Monster Love

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In probably the darkest and most twisted 'love' story I have ever read, Topolski does a fine job of excavating the damaged lives behind some of our most disturbing news stories.

The story is told in mostly first person accounts of the couple themselves and of those who come into contact with them. I must say that, as I expected some sort of mystery novel, I felt a bit disappointed after finishing this chapter. All the characters seemed to be caricatures of a 'type' and the psychoanalytic psychologist background of the author made me feel uncomfortable, as though actual known individuals were being ridiculed or manipulated for personal gain.

Monster Hunting for Beginners is the best kind of children's book: funny, fast paced and bursting with adventure. The problem with this book is not necessarily that it deals with grim and upsetting subject matter, although I can see that this in itself could be enough to put a great many people off. The usual suspects—Polanski, Woody Allen, Bill Cosby—all make an appearance, as well as many others, sorted into categories such as “The Genius,” “Drunks,” and “The Silencers and the Silenced. They painted the outside of their house as soon as they moved in, and had the front and back gardens done by professional gardeners.

We love the Love Monster series of books so I was excited to read Love Monster and the Perfect Present.Criticism, that is, in which two biographies—the artist’s and the critic’s—are brought to bear on every encounter with a work of art. Three of those five books are existing favourites of mine, so I assumed this one would be a surefire hit too. Monsters” was incited by a confrontation with the monster lurking in her own artistic canon, the disgraced auteur Roman Polanski, whose films she worshipped.