My Favorite Thing Is Monsters

This book is beautiful, captivating, heartbreaking, mystifying, and even educational. You are immersed in pen drawn pages contrasting monsters that hurt us and the monsters we can aspire to be. Young Karen tries to solve the mysterious death of a neighbor as other mysteries and real life horrors pile up on her. She sketches the covers of her horror comic books, famous works of art, and her encounters with the incredible personalities of Chicago. It is both painful and beautiful. You will want the second book.

I have not read a lot of graphic novels, but I heard about this one on NPR and had to see it. It is so thought-provoking and emotionally powerful! I have pre-ordered the sequel, I loved this so much. Just as compelling as any non-graphic novel I have read. It makes me realize that the author can convey complex thoughts through the images. They don't illustrate the story, they are integral.

This is a truly incredible debut. The illustrations are stunning and done completely with Bic Pens! Add to this the story of this authors journey to get this book completed and published...includes West Nile Virus, paralysis, and stolen cargo! Look it up! The book itself was a bit darker in tone and content than I expected, but this is a highly recommended work and one that I feel will be a milestone in graphic novels for years to come.

I bought this book for my nephew, who is very fond of graphic novels. However, before I gave it to him for his birthday, I rushed to read it. I couldn't put it down. The protagonist is heart-breakingly relatable, and her view of herself as a would be monster is touching and funny at once. As if this weren't enough, the artwork is amazing. It's an instant classic, and I can't wait for Volume 2!

I am relatively new to graphic novels, but this one blew me away! The story line and sub plots are intertwined and crystal-clear. The artwork is an incredible feast for the eyes. This book is not for kids even though the narrator is a 10-year old girl. She happens to be in a very adult world. This is one of the most interesting books you'll read/view for a long time.

So morbid and dark and it makes me feel all kinds of uncomfortable. I don't want to read it but I can't stop reading it. The artwork is amazing, as you can probably already tell from the preview images. Amazing artist, Ferris, and I'm stoked that I bought this (even if it keeps me up at night in perpetual discomfort and disgust). I'm going to pre-order the sequel!

Amazing read. I've read only a very select few graphic novels, so I can't speak to its quality in that sense, but if you (or whoever you're buying this for) is new to the genre, you'll find it perfectly accessible. The narrative is gripping, the characters are memorable, and the world is vibrant. Some thoughtful humor intersperses a dramatic and meaningful experience.

OMG. Stunning, astounding. This writer has a fan for life. In this book I get to visit inside the life of a young girl who is struggling to deal her own realities and with the ghosts/demons of her family, schoolmates, neighbors and neighborhood. All this and trying to solve a murder mystery too. The sadness of trying to handle so much alone.....so sad yet so real. How can she confide in others who are dealing with their own demons. The graphics are a story within themselves and add to the story where there are no words. A must for any reader.

Captivating tale of personal insights, family revelations and historical pathos. A young girl navigates the mysteries of home and neighborhood to find out how she fits into the world. The author is an usually gifted artist whose talents aren't confined to pencil - she draws the fine subtleties of human nature and social injustice within each page of this masterpiece.

I ordered this when I heard about the author's heroic recovery and her own personal inspiration to write this book. I am more a straight urban fantasy reader. But the story quickly becomes addictive. You want more and more as you find yourself being lost in both art and words.

This book is amazing. It's obviously a labor of love, anger, happiness, sadness, pain and triumph. My husband who secretly hates my love and affair with graphic books ($$$) but even he said this is an amazing book. I will treasure it and look forward to the next one. Already pre ordered!

Wow. Just wow. The detail in all the artwork is unbelievable. It's really lovely to see such a nicely crafted piece of art and creativity made by hand. The author's background really helps explain why she would take so much care and time to make this, and it's stunning.

This adult illustrated book is excellent! The story draws you it with the details together with the skillfully mastered illustrations.
Highly recommended, especially for those who like 'looking at pictures' and a good mystery. A bit too 'adult' for younger people, not a comic book story.

Truly epic and different in its mind-blowing, wonderful greatness (concept, plot, pace, characters, art [the hatching - wow], colors, letters). If you enjoy adult graphic stories, stop wasting your time reading insipid reviews like this and just buy it - you'll be glad you did.

How can one person be so talented?

Such a good writer. Such a good artist. In BIC?

It is taking me a long time to read it because I stop to enjoy the detail of the art so often.

Yes, it is serious subject matter, and although the protagonist is a child it is not really a child's book.

The story is dark and spooky and disturbing and real.

Just wish I didn't have to wait for the ending.

This book, man... wow. Do yourself a favor and carve out some time to get truly lost in this. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this type of intense magnetism from a book, and everything about it from the beautiful artistry to the depth of characters and storylines keeps you wanting more. Every few pages try to take a second and soak it all in, because as much as you want to keep going, there’s so much beautiful work to savor in here.

Emil's story is gorgeously drawn and told. She is fiercely empathetic in this story that's impossible to put down. This is a great start to much more to come from this ferociously talented artist and author.

Part one of the story of a girl who sees herself as an outcast and draws herself as a werewolf. She investigates the death, possibly murder, of her neighbor, who is a Holocaust survivor. The art and the story are excellent.

I don't read a lot of graphic novels, but this one might change that. Gorgeously illustrated and conceptually deep, this is one of the best books of any kind that I've read in a long time. Eagerly awaiting Vol. 2 this fall.

My favorite graphic novel to date. The detail in the imagery is so engrossing and the story is gripping indeed. It's actually turned me into a graphic novel nerd but I'm with that. It's a beautiful thing.

This graphic novel has an quality of intimacy to it that took me by surprise. What struck me first as cartoony and self-indulgent and gimmicky evolved into a profoundly moving exploration of discovery of oneself and others. Each character had such a voice and presence, I couldn't help but fall in love with them. I surprised myself by bursting into tears towards the end.

"Monster" is in the title but this is a human story through and through. Highly recommend it.

I read this book over the summer, the artwork is amazing, the story is so raw and powerful. I cried while reading it and it truly moved me. Don't be intimidated by it's size, it doesn't take long to read it for you won't be able to put it down

Easily one of the best graphic novels of the last couple of years. My favorite thing is monsters takes plenty of unexpected turns while dancing through multiple art styles to tell a tale that tackles art history, american history and a million other things with incredible grace and aplomb.

You'd think if the story follows a 10 year old girl the drawings and text would keep that in mind- that maybe a boy or a girl around the age of 10 might read the book. I bought for grandson and was appalled to find graphic sexual positions and alot of breasts and nipples. Geez, the store couldn't you rate this book? Or at least give a warnings as to X rated content? A suggested age range would have stopped me from ordering. So glad I flipped through the thing before I wrapped as a gift.

I don't think this book is "bad," necessarily, but it is absolutely not my kind of thing. Based off the title and the little I read about this book prior to reading it, I believed it to be a horror/mystery, but in reality, it's closer to a slice-of-life or something like that. I don't mind reading whatever, even if it's different than what I thought it would be, but this one is an exception.

I'll start with what I liked, which can be summed up as one thing: the art. I haven't seen a comic that tells the story through illustrated diary pages before, unless you count something like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books (and a couple others that follow a similar format). More specifically, I haven't seen something like this for adults. I don't care for how Ferris draw people, but the way she uses pens to illustrate everything is great.

I didn't like this book because it reminds me of all the crappy novels I had to read throughout school, where everyone is miserable and is attacked by people for no reason. I don't mind this when the characters rise up and face their challenges head on, but pretty much everyone in this has bad things happen to them and doesn't really do much about it. It's frustrating. Also, what's up with authors who write this kind of "realistic (if you want to use this word)" stuff feeling the need to make every character experience some kind of sexual assault. I swear, it seems like a lot of writers have no problem using rape as a way to make their characters more sympathetic, which wouldn't be a problem if they actually made their horrible experiences an important part of their character and took it seriously, rather than just throwing it in there to make their work seem "important."

This book is wildly unfocused (moreso than this review, which is shocking). It goes off on tangents about this person's background, and what these characters think about paintings. It's insane how many things there are included in this that do not further the plot or build up the characters in substantial ways. Also, there are made-up magazines covers randomly inserted throughout the book. These covers are really cool looking, but I couldn't figure out why Ferris included them, other than to help justify why the protagonist was drawn as a werewolf.

I lost interest in this book the further it went on and I couldn't even bring myself to finish the last 15% of it. I know, I know, you should finish books before reviewing them. Normally, I would, but this one just was not fun to read. I don't mind slice-of-life comics, like Blankets or Lost at Sea (both of which I love), but this book is not something I enjoyed.