Here There Are Monsters

 

    This book has a bizarre place scratching at the back of my brain. Despite everything, this book has sat with me. It's been two years since I read this book. And I have only read this book once. I don't even own this book anymore. I donated it.

    Yet, it still haunts me. 

    This book stirred something so profound in me that I created a Goodreads account to talk about it. 

    But I've had time to think about this book, and my thoughts have changed. And since this was the book that started me on my book-reviewing journey, what better book to post about first? 

💀💀💀 Spoilers Ahead 💀💀💀

    I think I like the idea of this book better than the execution. 

    The cover captured my attention, and the description hooked me. An isolated house, a missing 13-year-old sister, and monsters? Totally up my alley. Add in a toxic sister relationship to spice things up, and you've sold me.

    This book fell short, though. 

    When I wrote my original review, I was desperately trying to like this book. I still want to like this book, but I just don't. There are two glaring problems. The pacing and the characters. 

    Let's start with the good because that's a short list. 

    The author can set a scene beautifully. The isolated house, Skye's (the main character's) basement bedroom full of healthy plants, and the twisted forest behind the house are described so well that I could see them as clearly as I could my own home. 

    The monsters (which don't show up until halfway through the book) are spine-tinglingly creepy. From their voices to their creation and appearance. They are scary. But severely underutilized. Their presents, while striking and dreadful, are a mere blip in the grand scheme of things. If the title of the book has the word 'Monsters' in it, I expect there to be fucking monsters in the book. 

    And while the monsters are there and horrible as they should be, they don't make a big enough impact. It would be a different review if they were minimal but impactful.

    And those are the positives of this book. Told you it was short. 

    The first problem I had was the pacing. 

    The first half of the book bounces back and forth between past and present events. This was so that the reader could understand what led up to the event that kicks off our story. We get to know each sister and the nature of their relationships. I do deem this necessary, but for 50% of the book? That just kills any suspense and urgency from the main problem: the main character's sister is missing. 

    The book opens with her sister gone. Skye wakes up from a nap with her parents in a panic, and the police are swarming the house and woods behind, looking for her 13-year-old sister, Deirdre. It's an instant hook. But it's all thrown out the window because of the pacing.

    And please don't get me wrong, I don't mind chapters alternating from past and present. If done correctly, I really enjoy it. But the first half of the book, where the chapters are in the present, lacks action for most of it.

    And now, onto the most significant problem: The characters. 

    The characters in this book are either forgettable or so unlikeable you wonder why you're still reading. And again, if an unlikeable character is done well, it can be a great read. But all these characters that we spend the whole book with just suck. 

    Skye’s parents aren’t really interesting (I don’t even think it’s explained what her father does for a living, something with building houses? Remodeling maybe? It is obvious that he’s the handyman of the house, building Skye’s basement room and such, but I don’t think we are given specifics. The same thing can be said for the only other set of parents we meet, the Wrights. 

    In fact, I totally forgot William even had a younger sister.

    The only one of Skye’s friends who is notable is William, the love interest of sorts. The other two, Sophie and Kevin, are pretty generic.

    I will give the author this: she does try to provide characterization to these two. Sophie is a closeted Lesbian who does seem to have Skye’s best interests in mind, at first. And Kevin is seemingly more intelligent than he lets on. And I did enjoy the ongoing conversation among these four about 'Who would you be in the zombie apocalypse? Who would survive and who wouldn't?'

    But maybe that's because these characters were so lackluster that I was trying to hang on to anything of interest.

    I don’t think these two are horrible people. In the second half of the book, Sophie does become more petty, protective, and hateful, but given the circumstances, I think that was a normal reaction. And Kevin towards the end (and I mean the very end) becomes a character you can understand in some way. Not agree with or like, but something else. These two are just flat.

    Then there are the three main ones. Let's start with Skye.

    Skye is our protagonist, and whose perspective we're in throughout the duration of the book.

    Skye is an asshole.

    Truly.

    But I can understand why, which kept me going to a point. How far is she willing to go? How many times can you save someone before they learn how to save themselves? Are you willing to destroy yourself to do it? In the flashbacks, we see that leading up to Deirdre's disappearance, Skye is trying to be better, start fresh. Even if that means faking it a bit. But hey, she's 16, I can't fault her too much for that. And Skye has never had friends before, so faking and manipulating might be necessary.

    We do see that Skye likes William, Sophie, and Kevin; she truly wants to be friends with them. Which makes the events or 'trials' that Skye must go through to get her sister back all the harder to watch. And the ending is so much worse.

    The central theme of the book is about a toxic sister relationship. Which we get full force.

    When Skye and her family moved, Skye wanted to start over. She didn’t want to constantly save her little sister and be isolated/bullied/feared because of it. She wanted a brand new start, and it’s not her fault that Deirdre wants to stay in her fantasy world.

    It’s also alluded that Skye was/always is expected to be the ‘responsible’ and ‘dependable’ daughter. Someone not only her sister could depend on, but also her parents. Terrible to do to a sixteen-year-old girl.

    In the mix of the grief and panic of not knowing where her sister is, her mother says Skye is her ‘rock’. Skye also just bluntly states that she’s still the dependable one, the solid one for her parents.       Again, while her sister is missing.

    Skye also tries not to blame herself for falling asleep. She was supposed to be watching Deirdre, but she feels responsible because, as she repeats time and time again, Deirdre is her responsibility. Always has been. There is a deep sense of guilt in Skye, which is a huge motivation to get Deirdre back.

    In that light, I have a hard time not sympathizing with Skye. She was just a sixteen-year-old who wanted a new start.

    Still, her behavior is odd right after, leaving to drink with friends, the night her sister goes missing. If this were any other case, I would be appalled. But as we go through the book, I can understand why Skye would do that. Deirdre is horrible.

    But the problem I have is that Skye dismisses her panicked parents' distress over her missing sister. And when the ball finally starts rolling on getting Deirdre back from the monsters supposedly holding her hostage in the woods, that dismissal of others and selfishness takes an extreme turn.

    What would you do to get your sister back?

    For Skye, it's anything. Including, but not limited to, destroying the new life she built, revealing that she nearly killed a boy for messing with her sister, and threatening the boy she likes (a boy who has been nothing but understanding towards Skye's unhinged behavior) to do what the weird stick monster she built told him to do.

    Yes, the horrible thing Skye did was nearly drown a boy for messing with her sister. And we don't find this out until well past the halfway point of the book.

    My main problem with Skye isn't so much that she's unlikable, but her end goal just makes you question why. She wants to get her sister back, but the farther we get, you ask yourself, 'Is Deirdre really worth all of this?'

    I'll get into why in a minute, but let's talk about William first.

    William is the only likable character.  

    Mostly, William is kinda a plain character, just because he’s the only decent person. Like, genuinely, he is the only ‘good’ guy, and I won’t lie, I feel terrible for him.

    In the book, Skye points out multiple times that William is a good person, and that makes him vulnerable. The monsters in the book take advantage of/make fun of him for it, too.

    William gets caught up in the monster’s ‘game’ and he has to spill his father’s blood. Not kill him, but hurt him, which William absolutely does not want to do.

    Throughout the story, it’s clear that William has issues with his father. Nothing in particular, just that his father seems to be overbearing when he is home, and wants William to be just like him.

But despite this, William tried everything before he had to give in. But after Skye kills, guts, and leaves dead animals in his driveway and blames the monsters, the monsters actually attack Sophie and Kevin. William is forced to hurt his father. He shoots his father in the shoulder with an arrow on a hunting trip.

    The whole book, though, William is more than kind and understanding to Skye. He’s a sympathetic character and a good person. Before the monsters, he blames Skye’s weird behavior and outbursts on her sister's being missing. Which, from William’s perspective, is very normal. Any normal person would act strangely if a family member were missing.

    I personally think William’s behavior towards Skye after her confession and outburst was way more than she deserved, but good people can often understand. And again, he believes she is acting like this because her sister is missing. Sophie put up no such front. She was rightly freaked out and cautious of Skye once she revealed her attempted murder.

    But as readers, we know that Skye was just manipulative ever since they moved to the new town because she wanted to fit in, but the others didn’t know that.

    William helps Skye find her sister and follows her into an alternate reality. A thoroughly creepy, dark, but imaginative fantasy world similar to what Skye and Deidre would play pretend in.

    William encourages Skye and reassures her when she breaks down. He kissed her, too, which was just salt in the wound.

    Because! Guess! What! Skye! Does! Next!

    To get past the ‘gate’ and get to her sister, there must be a price to pay. And Skye knows that that is.

    So nearly drowns William, ties him up, and leaves him to the monsters! All the while, William is begging for her to stop! To not leave him!

    I swear I want to just scream! Is your sister really worth all that?! (You’ll understand what I mean in a minute)

    William doesn't die, though! Skye chooses to save him (after leaving him for dead), but his face is scarred forever. And worse is, once they get back to the real world, everyone thinks Skye saved him!

    The only thing that sticks out to me about Skye in this moment is that she clearly doesn’t want to do this. And very much regrets doing it as she does it. But she does it because she would do anything to save her sister.

    And finally, the last main character is Deirdre.

    As I read the book, I felt bad for not liking Deirdre. I just couldn't bring myself to.

    I felt bad because the girl was definitely having a hard time with the move, and her older sister, who suddenly didn’t want anything to do with her. A sister who chooses her new friends over her.

Skye and Deirdre clearly have a toxic and co-dependent relationship. One Deirdre uses against Skye from time to time.

    Throughout the book, the woods consume and manipulate Deirdre. And now she’s been taken by the very monsters the woods told her to build.

    That’s a character to feel bad for, right?

    But throughout the flashbacks, Deirdre is just an ass. Worse than Skye. She’s mean and manipulative to Skye and dismissive towards their parents. She steals from Skye and embarrasses her, and just refuses to start over in a usual way like Skye. She just refuses to grow up.

    I get it, thirteen is a weird age. I was strange at thirteen. But there’s a point where you grow and mature from childhood fantasy worlds. You may never forget them, and it hurts to let go, but Deirdre is just isolated and delusional. It’s clearly not healthy, and I think that’s the point. So it does work for the story.

    But then we get to the end. And I can officially say I don’t feel bad for not liking Deirdre.

    After all this time, Skye was doing horrible things and ruining her new life to save her sister, but it turns out her sister was behind everything.

    The monsters made by Deirdre, who we thought became cursed by the woods or something, were nothing more than puppets. It was Deirdre talking through the monsters, making Skye do all these things to save her when she didn’t need saving. It was all just a game to Deirdre.

    Again, William shot his father with an arrow for this. Sophie and Kevin got hurt badly. Skye was forced to face something she had willingly done, but on Deirdre's behalf. She had to make these people she liked hate her. And she even sacrificed William to save her sister.

    And it was all just a game to Deirdre.

    Deirdre just wanted her sister to stay in this Kingdom of hers.

    Deirdre made Skye burn down her life just so they could play together forever. And is somehow angry when Skye doesn't choose her? I had hoped Skye would stick with the theme and drown Deirdre at this point. But no, Skye travels back before Deirdre can trap her in this alternate reality and saves William while she's at it.

    Oh, and the book ends with William terrified and avoiding Skye, but Skye promises to never let him go. Just like Deirdre promised: she'd never let Skye go.

    But for fuck's sake, just leave the poor boy alone!

    This book had a lot of promise. And the experience left an impression on me so deep that it still bothers me to this day. The plot isn't bad; it's the characters, for me, that drag it down. I'm a firm believer in this: You can have the worst or most boring plot ever, but if your characters are interesting, people will read on. I have read some absolutely trash books just to see how these beloved characters would come out on the other side.

    But that's just my take on Here There Are Monsters by Amelinda Berube. Thank you for reading.

                            一 Girl from the Slab Writes Back

    Overall Rating: ★★☆☆☆