you just need to go with the flow. Their writing is very abstract and this story is no different. From the character's names, mainly common nouns/adjectives, and verbs, such as Jam, Glass, Bitter, Aloe, Moss, etc to the dialogue and its multitude of formats. It took me a bit to get into the story, but once I got used to the writing, I was intrigued as to what might happen. 

First, let's start with the story. I liked the concept of angels and monsters and how they are really an analogy for "good" and "bad" people. Monsters such as murderers, abusers, thieves, etc and the angels being those that brought the monsters to justice. Jam, unknowingly, brought one of those "angels" to life. In a world where monsters were believed to be eradicated, the new being, known as Pet, claims that there are still monsters in the world. However, this monster lives in her best friend's house. Overall, I enjoyed the story, though the characters tended to blend together. There wasn't really any way to tell them apart other than their names and who they were related to. They all, including Jam and Redemption, seemed very one-note. The only character that had a strong presence was Pet, the hunter/angel. 

In addition, I admired how the concept of angels and monsters can easily take a religious route, but in this case, it was treated more like history, which leads me to believe that religion did not have a place in this world. 

Through some investigation, both Jam and Redemption find out that the monster in Redemption's house was his uncle, Hibiscus. He was physically abusing his younger brother, Moss. The two friends work together with Pet to find his uncle and kill him--ultimately, to bring him to justice. Since this book is about 200 pages, I felt that there needed to be a bit more substance to the reasoning. Everything was done off-stage and told to us through a middle man. Moss tells Redemption about his abuse, and then it is relayed to Jam. It is hard to believe what a cruel man Hibiscus is, when we as readers, don't see more evidence. Plus, it was mentioned later when they confront Hibiscus that this is something that he suffers from and he wanted to change. However, Pet does not care and blinds Hibiscus by revealing his "true" form. It seems very black and white, which might be the point, but there is a ton of gray area that I feel needed to be explained a bit more.

Next, we have the formatting. This is what got me the most. The dialogue was so hard to follow. Jam uses sign language, as well as telepathy to communicate with Pet. Yet sometimes, Jam does use her voice to talk. I am usually not a fan of dialogue that does not have quotation marks and this is the primary source of dialogue between Pet and Jam, which to me, was frustrating. Jam would go back and forth between signing, talking telepathically and speaking, that it made me confused who she was talking to a multitude of times. 

Final Thoughts: Overall, I think this books sends a very important message. You never know what someone is capable of, even if they act "good". It is a story of red flags and seeing the things we would rather not see in order to keep the peace and speaking up when needed. I think this is an important story, especially for younger audiences to read. As long as they have patience with the formatting, I think many students of mine will enjoy this.