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A review by ravenclaw_28
The Monsters We Deserve by Marcus Sedgwick
5.0
Marcus Sedgewick's 'The Monsters We Deserve' is a very clever and unusual piece of fiction. Told using a first-person narrative, we follow the narrator's journey as they travel to the French Alps in order to write their next bestselling piece of fiction. We, the reader, are not told much about the narrator apart from a couple of snippets such as their distant relation to renowned author Aldous Huxley who wrote 'Brave New World'.
The narrative voice provides a colourful description of the surrounding area, the chalet in which they inhabit and the task they have been set. An arduous task if the ramblings and comments given to us the reader are anything to go by, in my opinion. I must say that the writing style is multi-layered and complex in the way this piece of fiction unfolds.
It seems to me that Sedgwick's narrator speaks to the reader almost as though a conversation was taking place, similar to the way a large number of bloggers and media influencers do today through vlogs and diary logs. What makes this style work is that the narrator's description of his surroundings and day to day activities are definitely biased. They're completely secluded with no one around to break up the monotony of mountain life. Yes, we are shown the small town with bars and life but we only travel there twice. Once, in the beginning, to set the stage, and again further on after an eight-day detachment from society.
From this, I infer that the narrator itself is not particularly reliable because the reader is being told what is happening rather than getting to truly experience the effects of the mountain air despite Sedgwick's skilful use of descriptive imagery.
This is emphasised through the tone which takes on many forms as the book unfolds. We get a sense of wonder and excitement as the narrator begins their journey which, leads on to frustration as they develop writer's block as well as anger, frustration, confusion and fear. Each of these is prevalent throughout as we are introduced to the many different themes Sedgwick includes.
The most prominent of these is Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'. The reader is informed of the narrators burning hatred for this literary classic where they state that Mary Shelley's 'offences against creativity' are 'unforgivable'. Their reasoning for this passionate exclamation is down to Shelley's objectification of Victor Frankenstein's adopted sister Elizabeth; 'She appeared of a different stock. The four others were dark-eyed, hardy little vagrants; this child was thin and fair.' - the narrator not only claims Mary Shelley as being xenophobic but a complete and utter snob. I did find that the narrator's negativity about 'Frankenstein' is an attempt to not only get the reader on their side but also a bid to convince themselves that they are truly correct in their hatred.
The other theme is Horror. Though we don't experience any monsters in the form we are accustomed as readers. The sense of unsavoury characters lurking in the dark is very much highlighted when the narrator discovers breathing that is not his own - and from this, our mind immediately jumps to MONSTER. Which makes the reader and the narrator question just how alone they truly are. Sedgwick takes this theme of monster and turns into something grander through comparison to monsters of a natural form - volcanoes, famine, ice and human reaction. The influences behind Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' during her stay with Lord Byron in Geneva when Mount Tambora erupted plaguing the world in darkness from the ashes, leading to one woman believing the apocalypse was upon them.
The one thing that took me a while to get comfortable with was the chaptering. It has standard form but instead of numbers, it uses lettering which adds to the unconventional formatting. By the time I had got halfway through this book, I finally realised what each of the letters meant. They were out of place at all but simply spelt out the title THE MONSTERS WE DESERVE. This is a clever use of imagery by Sedgwick if ever there is one to disorientate the reader and make you feel just as trapped and confused as the narrator.
The most bizarre aspect of this story is when the narrator is visited by three ghosts. All this makes me think of is Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' - one of the most famous books to use this form of foreshadowing. In 'The Monsters We Deserve', this tool is not a quest set by the author used to reset a character's moral compass per se but, to question the narrator's reality and to bring the reader's focus back to what is a monster, and is time rigid?
Sedgwick also visits the possibility that monsters become real because we create them. That is what makes them horrific, terrifying creatures because once they've been made, we can never truly escape them. Their allure is all spun according to the narrator because "we are for-bidden to enter the dark rooms of the mind..." To me the darker recesses of the mind echoes the beginning of this novel where the narrator muses over the term abyss - causing the reader, especially on my reading of this book, to question if this is a physical place from being up in the French Alps, or foreshadowing what's yet to come during the narrator's "writing holiday".
Overall, this is a stunning piece of fiction and despite it being centred around one individual, it still manages to draw the attention of the reader. To see if the narrator will complete their task, or lose themselves to the madness. There's neither darkness nor light, simply grey and I think that's what makes this novel truly great. Sedgwick encourages imagination and creativity from not only his narrator but, from his audience unlike that of Mary Shelley to help bring not only his monsters to life but those of past literary greats.
I'd also like to thank NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy of this book, in exchange for this honest review.
The narrative voice provides a colourful description of the surrounding area, the chalet in which they inhabit and the task they have been set. An arduous task if the ramblings and comments given to us the reader are anything to go by, in my opinion. I must say that the writing style is multi-layered and complex in the way this piece of fiction unfolds.
It seems to me that Sedgwick's narrator speaks to the reader almost as though a conversation was taking place, similar to the way a large number of bloggers and media influencers do today through vlogs and diary logs. What makes this style work is that the narrator's description of his surroundings and day to day activities are definitely biased. They're completely secluded with no one around to break up the monotony of mountain life. Yes, we are shown the small town with bars and life but we only travel there twice. Once, in the beginning, to set the stage, and again further on after an eight-day detachment from society.
From this, I infer that the narrator itself is not particularly reliable because the reader is being told what is happening rather than getting to truly experience the effects of the mountain air despite Sedgwick's skilful use of descriptive imagery.
This is emphasised through the tone which takes on many forms as the book unfolds. We get a sense of wonder and excitement as the narrator begins their journey which, leads on to frustration as they develop writer's block as well as anger, frustration, confusion and fear. Each of these is prevalent throughout as we are introduced to the many different themes Sedgwick includes.
The most prominent of these is Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'. The reader is informed of the narrators burning hatred for this literary classic where they state that Mary Shelley's 'offences against creativity' are 'unforgivable'. Their reasoning for this passionate exclamation is down to Shelley's objectification of Victor Frankenstein's adopted sister Elizabeth; 'She appeared of a different stock. The four others were dark-eyed, hardy little vagrants; this child was thin and fair.' - the narrator not only claims Mary Shelley as being xenophobic but a complete and utter snob. I did find that the narrator's negativity about 'Frankenstein' is an attempt to not only get the reader on their side but also a bid to convince themselves that they are truly correct in their hatred.
The other theme is Horror. Though we don't experience any monsters in the form we are accustomed as readers. The sense of unsavoury characters lurking in the dark is very much highlighted when the narrator discovers breathing that is not his own - and from this, our mind immediately jumps to MONSTER. Which makes the reader and the narrator question just how alone they truly are. Sedgwick takes this theme of monster and turns into something grander through comparison to monsters of a natural form - volcanoes, famine, ice and human reaction. The influences behind Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' during her stay with Lord Byron in Geneva when Mount Tambora erupted plaguing the world in darkness from the ashes, leading to one woman believing the apocalypse was upon them.
The one thing that took me a while to get comfortable with was the chaptering. It has standard form but instead of numbers, it uses lettering which adds to the unconventional formatting. By the time I had got halfway through this book, I finally realised what each of the letters meant. They were out of place at all but simply spelt out the title THE MONSTERS WE DESERVE. This is a clever use of imagery by Sedgwick if ever there is one to disorientate the reader and make you feel just as trapped and confused as the narrator.
The most bizarre aspect of this story is when the narrator is visited by three ghosts. All this makes me think of is Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' - one of the most famous books to use this form of foreshadowing. In 'The Monsters We Deserve', this tool is not a quest set by the author used to reset a character's moral compass per se but, to question the narrator's reality and to bring the reader's focus back to what is a monster, and is time rigid?
Sedgwick also visits the possibility that monsters become real because we create them. That is what makes them horrific, terrifying creatures because once they've been made, we can never truly escape them. Their allure is all spun according to the narrator because "we are for-bidden to enter the dark rooms of the mind..." To me the darker recesses of the mind echoes the beginning of this novel where the narrator muses over the term abyss - causing the reader, especially on my reading of this book, to question if this is a physical place from being up in the French Alps, or foreshadowing what's yet to come during the narrator's "writing holiday".
Overall, this is a stunning piece of fiction and despite it being centred around one individual, it still manages to draw the attention of the reader. To see if the narrator will complete their task, or lose themselves to the madness. There's neither darkness nor light, simply grey and I think that's what makes this novel truly great. Sedgwick encourages imagination and creativity from not only his narrator but, from his audience unlike that of Mary Shelley to help bring not only his monsters to life but those of past literary greats.
I'd also like to thank NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy of this book, in exchange for this honest review.