Last year I’ve read “Made You Up” by the same author and I enjoyed it deeply (I should reread it one of these days and write a review for it too). So I was eager to get my hands on this beauty!
There are many things I loved about “Eliza and Her Monsters”. The cover is STUNNING, I love it to the moon and back – over and over again. It’s also perfect for the bittersweet story hidden behind it.
The bits about anxiety seem to be spot on and there were small parts even I could relate with (I’ve always been a very private kind of person, too shy for my own good and I do struggle with my own troubles – I can’t drive, for example, without feeling a panic attack right around the corner, which is why I pretty much don’t do it at ALL; and I am that kind of person with plenty scenarios in her mind about how something can turn out badly in any given situation – it bugs me to no end that I seem to be also right most of the times, with this feeding the monster in my brain constantly *sigh*), not to mention all those quotes to hold dear to my heart.
“There is a small monster in my brain that controls my doubt.
The doubt itself is a stupid thing, without sense or feeling, blind and straining at the end of a long chain. The monster though, is smart. It’s always watching, and when I am completely sure of myself, it unchains the doubt and lets it run wild. even when I know it’s coming, I can’t stop it.”
The story-inside-the-story is intriguing. And the artwork so beautiful! Oh, I wanted to read the whole Monstrous Sea series and join them all in their love for it!
The writing style feels deeply honest and – at times – raw. It tackles sensitive subjects with delicacy and in such an tender, almost intimate way.
The only thing I didn’t quite get (or like) was Wallace.
It’s not like there is no empathy left for me towards him, it’s just that – as a character- he did not always ring true for some reason. Something was missing or out of character there, and show
Overall “Eliza and Her Monsters” is a beautiful story wrapped up in this amazing package; a delightful read.
I am still considering giving it 5 stars, to be honest. I stayed up late to finish reading it in one sitting and I don’t regret a second – even though I am sleep deprived and by the time I finished reading it my son was up and I feared he wouldn’t go easily back to sleep AND so I wouldn’t get any sleep at all, lol.
“Creating art is a lonely task, which is why we introverts revel in it, but when we have fans looming over us, it becomes loneliness of a different sort. We become cage animals watched by zoo-goers, expected to perform lest the crowd grow bored or angry. It’s not always bad. Sometimes we do well, and the cage feels more like a pedestal”
“Broken people don’t hide from their monsters. Broken people let themselves be eaten.”
“You found me in a constellation.”
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