My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1

Read this for an LGBT book club. I liked it, the art more than the text. Parts of it feel really poignant and powerful. It didn't quite hold together for me as a narrative, I lost the plot more than once. Which was kind of OK; the fantastic artwork provides its own experience and carried me through the parts I didn't quite follow.

I liked the narrator Karen quite a bit. The first part of the book, the art and the narrator's voice, reminded me more than a little of Marlys (the Magnificent!) in Lynda Barry's Ernie Pook's Comeek. That's not a bad thing, it might have been a little derivative but the author definitely has her own voice and takes the story in an entirely different direction. I also liked Karen's brother Deeze, his sad and poignant presence. Franklin was an interesting character too (and the most overt LGBT content.)

What I didn't like was Anka and the Holocaust story. Of course I was moved by it, the story is heart wrenching. But it felt uncomfortably fictionalized; I've spent too much time reading autobiographical Holocaust victim narratives and it felt a little strange to be reading what I think was a fictional pastiche. My reaction may be unfair, I'm sure the author meant well. And now having heard the author's Fresh Air interview in March 2017 I understand she's writing from her own research and remembered discussions with Holocaust survivors she knew from her neighborhood. So I don't really have a strong criticism but I am still left a little uncomfortable.

Overall it's a unique book and quite a beautiful one. I'm excited that the second volume is finally coming out.