Woman Reading

For me, reading Modern Monsters got off to a rough start. Right away I thought the pacing of the story felt strange, and I immediately struggled with falling into Vic’s voice. As the story got moving there were aspects of the book that I really liked, such as Vic’s BFF friendship with Brett, and I found other aspects of the story to be a little trite, such as Vic’s growing relationship with Autumn. The romance in all of this was just a little convenient, I guess.

Honestly, I think what it boiled down to was that Modern Monsters is a story of rape and of the boy who’s been accused but is actually innocent. That’s a heavy plot. It’s a dicey plot. It is because the plot is such a serious one that I had to question some of the reactions and decisions of the characters. Not believing the validity of the characters is a problem when you’re trying to connect with the seriousness of a story. It could be that after reading All the Rage I am a little bit biased, but a young woman who has gone through something so traumatic… it’s not hard to imagine that it would color absolutely every single action. I’m not trying to put anyone into a box, in terms of how they handle something emotionally, but it all just felt too relaxed for a story that is meant to be heavy. It was too casual. Granted Callie wasn’t the MC of the story, and we were getting a lot of what she was going through from Autumn, third party, but it still made me question some of the choices that were made such as willingly being alone in a room with a guy who she thinks may have had something to do with her rape.

With all that said, there were two area’s of the book that I enjoyed more than the central story of what happened at the party. First, the relationship that Vic had with his mother. I don’t think that any of the reveals in this book were shocking, so it wasn’t the secrets that got me. I was drawn in by the lack of compassion. I can’t possibly imagine having a relationship with my child the way Vic’s is with his mother. Then again, my life has certainly been easier, so I’m thankful that I can’t understand.

As I mentioned above, I also liked Vic’s friendship with Brett. I liked how Brett looked out for Vic and protected him. I liked that even though Brett had become ‘popular’, he was still Vic’s best friend and always found ways to include him. Brett easily became my favorite character.

I even liked the beginning of the end. Not the end. The BEGINNING of the end. I like books that don’t give you the easy answer. I like a book that makes you so angry that for a moment you yell ‘I give you ONE skull, BOOK!’, but then as you think about it you recognize the genius of it all. The idea that the world doesn’t always give you the cookie cutter villain. Sometimes you don’t get the answer at all, and sometime the answer you get just SUCKS. That’s real life, folks. Sometimes life sucks. There’s a beauty in authors being honest about it.

Which brings us to the end of the end. Where everything unraveled and everything just went too far. One thing after another, like dominoes knocking each other over. One horrid thing after another.

Come on, I’m pretty positive that life doesn’t suck that bad.

Geez.

Thank you to Entangled Media and Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

See this review, and others, at Badass Book Reviews!