Pet
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4.1 • 73 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • STONEWALL BOOK AWARD WINNER • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR by The New York Times • Time • Buzzfeed • NPR • New York Public Library • Publishers Weekly • School Library Journal
A genre-defying novel from the award-winning author NPR describes as “like [Madeline] L’Engle…glorious.” A singular book that explores themes of identity and justice. Pet is here to hunt a monster. Are you brave enough to look?
There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson all their life. But when Jam meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colors and claws, who emerges from one of her mother's paintings and a drop of Jam's blood, she must reconsider what she's been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster, and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption's house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also to uncover the truth, and the answer to the question--How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?
A riveting and timely young adult debut novel that asks difficult questions about what choices you can make when the society around you is in denial.
"[A] beautiful, genre-expanding debut" –The New York Times
"The word hype was invented to describe books like this." –Refinery29
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Akwaeke Emezi’s debut novel, Freshwater, established them as a writer to watch. With Pet, they’ve created another stunning landscape that upends our conceptions of truth and fiction. Young Jam lives in a world without monsters; she’s never known them or seen them, but has heard tales of the world before. But Jam’s reality changes in a flash when her artist mother paints an image that comes to life, ready to hunt a monster. Flipping ideas of utopia on their heads, Emezi dares to imagine what a truly just society might look like. Tinged with magic realism, Pet is a rich and imaginative novel that we hoped would never end.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Carnegie Medal nominee Emezi (Freshwater for adults) makes their young adult debut in this story of a transgender, selectively nonverbal girl named Jam, and the monster that finds its way into their universe. Jam's hometown, Lucille, is portrayed as a utopia a world that is post-bigotry and -violence, where "angels" named after those in religious texts have eradicated "monsters." But after Jam accidently bleeds onto her artist mother's painting, the image a figure with ram's horns, metallic feathers, and metal claws pulls itself out of the canvas. Pet, as it tells Jam to call it, has come to her realm to hunt a human monster one that threatens peace in the home of Jam's best friend, Redemption. Together, Jam, Pet, and Redemption embark on a quest to discover the crime and vanquish the monster. Jam's language is alternatingly voiced and signed, the latter conveyed in italic text, and Igbo phrases pepper the family's loving interactions. Emezi's direct but tacit story of injustice, unconditional acceptance, and the evil perpetuated by humankind forms a compelling, nuanced tale that fans of speculative horror will quickly devour. Ages 12 up.
Customer Reviews
A fun read on monsters
This was a quick fun read. The plot centers around one monster hunting another, and the two teens who are working to piece it all together. It’s not that deep, but a pleasant story to read.
beautifully written
One of my favorites. I recommended to any and all. Look up content warnings just in case.
Terrible
You can read stuff this quality online for free. Terribly written and full of tropes.