I did not expect Broken Monsters, the latest novel by Lauren Beukes, to be what it was. I'm still trying to wrap my head around what it was, honestly. Her previous novel, The Shining Girls, dabbled in the unreal, with a serial killer who traveled through time via a house that might or might not have some sort of consciousness. I can deal with that. The serial killer there was very human and using the extraordinary (in the very basic definition of the word) aspects of the house to manage his urges. It was creepy and well written and I liked it very much.
Broken Monsters deviates from that novel by introducing a truly supernatural element. (Okay, time travel is weird, and in the case of The Shining Girls is probably more supernatural than science fiction. Still. Work with me.) A major character is more supernatural than human--more Stephen King than Connie Willis, let's say. In Broken Monsters, someone (or something) is murdering people and mutilating the corpses. Sometimes the body is conjoined with an animal corpse. Sometimes it's turned into an avant garde work of art. But no matter what the method, the murderer/dream (as it calls itself) wants to be seen, wants its work to be seen. It wants a little bit of itself in everyone who sees its work, because that's how it can spread.
I found Broken Monsters almost compulsively readable: I did not want to stop reading for a minute. Buekes absolutely has a storyteller's gift and her writing stopped me in my tracks a few times, in a good way. Certain phrases were simply beautiful. The characters were phenomenal, and she wove similar magic with Detroit as the setting. But did I like it? That's really the question I'm still dealing with. I'm not sure. I like my monsters human, quite honestly. The occasional foray into horror is fine, but I seem to have gotten more than I intended with my recent choices. On the other hand, a book that keeps me up reading way past my bedtime and has me scrambling home from work in the afternoon has to be doing something right.
Title: Broken Monsters
Author: Lauren Buekes
Star rating: 4 out of 5
Buy, Borrow, Skip: Buy
Bonus: Buekes' imagery is amazing, beautiful, and hella scary all at the same time
Broken Monsters deviates from that novel by introducing a truly supernatural element. (Okay, time travel is weird, and in the case of The Shining Girls is probably more supernatural than science fiction. Still. Work with me.) A major character is more supernatural than human--more Stephen King than Connie Willis, let's say. In Broken Monsters, someone (or something) is murdering people and mutilating the corpses. Sometimes the body is conjoined with an animal corpse. Sometimes it's turned into an avant garde work of art. But no matter what the method, the murderer/dream (as it calls itself) wants to be seen, wants its work to be seen. It wants a little bit of itself in everyone who sees its work, because that's how it can spread.
I found Broken Monsters almost compulsively readable: I did not want to stop reading for a minute. Buekes absolutely has a storyteller's gift and her writing stopped me in my tracks a few times, in a good way. Certain phrases were simply beautiful. The characters were phenomenal, and she wove similar magic with Detroit as the setting. But did I like it? That's really the question I'm still dealing with. I'm not sure. I like my monsters human, quite honestly. The occasional foray into horror is fine, but I seem to have gotten more than I intended with my recent choices. On the other hand, a book that keeps me up reading way past my bedtime and has me scrambling home from work in the afternoon has to be doing something right.
Title: Broken Monsters
Author: Lauren Buekes
Star rating: 4 out of 5
Buy, Borrow, Skip: Buy
Bonus: Buekes' imagery is amazing, beautiful, and hella scary all at the same time