Soh Kam Yung reviewed Small Monsters by E. Lily Yu
An initially emotionally uncomfortable story about a small monster who finally thinks big.
3 stars
From the start, the author states the facts: this small monster gets its body parts consumed by its mother monster at times, so if you're not comfortable with that, you may want to avoid this story or maybe try to skip the initial sections quickly.
But the small monster has agency and tries to avoid being consumed whenever it can. Then one day, it believes it has escaped, only to fall into the same trap again. The next time it happens, the monster knows what to expect and runs away when it can.
It is here that the story becomes interesting. Reaching a beach, it befriends a little hermit crab, who thinks of nothing more than creating art by decorating its shell and the hide of the small monster.
But the past has a way of reappearing, and the monsters that the small monster had to escape from eventually find …
From the start, the author states the facts: this small monster gets its body parts consumed by its mother monster at times, so if you're not comfortable with that, you may want to avoid this story or maybe try to skip the initial sections quickly.
But the small monster has agency and tries to avoid being consumed whenever it can. Then one day, it believes it has escaped, only to fall into the same trap again. The next time it happens, the monster knows what to expect and runs away when it can.
It is here that the story becomes interesting. Reaching a beach, it befriends a little hermit crab, who thinks of nothing more than creating art by decorating its shell and the hide of the small monster.
But the past has a way of reappearing, and the monsters that the small monster had to escape from eventually find it. But now, the small monster has something to fight for and will do all it can not to eaten ever again.
Some readers say the story is a metaphor for child abuse, and it could be read that way. Or it can be read a story of the way things are for the small monster until it discovers what it is willing to fight for and what it wants to do with its life.