Book Review: WHEN WE WERE MONSTERS
Looking to usher in autumn with a young adult novel that doesn't shy away from the darker side of life? When We Were Monsters by Jennifer Niven is here to fill the void. The 'academia thriller' wears its influences on its sleeve, and ultimately, is greater than the sum of its parts. When We Were Monsters by Jennifer Niven
In When We Were Monsters, eight exceptional students attending an East Coast boarding school are selected for an exclusive storytelling conference. The group will spend a fortnight at 'the Moss,' the mansion once owned by the late founder of the school. There, they'll study under the tutelage of Meredith Graffam, an infamous writer, actor, director and public figure who harbors a plethora of dark secrets.
Among the eight students, who are progressively 'eliminated' from the workshop reality TV-style over the course of the novel, two are the obvious protagonists. These are Effy, who nurses the childhood trauma of her mother's death in a car accident. And then there's Arlo, who is dealing with the more recent death of his best friend. Further complicating matters between these two protagonists is a shared sexual history that culminated in a bad breakup.
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But from the moment the octet arrives at the estate, it is clear that something is rotten in the Moss. As the teenagers learn more about each other and themselves, they also discover some unsettling details about Graffam.
But more perplexing still are the 'challenges' to which Graffam subjects the teens in the name of developing their storytelling acumen. Utilizing the wintery woods and stormy seas that surround the Moss, Graffam pushes the students into a sequence of dangerous situations. But only one student will be awarded the workshop's 'top prize.' This is Graffam's guarantee that the winner's story will be professionally released in whatever medium the student is pursuing. The Writing Workshop
When We Were Monsters is a novel that wears its influences on its sleeve. It opens with a quotation from Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. This novel becomes something of a keystone reference throughout When We Were Monsters, as it is Effy's comfort novel. And there are plenty of other allusions, too, both literary and cinematic. These include references to several Stephen King books, including the seminal nonfiction book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.
But perhaps the most significant of the allusions (Frankenstein aside) are the works of Shirley Jackson. I detected a particularly strong flavor of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. However, I was also strongly reminded of a more recent novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. This isn't a critique, really, but just a persistent comparison. However, When We Were Monsters is perhaps geared toward slightly younger readers and has a more definitive conclusion.
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When We Were Monsters is told from the perspective of two characters: Effy and Arlo. Depending on who is narrating the chapter, the character's name is displayed. These complementary first-person narrators were fine, but I wish that their voices were a little more distinct from one another. More than once, I found myself flipping back to the start of the chapter to recall who was currently narrating. Furthermore, the two protagonists were easily the best-developed characters in the novel. I could have used a little more fleshing out for the supporting cast.
Overall, I found the novel gripping enough. I wasn't exactly staying up late or missing meals to get to the conclusion. And I never felt compelled to sit and read for hours on end. But I also didn't have a hard time picking it up day after day, either. Available September 2025
While it isn't a revelation, When We Were Monsters is an enjoyable enough read. And perhaps some of the young adult readers who pick it up will see it as a gateway to enjoying some of the myriad classic prose novels referenced in its pages.
When We Were Monsters will be available at a bookstore and/or public library near you beginning on September 2, 2025.
Book Review: THIS IS MY BODY Avery Kaplan (she/her) is the author of several books and the Features Editor at Comics Beat. With her spouse Ollie Kaplan, Avery co-authored the middle school textbook on intersectionality Double Challenge: Being LGBTQ and a Minority. She was honored to serve as a judge for the 2021 - 2024 Cartoonist Studio Prize Awards and the 2021 Prism Awards. She lives in the mountains of Southern California with her partner and a pile of cats, and her favorite place to visit is the cemetery. You can also find her writing on Comics Bookcase, the Gutter Review, Shelfdust, the Mary Sue, StarTrek.com, in the Comics Courier and in many issues of PanelxPanel, and in the margins of the books in her personal library.
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