What do you think?
Rate this book
Monstrans: Experimenting with Horrormones
“Monstrans: experimenting with horrormones” is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel with strong autobiographical overtones. The book presents three stories tangled in disabled, lesbian and transmasculine experiences that are tied together by monstrous figures.
In the first story the main character embodies hybrid animalities as they wittily recall the diagnosis and physical treatments they endured as a disabled child, as well as the awkwardness of becoming a tomboy with crooked feet singled out in a ballet class and the marvels and terrors of a queer first kiss that takes place in a homophobic environment.
Phantasmagoric beings emerge in the second story, as the now matured character bridges the gap between his lesbian past and his transmasculine present. The parallels between these two seemingly antagonistic identities clash in a colorful hallucinatory monologue with memorable characters, such as a talking dicklit and a cat with half a tail (referencing Virginia Woolf’s cat with no tail).
The third chapter, titled “I still once was”, takes place in a hospital. In this story, language and temporality get disfigured along with the main character’s body, as his dying grandfather fails to recognize him as the granddaughter he still once was.
"With these visceral and affective words and images of trans monstrosity, Lino Arruda helps us understand how the wounds of gender, whether physical or emotional, can become the basis for new and better forms of sociality, precisely when they are held open as opportunities for connection, as spaces of imaginative transformation. In a word: sublime."
- Susan Stryker, Executive Editor, TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly
In the first story the main character embodies hybrid animalities as they wittily recall the diagnosis and physical treatments they endured as a disabled child, as well as the awkwardness of becoming a tomboy with crooked feet singled out in a ballet class and the marvels and terrors of a queer first kiss that takes place in a homophobic environment.
Phantasmagoric beings emerge in the second story, as the now matured character bridges the gap between his lesbian past and his transmasculine present. The parallels between these two seemingly antagonistic identities clash in a colorful hallucinatory monologue with memorable characters, such as a talking dicklit and a cat with half a tail (referencing Virginia Woolf’s cat with no tail).
The third chapter, titled “I still once was”, takes place in a hospital. In this story, language and temporality get disfigured along with the main character’s body, as his dying grandfather fails to recognize him as the granddaughter he still once was.
"With these visceral and affective words and images of trans monstrosity, Lino Arruda helps us understand how the wounds of gender, whether physical or emotional, can become the basis for new and better forms of sociality, precisely when they are held open as opportunities for connection, as spaces of imaginative transformation. In a word: sublime."
- Susan Stryker, Executive Editor, TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly
Hardcover
Published June 26, 2021
77 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 16, 2023
lembrei q amo quadrinhos e esse é bem foda…
Read
February 18, 2022Belo e monstruoso, forte e vulnerável. Lino Arruda tem como ponto de partida e de chegada o corpo. Simplesmente adoro como ele discute a sociedade pelo corpo, como cria metáforas pelo corpo. É um modo quente e visceral de estar vivo.
September 19, 2021
This graphic memoir is beautifully drawn by hand and painted in watercolor by the Brazilian transmasculine author Lino Arruda.
To purchase the book access: www.linoarruda.art
"With paintings and stories you can't turn away from, Lino Arruda has created
something magnificent: an entryway into the exuberance, terror, joy, and
passion of living life in a body deemed abnormal. A dark, vulnerable, at times
both terrifying and hilarious, exploration into embodiment, sexuality, gender,
and disability, Monstrans charts a path for those of us who exist as monsters to
live, love, and change the world in the process."
- Sunaura Taylor, artist, writer, animal rights and disability rights activist, author of
Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation (The New Press 2017).
"With these visceral and affective words and images of trans monstrosity, Lino
Arruda helps us understand how the wounds of gender, whether physical or
emotional, can become the basis for new and better forms of sociality, precisely
when they are held open as opportunities for connection, as spaces of
imaginative transformation. In a word: sublime."
- Susan Stryker, Executive Editor, TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly.
"This work breaks with established ways of being and making sense of oneself.
It sets forth new paradigms that allow us to understand ourselves otherwise.
Living in a non-normative body, whether by choice or by chance, is painful, but
it is also beautiful, liberating, and strong. Arruda transforms this experience from
a source of shame into a source of humor, laughing not only at himself but also
at the social conventions that try to define, tame, and reform him. The joy and
freedom of embracing the unapologetically queer beast within: that’s what
Monstrans means to me."
- Amara Moira, travesti, author of “E se eu fosse puta” (Hoo Publisher, 2016).
To purchase the book access: www.linoarruda.art
"With paintings and stories you can't turn away from, Lino Arruda has created
something magnificent: an entryway into the exuberance, terror, joy, and
passion of living life in a body deemed abnormal. A dark, vulnerable, at times
both terrifying and hilarious, exploration into embodiment, sexuality, gender,
and disability, Monstrans charts a path for those of us who exist as monsters to
live, love, and change the world in the process."
- Sunaura Taylor, artist, writer, animal rights and disability rights activist, author of
Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation (The New Press 2017).
"With these visceral and affective words and images of trans monstrosity, Lino
Arruda helps us understand how the wounds of gender, whether physical or
emotional, can become the basis for new and better forms of sociality, precisely
when they are held open as opportunities for connection, as spaces of
imaginative transformation. In a word: sublime."
- Susan Stryker, Executive Editor, TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly.
"This work breaks with established ways of being and making sense of oneself.
It sets forth new paradigms that allow us to understand ourselves otherwise.
Living in a non-normative body, whether by choice or by chance, is painful, but
it is also beautiful, liberating, and strong. Arruda transforms this experience from
a source of shame into a source of humor, laughing not only at himself but also
at the social conventions that try to define, tame, and reform him. The joy and
freedom of embracing the unapologetically queer beast within: that’s what
Monstrans means to me."
- Amara Moira, travesti, author of “E se eu fosse puta” (Hoo Publisher, 2016).
September 22, 2021
It was a very deep sensation of conection with my own experience: Am i wrong? Am i a monster? Am i a MonsTrans?
Although not short, its so interesting, so entretaining, that I finished the book instantly by mistake, when i thought "I'll have a quick peek of the book".
I suggest it specially to any trans person: might be a strange feeling of tears and happiness and wierd conection with a far away person who you never met.
Although not short, its so interesting, so entretaining, that I finished the book instantly by mistake, when i thought "I'll have a quick peek of the book".
I suggest it specially to any trans person: might be a strange feeling of tears and happiness and wierd conection with a far away person who you never met.
January 10, 2023
Beautiful and terrible, I found myself in Monstrans. Is my body wrong? Is the world wrong? Lino’s narrative and images are visceral and personal and like all great literature make the reader feel a little more like there’s a place for us in the world.
February 14, 2022
Excelente 💜
October 12, 2023
CW: Body Horror, Bodily Fluids, Dysphoria, Queerphobia
I first became aware of Lino Arruda's work through his spectacular and perfectly suited art for my friend Wendi Yu's phenomenal tabletop roleplaying game, Here, There, Be Monsters!, which has players take the role of monsters and/ or their friends -- a group of misfits who are trying to live and have adventures in a city filled with fascists, bigots, religious extremists, etc. with incredibly punchable faces. It's all about the beauty in the monstrous and celebrating Queer, trans, and all outsider identities, finding community, joy, and catharsis. It's a bloody brilliant collaboration of two powerful Brazilian trans creators and you should absolutely check it out! (https://wendiy.itch.io/here-there-be-...). There is a bunch of Arruda's incredible art throughout the book, but the one that has been my home screen for forever and the one that everyone always talks about is the transmasc lesbian werewolf biker driving their premedical transition self with labrys tattoo and braces of dildos (https://linoarruda.com/produto/poster...). It's perfection.
When I discovered that he had a graphic novel and there was an English language version I was beyond excited and ordered as quickly as I could...and then didn't read it for a really long time because of my mental health, dysphoria, and the horrifying transphobia around the world and very much at home (The Tories are being blatant about their fascism and their excitement in the participation of trans genocide). But I finally cracked this disgusting, beautiful book open and I am so happy I did!
Monstrans is an autobiographical reflection of three episodes of Arruda's life that caused him discomfort, pain, distress, and confusion through heartbreaking frankness and true dysphoric body horror in his inimitable style that makes The Thing look like Barney the Dinosaur (which is also horrifying). There is a rare, raw, honesty and openness (on many levels) that conveys the strength of these emotions and the, indescribable and unique to each of us, feeling of gender and body dysphoria in such a visceral the likes of which I have never seen before. Arruda tears out his heart, rips off his vulva, and lances the puss of a lifetime of the agony of being transgender in a world that doesn't see us for who we are. The personal horrors of our relationship to put gender, bodies, and identities are rendered in exquisite agony, accented by the bloody smears of shame and disgust others force on Queer and trans folx.
It's definitely not for the faint hearted. Viewers discretion is advised. But there is something truly unique and beautiful in the nightmare of horrors contained in this book. The simple fact that this book exists is wonderful in itself, but it is also a reminder that, while that fact should be celebrated, it is nowhere near enough and we have so much more to do for trans people to be able to live and grow and thrive without external stresses, hatred and shame and fear.
This is disgusting and it is gorgeous.
I first became aware of Lino Arruda's work through his spectacular and perfectly suited art for my friend Wendi Yu's phenomenal tabletop roleplaying game, Here, There, Be Monsters!, which has players take the role of monsters and/ or their friends -- a group of misfits who are trying to live and have adventures in a city filled with fascists, bigots, religious extremists, etc. with incredibly punchable faces. It's all about the beauty in the monstrous and celebrating Queer, trans, and all outsider identities, finding community, joy, and catharsis. It's a bloody brilliant collaboration of two powerful Brazilian trans creators and you should absolutely check it out! (https://wendiy.itch.io/here-there-be-...). There is a bunch of Arruda's incredible art throughout the book, but the one that has been my home screen for forever and the one that everyone always talks about is the transmasc lesbian werewolf biker driving their premedical transition self with labrys tattoo and braces of dildos (https://linoarruda.com/produto/poster...). It's perfection.
When I discovered that he had a graphic novel and there was an English language version I was beyond excited and ordered as quickly as I could...and then didn't read it for a really long time because of my mental health, dysphoria, and the horrifying transphobia around the world and very much at home (The Tories are being blatant about their fascism and their excitement in the participation of trans genocide). But I finally cracked this disgusting, beautiful book open and I am so happy I did!
Monstrans is an autobiographical reflection of three episodes of Arruda's life that caused him discomfort, pain, distress, and confusion through heartbreaking frankness and true dysphoric body horror in his inimitable style that makes The Thing look like Barney the Dinosaur (which is also horrifying). There is a rare, raw, honesty and openness (on many levels) that conveys the strength of these emotions and the, indescribable and unique to each of us, feeling of gender and body dysphoria in such a visceral the likes of which I have never seen before. Arruda tears out his heart, rips off his vulva, and lances the puss of a lifetime of the agony of being transgender in a world that doesn't see us for who we are. The personal horrors of our relationship to put gender, bodies, and identities are rendered in exquisite agony, accented by the bloody smears of shame and disgust others force on Queer and trans folx.
It's definitely not for the faint hearted. Viewers discretion is advised. But there is something truly unique and beautiful in the nightmare of horrors contained in this book. The simple fact that this book exists is wonderful in itself, but it is also a reminder that, while that fact should be celebrated, it is nowhere near enough and we have so much more to do for trans people to be able to live and grow and thrive without external stresses, hatred and shame and fear.
This is disgusting and it is gorgeous.
August 2, 2024
It is the best trans autobiographical text I have read till now, and there is a lot of good competition. I really loved the concept of cisforia, the humor involved, and the body horror, which lends itself so well to the topic of trans existence. The use of animal imagery and the monstrous to show non-normative forms of living was beautifully horrific. I wish I could give more than 5 stars.
September 6, 2023
amei o estilo de arte
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews