Book Title: Eliza and Her Monsters
Author: Francesca Zappia
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Date Published: May 30th 2017 by Greenwillow Books
Content Warning: Anxiety, Depression
Synopsis
(From Goodreads) Her story is a phenomenon. Her life is a disaster.
In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, she’s LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves the online one, and she has no desire to try.
Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea’s biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and as he draws her out of her shell, she begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile.
But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart.
Book Review
I’ve recently suffered from a reading slump (a.k.a. burnout) for the past two weeks. I tried to read mostly historical books for this month because I’m trying to read outside my comfort zone. Sadly, I got exhausted pretty fast and temporarily DNF’d my “current” read—Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl.
Anyway, moral of the story: don’t try to read historical books in such a short time (especially if those books revolve around war) because you need to reflect and take in such heavy and serious subject matters.
So now, you might be thinking what’s this experience got to do with my book review today. Well, in order to “get out” of my reading burnout, I decided to pick up a book that I’ve been wanting to read for a while—Francesca Zappia’s Eliza and Her Monsters.
And I’m so glad that I did because damn, this book is AMAZING!
It follows the story of introverted and socially-awkward Eliza Mirk who anonymously created a popular fantasy webcomic called Monstrous Sea. When she meets a fan of her webcomic in real-life, she starts spending more time in the real world instead of the online one.
Eliza and Her Monsters probably has the most adorable tropes and plot devices ever!
Written correspondence? Check!
Internet culture and fandom appreciation? Check!
Geek male character who has a high school jock build? Check!
Friends to lovers? Check!
Beautiful artwork? Check!
But this book is so much more!
It might seem cute and feel-good, at first, but I was pleasantly surprised that Eliza and Her Monsters tackled mental health so accurately!
Writing Style
I absolutely adored Francesca Zappia’s writing style! It was so easy to read and there are no info dumps at all.
I love how she depicted Eliza Mirk’s struggles in daily life. I love how she showed me the subtle signs of Eliza’s mental health, instead of telling me. I feel like I’m breathing the same space and living in the same world as the main character. Heck, I feel like the webcomics and the forums really exist!
In addition, I’m stunned at how Zappia seamlessly incorporated the webcomics within Eliza’s character arc. I love how she shares a story of the webcomics in every chapter that is relevant to what Eliza is feeling on that specific chapter.
When done well, stories within stories can definitely elevate the book! It just shows how talented and detail-oriented the author is.
But that’s not the best part yet!
I was surprised to learn that Eliza Mirk’s Monstrous Sea webcomic is inspired by Zappia’s actual Wattpad novel, The Children of Hypnos. And Zappia herself has plans to write and publish the Monstrous Sea webcomic.
I love to see layers of the story! I’ll definitely be checking out those two works by the author!
Plot
Like mentioned before, Eliza and Her Monsters is so much more than an adorable, feel-good book about the internet culture and fandom appreciation.
The blurb and the first chapter instantly gripped me. But the more that I read this book, the more that I love it because it gets so much better!
I didn’t have any complaints about the pacing (for the first time in a while!) and I really think that Zappia did a great job writing the twists and turns in Eliza’s life.
“She drew so many monsters that she became a monster herself.”
The first twist happened, of course, when Eliza meets the new kid at school, Wallace. They started to become close friends as they share mutual love for the webcomics.
I absolutely love reading how their friendship progressed to love for each other. I also enjoyed reading the conflicts that they had, how they reacted to it, and how it affected people around them.
The other twists were kind of predictable. There are also several convenient plot devices. However, those didn’t stop me from loving the character-driven plot!
There was one “reveal,” though, that I didn’t see coming and it just made my whole reading experience so delightful!
Characters
Objectively, the characters in Eliza and Her Monsters are the best and most developed part of the book. They are all written well—complex yet one-sided at the same time—and depicted realistically. However, I can’t help but to nitpick some of the character’s behaviors.
Eliza Mirk seems like a typical walking cliché at first. You’re familiar with her as you’ve read her numerous times in countless books already: she’s the “weird” girl, awkward as hell but still manages to look somehow beautiful and charming. However, it’s revealed that Eliza is so much more complex than your ordinary weird girl.
“People are too much sometimes. Friends, acquaintances, enemies, strangers. It doesn’t matter; they all crowd.”
Yes, she is shy and introverted (basic recipe for “weird”). But she simply doesn’t like talking to people in real-life because she has social anxiety. She’d rather curl up in her bed and chat with her online friends than go out partying. She hates her family, and like most teenagers, she feels like no one understands her.
And that part irked me. I have a love-and-hate relationship with Eliza because as much as I appreciate how she is portrayed realistically, she also annoyed the hell out of me. It was such a struggle to read her inner monologue about how her parents don’t understand her, but at the same time, it was such a relatable read.
“I’m doing it again—I’m shutting everything out because I’m frustrated and tired and because the real world is difficult and I’d rather live in one of my own making.”
I used to be like Eliza in a way. I remember when I was in my younger teenage years, I loathed my family for stupid reasons. But at the end of the day, it’s all just angst, you know?
In Eliza’s case, it was a matter of both teenage angst and misunderstanding/miscommunication. Sure, her parents are indeed horrible for forcing her to do things she doesn’t like and berating her for spending too much online. But I feel like this unnecessary tension in their family can be simply solved by communication. Eliza should let her parents in. She should let her parents get to know her and she has to, at least, make an effort for them to understand her.
Wallace Warland, on the other hand, was more likeable than Eliza. He is a ray of sunshine. He is like a huge dog that can easily dwarf you, but he is just a total softie deep down.
I enjoyed reading about his passion for both writing and sports! I also liked learning about his backstory and how it affected his everyday life. Lastly, I appreciate how realistic his reaction when Eliza’s secret was finally revealed. Again, there’s some part of me that thinks that he became selfish and annoying at some point but that’s so in-character of him!
The supporting characters are just as great as the main ones. I enjoyed reading the relationship dynamics of the Mirk family. I also can’t help but to smile when reading the friendships in this book. To summarize, I appreciated their role/part in supporting the main characters’ growth throughout the story.
Overall Thoughts
Honestly speaking, I think Eliza and Her Monsters might be one of the best contemporary novels that I’ve read in a long time!
Again, I would like to praise Francesca Zappia’s writing style and her accurate portrayal of teenage characters.
I really appreciate how this book tackled so many different things at once—mental health, fandom and internet appreciation, friendships (whether online or in real-life), relationship between an artist and her art—and managed to incorporate each and every one into this magnificent story.
I look forward to reading more of the author’s books!
Book Rating (Summary)
Writing Style: 5 stars
Plot: 5 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Overall Rating: 4.5 stars
You can also check my initial thoughts about this book on Goodreads!
Let’s Talk!
Do you like reading books with mental health representation? If so, what is your favorite book that deals with such serious subject matter?
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