Molly Ostertag

Magdalena (Mags) Herrera is tied down in ways most 18-year-olds aren't: when she was born, there was a monster wrapped around her, and it lives in a cage in the basement and feeds daily on her blood. But when Mags' childhood friend Nessa - the only person outside her family she ever showed the creature to - returns to town, Mags begins to wonder if there is more possibility to her life than she thought.

Most of the present-day story is in black and white with some spot color (e.g. red for blood and playing cards, blue for text messages). Flashbacks are in full color, as are the final pages. There is a unique section (364-375) between Nessa and her stalker ex-boyfriend that appears in four-color, almost like a hologram or Magic Eye.

The story is set in the southwest U.S. desert. Mags is a butch lesbian who speaks some Spanish with her Catholic abuela; Nessa is trans, an artist who uses a pinhole camera (some of these images are included in the book). Mags and Nessa rescue each other, and Mags rethinks her view of the basement monster - as a part of her that doesn't always need to be kept hidden.

Quotes

"I get sort of numb when stuff like this happens."
"It's okay not to be okay, you know?" (Mags and Nessa, 291)

Mom says I'm so mature. And that's code for not her problem anymore. And stop making her feel guilty for starting a new life. (Mags, 297)

"I made a choice to thrive." (Nessa, 305)… (more)

I wouldn’t have minded a bit more background on the issue Mags is dealing with in this story (does the history in their family go further back than the uncle, etc.). Also a little more info on Mags’ personality, her interests, the goals and dreams she might have had if not for this issue holding her back, anything like that would have been welcome, as I felt like I didn’t know Mags as well as I wanted to.

Still, the pages turned with ease on this one, I liked the story, and the tension ramped up nicely, it felt edge of your seat when it needed to and the story wrapped up satisfyingly enough, plus Nessa’s such a good supportive person, so you couldn’t helping liking her for Mags who otherwise had been quite isolated.

As for the illustrations, I liked how the varying coloring palettes seemingly reflected where Mags was at emotionally, a large portion of the art is sort of stark, black and white, and then every once in a while you get this burst of desert-centric colors, that were just so beautiful.

I received this book through a giveaway.… (more)