While Emezi does seem to challenge strict binaries (such as good/bad), they ultimately do seem to go for a Dinsey-esque vision of ‘bad’ people. In Pet, there is also an attempt at discussing evil and goodness.
They may not do this intentionally but they simply do not pay attention or listen to them. Like many other middle-grade books Pet highlights how parents and adults often dismiss and or overlook children. Pet seems intent on destroying the monster but Jam is adamant that this is never the solution. The final section of the story gave me Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 3 vibes, but instead of Aang angsting over what to do with Fire Lord Ozai, we have Jam worrying about what to do with the monster. Jam, worried for Redemption and his family, decides that she will try to help Pet in its hunt, even if it means lying to the ones she loves the most. Anyhow, Pet is adamant that a monster is ‘hiding’ in Redemption’s house. Do monster-hunters always emerge from paintings? What happens if no one paints anything? Do they exist before the painting in another dimension? How are the painters able to depict them if they never saw them? How often does this happen? I do not know. Apparently, this (scary things popping out of paintings) has happened before but we don’t really learn the details of why/when/how. This creature, Pet, is a monster hunter who speaks in a painfully ‘i’m not human’ way that brought to mind Yoda from Star Wars. Her blood brings forth the clawed and monstrous-looking creature her mother had depicted in said painting. Her mother is an artist and one-day Jam bleeds on one of her paintings. She has loving parents and a best-friend named Redemption (all of their names are like this…why? not sure). Jam, our protagonist, is a child who lives in Lucille.
Apparently, monsters (what kind of monsters? i’m not sure) are no longer a thing and have been banished or annihilated by badass looking angels (when? how? not sure). Pet opens with some pages of exposition which paint a rather vague dystopian picture. I couldn’t help but feel that at times the tone and content of these two books didn’t always quite mesh well together.
I had a similar experience when I read All Our Hidden Gifts, Caroline O’Donoghue’s foray into the MG/YA genre.
Pet is my second book by Akwaeke Emezi and while I did find it to be an engaging read it didn’t quite hit me the way as their The Death of Vivek Oji did.
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