Books › Monstrilio
Monstrilio
326 pages
A grotesque, fiercely tender exploration of how grief can mutate us, wrapped in a queer coming-of-age monster story.
What it feels like
Reading this novel feels like holding something fragile, bloody, and beating in the palm of your hand. It is a profoundly weird and deeply moving exploration of grief that refuses to let go, mutating into a visceral, literal monster. The narrative unfolds at a steady, character-driven pace, shifting perspectives to show how a family fractures and reforms around an impossible, carnivorous secret. The prose is matter-of-fact about its grotesqueries, blending the uncanny elements of magical realism with the tender, messy realities of queer coming-of-age and unconditional love. It is a dread-soaked but surprisingly warm reading experience, perfect for those who like their literary fiction laced with body horror and their monsters treated with profound, heartbreaking empathy.
- Mood
- grief-soaked
- uncanny
- intimate
- grotesque
- Tone
- tender
- macabre
- melancholic
- earnest
- darkly comedic
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- the monstrosity of grief · unconditional love · queer coming-of-age · found family · the boundaries of humanity
- The writing
- Lyrical, visceral, and matter-of-fact in its depiction of the grotesque, grounding magical realism in deep emotional truth.
- The arc
- Moves from suffocating, desperate grief into a bizarrely tender, if precarious, acceptance of monstrous love.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love literary horror that breaks their heart, exploring the messy, bloody lengths people will go to for family.
Content notes
- child death
- grief
- gore
- cannibalism
- animal death
- body horror
About the book
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.
Description from Open Library.
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