Dweller

What happens when a monster is best friends with a kid suffering from an overactive imagination and serious amounts of trauma? This book.

It doesn't quite come across in the summary, but this is definitely more of a head-trip than what I was expecting. I came into it thinking "Oh, this'll be like [b:Let The Right One In|943402|Let the Right One In|John Ajvide Lindqvist|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327893384s/943402.jpg|928338], where the kid has his monster-best-friend protect him from the bullies and/or kill things for him...Not so much. The first deaths in the novel (or rather how they came about) surprised me, actually, and I think it was a good change. The monster is actually pretty cute, despite all the claws and teeth and carnage of his feeding--you get this vision of a giant puppy who can understand what you're saying.

The protagonist though, is the main focus, and we're smack dab in the middle of his world from age eight to when he dies old and grey. Toby has some serious issues thanks to the events that put him one-on-one with his monster buddy Owen, and the book takes us through his head every step of the way. Between an over-active imagination (he's very good at imagining what shouldbe happening instead of what actually is), hallucinations (very active, conversation filled hallucinations who like to pester him), justifications (It's not his fault, he didn't mean it...), and having his only friend being a giant monster who eats whatever you throw at him be it ice cream or human flesh (self explanatory)--Toby's mind is an interesting place to be.

In other words: The protagonist is probably crazier and more dangerous than the monster in the woods. Maybe not in a literal "he's going to intentionally try and hurt you" sense, but in a "Ah, he didn't think this through, did he?" sense. It's endearing and depressing all in the same breath.

My biggest problem with the book, is probably also what worked best for it--so I've got odd feelings about it. It's written in a style that very much reminded me of stream of consciousness as it jumps very quickly from current events, to Toby's imagination, to back to current events, to a jump in scene all in the same chapter, or in some cases the block of text. It's all fairly seamless, but it's got it's moments that caused me to reread a paragraph or two to figure out what's going on.

Most of the switches are separated by line breaks, and I had no problems with those, but a few switched people, scenes and possible days in one paragraph block--I'm not sure if that was intentional or just a formatting error in the Kindle edition, but it got to be a little confusing when I had to figure out who said what in the few instances where it wasn't labeled.

It was hard to keep track of, though that was probably the point, since it's reflecting what's going on in Toby's head. Despite being a tad annoying when I had to stop and regroup my thoughts, it was a good way to cover all the ground this novel covers. It essentially contains the bulk of Toby's life with Owen, from child to old man in short neat flashes. So, stream of consciousness and lots of jumping around.

But aside from that, the novel was good & I enjoyed the read. Toby's dedication to Owen is sweet, in a twisted way whether they're getting along or fighting. Some of my favorite moments in the book were after their fights and the two made up. Loved their hugs & the few times Toby felt save enough to sleep next to Owen.

If you like a good boy & his monster book--I'd give this one a go. :)