Monstrilio

De: Gerardo Sámano Córdova

Narrado por: Victoria Villarreal, Johnny Rey Diaz

A "genuinely scary" horror debut written in "prose so beautiful you won't want to rush" about a boy who transforms into a monster, a monster who tries to be a man, and the people who love him in every form he takes (Ana Reyes)

Grieving mother Magos cuts out a piece of her deceased eleven-year-old son Santiago's lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her family's decaying Mexico City estate. Eventually, Monstrilio begins to resemble the Santiago he once was, but his innate impulses—though curbed by his biological and chosen family's communal care—threaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life.

A thought-provoking meditation on grief, acceptance, and the monstrous sides of love and loyalty, Gerardo Sámano Cordova blends bold imagination and evocative prose with deep emotional rigor. Told in four acts that span the globe from Brooklyn to Berlin, Monstrilio offers, with uncanny clarity, a cathartic and precise portrait of being human.

©2023 Gerardo Sámano Córdova (P)2023 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Very slow

The premise of the story seemed really fun but I felt like I waited the whole book for something to happen - and it felt like nothing ever actually happened because the story moves so slowly

Great Character Development!

This book is so unique and interesting. The story, all together, is so out there and unexpected. And at the same time it feels like weirdly natural development, like we should have expected that all along.

Unexpectedly Fun

There are so many complex considerations, so many beautiful and intricate thoughts & feelings put forward & gently shaped throughout this book: identity, reality, the myriad shapes of grief. And yet, for such a densely meaningful story it is a delightful, well-paced and fun story. It seems a grotesque look into the profound grief of a parent losing a child, then a bizarre ritual born from that grief creates a whole other being. And yet, if you are a piece of an absent whole, how can you embody that person when you are yourself whole? What if we could return to from where we came, could revert physically and mentally to a simpler, wilder moment? What is the lost arm--when you are yourself a piece, do the pieces you grow carry more meaning, and does losing one take more from you than the area or function conveys?

It's so good. I laughed far more than I expected, delighted and deeply amused. I recommend it regularly, and am currently doing so to you, reader.

***There are some bits about de@d pets that may bother some people. I am normally bothered by such things though, and this was quite fitting within the story and not anything that bothered me, though it is not oblique in its descriptions. Consider reading the book anyway & just planning to skip those brief passages: the story is good enough and these points of the story few & brief enough to make the exception, I promise.***

Not exactly what I expected….

I’m fine with a book that turns out a little or even a lot differently than I thought it would, but this book does not belong in the horror genre. Is there a genre for homosexual/inter-species/cannibalism/kink? Because that’s where this book belongs.

I could have lived with the fact that every important character in this book is gay if it wasn’t for the fact that the one straight character is basically a sociopath. I also could have felt with the strange/kinky sex scenes if the characters had been more well developed.

However my biggest issue with this story is that it’s told from 4 characters perspectives but they all basically have the same “voice” they think too similarly and their “prose” is the same. When you combine this with the fact that the narrator is just a tad on the monotone type…it makes for a pretty dull listen… which is saying a lot given the fact that the story itself it fairly bizarre.

I loved the premise for this book, but I think Monstrilio could have been fleshed out more, with more lore about his origins and the origins of “his kind”.

Interesting concept

Loved the beginning but lost me after the POV changes. I tried to hang in there but I find myself not knowing who is narrating because the voices sound very similar. Also, the biting kink stuff went on for too long, it wasn’t very interesting. Overall wish it was scarier.