I don’t think I’m alone in saying… it’s hard to write about the world today. Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, even before the quarantines, even before it seems the entire world took to the Internet in an attempt to stay sane… the world seemed somehow like an inside-out, upside-down version of itself. It’s hard to know how to write about the world when it seems it’s changing all the time. I’ve read a number of books that attempt this and fail. And then… and then I had the distinct pleasure of reading Pet.
I came to this book by Akwaeke Emezi by way of a book club I joined not too long ago. The book club is feminist; the book is YA. It seemed like a match made in heaven. And while it was not a book, I think, that ever would have crossed my radar otherwise, I feel a distinct privilege at having been able to both read it and discuss it with a group of such inspirational, intelligent individuals.
Pet is an allegory told in a not-too-distant future utopia, where the lines between races and sexual orientations are blurred. The utopia came to be, we are told, due to “angels” who did away with “monsters” – people whose motives and actions can be directly calqued onto some of the more problematic issues our society still faces today. In a breathtaking example of magical realism, Pet introduces non-metaphorical monsters and sets our protagonist on a quest to eradicate monsters still hiding within the utopia of progressive dreams.
Pet is hard to define: it’s slightly heavy-handed, yes, but geared as it is for a YA audience, it is also an important new look at the fairy tale. And while I’m an avid reader of all things Young Adult, Pet is a YA read that anyone can – and probably should – enjoy.