Monstrilio - Blog Posts

"I wanted my grief, but instead I was left with a horrible nothingness, and I got really scared. But then I realized fear was a thing I could feel, and I clung to it. I was afraid of my loneliness. I was afraid I would never have anyone to love again. I blamed you for it. For leaving. Fear and anger. The anger helped me wake up in the monrings and eat and clean the house and wash myself. The anger even distracted me long enough that I would forget my loneliness, and sometimes, in short bursts, I even felt cheerful."

― Gerardo Sámano Córdova, Monstrilio

MONSTRILIO by GERARDO SÁMANO CÓRDOVA

quickly: a grieving mother grows a monster from the lung of her dead child (the grieving process / emotions made manifest / folk magic and wives’ tales / hunger pains and sharp teeth / friends who could be lovers / women who work by the hour / the mystery of metamorphosis / sleeping in trees in the park / taming wild things / loving and letting go).

This is the story of four people (Magos, her partner Joseph, her friend Lena, and Monstrilio) adjusting to the loss of one person (Santiago). Santiago, a young boy born with one lung, succumbs to his condition at 11 years old and his parents’ lives are halted and darkened. His mother, Magos, in her grief, takes a piece of his lung to remember him by. After going home to Mexico City and hearing an old folk tale about a woman who grew a man, she decides to feed the piece of lung. It grows… but it grows into a monster, whom she calls ‘Monstrilio’. 

Transferring her attachment from Santiago to Monstrilio, Magos binds herself to this hungry and uncontrollable creature whom she sees as her son returned. 

The concept is interesting but weighed down and dulled by the portrayal of this story through four different people. What should have been an outstanding work of family horror (i.e. Hill House, Hereditary, Servant, etc.) is instead just an *okay* story about a family, with a ‘creature’ running around in the background. There is no horror. A monster, but no real ‘horror’. The close falls flat and does not meet the ambition of the emotions called forth at the opening. There are some poetic moments, but overall, not enough to speak to the heart. For how little horror Monstrilio’s ‘monsterness’ brought to the story, Magos may as well have adopted an unruly dog from the local pound.

★ ★ ★

more thoughts: NO SPOILERS!

After reading THE SHARDS by BRET EASTON ELLIS, 500+ pages of cocaine-fueled private school kids, I wanted something that would bring me back down to earth a bit. I’d previously read HUMAN SACRIFICES by MARÍA FERNANDA AMPUERO and was so moved I checked it out again, immediately after returning it to the library. SACRIFICIO by ERNESTO MESTRE-REED was incredible as well. Both writers deal with the heavy heavy stuff, but with such incredible worlds and characters, grief is an active part of the story. It shifts and changes as the characters change. It is an antagonist almost, something to resist and have conflict with. Here, it is just some abstract thing, unintentionally drawing energy away from the center.

I was disappointed at where the story ended up (as well as how it got there). I can’t tell an author what to write, but there just seemed to be so many missed opportunities!! (I wonder what audience this was written for?) It had a beginning, middle, and end… the characters were distinct… the core plot is intriguing… but I couldn’t find the unique and horrific tear-jerking story I thought that I would find in this book. 

Separately, I’m also starting to become annoyed at how loosely the genre label ‘horror’ is applied to stories. Several reviews of this book mention this being ‘truly’ or ‘genuinely’ scary… to quote Tiffany Pollard, “It was nothing like that… nothing of the sort”. Horror should be horrific! And more than just blood, guts, and scares; good horror unashamedly examines the darkness and gives air to the things we’d rather not talk about.