Eliza and Her Monsters

by Francesca Zappia

[leahrosereads]

Can all contemporaries be like ELIZA AND HER MONSTERS please?

It took me about 50 pages to get into the story, but once I did, I was hooked.

This book follows Eliza Mirk, a webcomic creator who shares her story about monsters to the world while facing a lot of monsters herself.

While I don't have anxiety or depression, I have seen what it can do to loved ones daily, and what Eliza goes through, is very real.  This had a pretty honest representation of both mental health problems.


(Anyone facing these problems faces them a little differently (daily/weekly/ monthly/yearly).  That's just one of the many terrible and isolating attributes of anxiety and depression.  It's not same shit different day as some people think.  If you read this and deal with either of these and can't relate, I completely understand.  However, this looks very similar to what I've seen friends and family go through in the past - especially in high school. Which is why I feel it's honest in its representation.)


All that being said, Eliza works so hard every day and on every one of these pages, that, as a reader, I wanted to find a way to support her somehow.  I felt the heaviness of what she experienced and how daunting it felt.

I wanted to talk about a friendship that helped her for a little bit, but I don't want to spoil anything.  But, again that friendship felt real and didn't seem to move one way or the other unrealistically.

All the characters were written decently. And, this is in Eliza's POV so we don't have a way to delve into the brains of her parents or friends to know if how they're talking or what they're saying or if their body language is being accurately interpreted by Eliza.  She's a teenager so just a tad unreliable in some of her narration.  

I know I felt and saw things in a completely different light when I was her age.


Normally, I read to escape reality.  Which is one of the reasons I don't enjoy contemporaries.  But here, this reality made me reflect a lot on my own past, and I'm glad for that.

I definitely will be recommending this book to people who enjoy character driven stories.  For sure.