Man Made Monsters is a collection of short stories following characters in indigenous midwestern tribes. The stories take place over various generations and are filled with themes ranging from messy breakups to a zombie apocalypse. Each story has its own characters and plotlines however, in the end, the author connects the short stories in a very unexpected way.
Man Made Monsters is a new and original take on horror that gives readers a little bit from every side of the horror genre in just one book. The only downside I found to the short story aspect of the book was simply the fact that they were short stories. I often times found myself having to really force myself to read the longer chapters because I felt as though most of the longer stories were dry and not only lacked any horror or thriller aspects but also the stories themselves simply fell flat for me. When it came to the shorter chapters I would zip through them because I found the plots to be dynamic and complex and I would be a little sad when they were over simply because they were just so much more enjoyable to read. It was a little tricky because the longer stories seemed to be finished within a page or two but continued despite the fact, while with some of the shorter stories seemed to end before there was really any closure given which was a little difficult to stick through.
This book seemed like you needed to have a lot of prior knowledge of the customs, religious traditions, language, and attitudes of the indigenous tribes of the Midwest. While I can understand and respect the author’s choice to include these things I wish there had been some sort of explanatory guide at the beginning rather than a hidden glossary at the back of the book. I think my lack of knowledge of the indigenous way of life and especially their language severely hindered my ability to understand certain details and sometimes even entire themes and motives within the book wich makes this book feel very inaccessible.
I also had a lot of issues with some of the characters. I’m not sure if this was intentional or not to add to the shock factor but I found a lot of the characters to lack any humanity and not in a “monster” type of way but rather they just didn’t seem to react at all. Stoic characters have always been hard for me to read because I find myself unable to relate to them and with a lack of overly expressive characters to who I am usually drawn to, most characters seemed to simply just exist with no feelings, emotions, or even reactions to the “horror” surrounding them which was a little difficult.
Overall had higher expectations for this book, this book won the award for best book by an indigenous author which is not a category I typically read from and I was sad to have this book fall so flat for me. I would be curious to read another book by this author in the future that is not short stories to see how they compare.