Pet

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi is not just a book you read. It’s a book that reads you back—probing, unflinching, and unafraid to peel away the softest parts of your moral certainty. I haven’t argued with myself this much over a book in a long time. What is the right thing to do when a monster is uncovered? Do you end it swiftly, knowing the damage it’s caused? Or do you keep it alive so a disbelieving world can finally see the truth for itself? But even then—what is there to say they’ll believe? Or will they, as societies often do, turn away in collective shame and silence, too cowardly to admit that monsters have always walked among them? Why would hearing from a monster itself suddenly break the cycle? Lucille is the kind of place I wanted to live in, until it wasn’t. Yet, Lucille was a society that took a monster’s confession and chose to believe its victim and was prepared to believe the victims, if any, in the future. But that’s not the world we live in, and no amount of monsters confessing makes our society believe its victims. So, should we end these monsters? This book leaves no easy answers, and maybe that’s its genius—and its cruelty. Pet doesn’t offer comfort. Pet doesn’t let you look away. It’s beautiful, tender, and furious all at once. It’s a call to arms—asking not just if we’ll recognize the monsters, but if we’ll recognize our own silence as complicity.

I think this was a great book overall. I really enjoyed the creativity behind the main character, Pet, and the evolution of Jam’s story. The Author did a fabulous job of painting a whole picture.

Trigger warning: Sexual assault, child molestation, cursing

3.5 Stars

There is no right thing...There is only the thing that needs to be done.

This was a good read. I like the different reps in this book. It started off slow, but once Pet showed up it made it quicker. Once the story line got to Redemption, then I was actually reeled in. The message of this story, wrapped in a utopian fantasy, is actually sad but important to shed light on.

Good and innocent, they not the same thing; they don't wear the same face

"Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi is a truly phenomenal read. ✨ The way the book delves into concepts of morality, good versus evil, and the performative nature of goodness is both unexpected and brilliantly executed. Emezi fearlessly tackles the idea that monsters aren't just mythical creatures but can exist in everyday life, often camouflaged as the people we least expect. The exploration of what it means to be a monster in human form is thought-provoking and unsettling in the best possible way. This book is a captivating and insightful masterpiece, deserving of five stars across the board.

wow that book was just... wow. i devoured it and would love to have read it in school to have a classroom analyze it all with me.