“The first step to seeing is seeing that there are things you do not see.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, Pet
Pet is a young adult fantasy/speculative fiction novel by Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi. It is a National Honor Book, a Stonewall Honor Book, and a Walter Dean Myers Honor Book. The National Book Award is an annual award given to books of the highest quality written by Americans and published by American publishers. According to the American Library Association website: “The Stonewall Book Awards are presented to English language books that have exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered experience.” The Walter Award, began in 2016, is a book by diverse authors whose works feature diverse main characters and address diversity.
“Monsters don’t look like anything, That’s the whole point. That’s the whole problem.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, Pet
Lucille has no monsters anymore. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson all their life. But when Jam’s mother paints Pet, a creature that looks like a monster, who emerges the painting with a drop of Jam’s blood. Pet has come to hunt a monster which lurks in Redemption’s house, but needs Jam to find the answers it can’t. Jam is forced to search for a monster amount the people she loves most.
“So, yes, people forget. But forgetting is dangerous. Forgetting is how the monsters come back.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, Pet
Pet is an intestine exploration of how to explain all the bad things, the hard things, in the world. The book is slow moving as all the characters are held back by their fear of knowing. Pet says that you see what you want to see, and this is what Jam spends the book overcoming. Dealing with traumatic subjects is hard and Emezi does an excellent job portraying that. However, Jam is not a particularly interesting character which hinders the readers ability to get into the story. Objectively, the books concept is very interesting and unique. Unfortunately, Jam is bland. She is more than the minority groups she belongs too, but still isn’t interesting. Jam is the most fleshed out charcter, and is only the typical naive child in a cruel world, not much more. She has a healthy relationship with her parents though.
“Angels aren’t pretty pictures in old holy books, just like monsters aren’t ugly pictures. It’s all just people, doing hard things or doing bad things. But is all just people, our people.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, Pet
Pet is an excellent read if you like books that sound auditory and books about societal problems. Would recommend to anyone who likes real world problems written in more palatable ways.