Literally Leander discussion

Happy New Year! Our first featured book for the year 2020 was Destroy All Monsters by Sam J. Miller.

For those of you who are familiar with our book club, you'll know how this works. For those of you who are new, please be aware that this thread is full of spoilers for the novel. (And welcome!)

This month, our discussion prompts were written by a staff member. Please don't feel pressured to answer any of these! The prompts are just that--prompts--for those who would like to use them. Otherwise, we'd love to see what you have to say about this book, whether they be any thoughts, observations, or questions of your own!

1. The book is told through the alternating viewpoints of Ash and Solomon. Did one of the viewpoints stand out more than the other? Why do you think the author chose to write two separate points of view?

2. There is a lot of crossover of side characters within each point of view. How do these characters remain the same? How do they differ?

3. What is the significance of photography and photographs in the story?

4. How would you describe the inclusion of mental health issues within the story? Was it realistic?

5. What do you think the Darkside is? A parallel world, a shared imagination, or something else?

6. Is there a meaning to the book’s title, or not? What else would you have called this book, if you were the author?

Well, now it's almost the end of February and I completely forgot to post here! D:

So... I didn't love this book. I think it was a little too trippy and out there for me. At first I bought the idea that Solomon was in a fantastical world while Ash was in the real one. And then I spent the entire thing wondering if I was wrong, and Solomon's world was the real one, after all. I kept waiting for there to be signs that led to the truth, and was left feeling like there weren't any. Essentially, I felt like I slogged through a 400+ page book and didn't really get a solid ending.

1. The book is told through the alternating viewpoints of Ash and Solomon. Did one of the viewpoints stand out more than the other? Why do you think the author chose to write two separate points of view?
I think Solomon's was way more interesting, if only because of the magic and dinosaurs. Which, if you really think about it, is an odd thing to put together. Magic and dragons, yes, but magic and dinosaurs?

Anyway, I think that the dual-POV was pretty straight forward with this one. Ash is living in one world while Solomon is living in another. Two different narrations for this is no big surprise.

5. What do you think the Darkside is? A parallel world, a shared imagination, or something else?
I went into the novel thinking that Ash was in the real world and Solomon had extreme mental health issues. Then I wondered if Solomon was in the real world and Ash's boring, day-to-day life was a figment of the spell placed upon her. And then I thought that maybe they existed in a parallel world, where few people--people like Solomon, who are labeled as mentally ill--are able to see and live.

His make-believe world was getting stronger. He was sick. But maybe he was also… special? Able to see things other people couldn’t? What if something real was happening—to me, to the world around us—and he had insight into it?

At the end of it all, I'm not sure if any of these are correct. I don't feel like there was enough evidence within the text for me to debate any opinion.

6. Is there a meaning to the book’s title, or not? What else would you have called this book, if you were the author?
What immediately comes to mind is that both Ash and Solomon are fighting monsters in some way. Solomon has literal monsters, but he also has the group of folks (I'm sorry, I can't remember their name) who wanted to rid the world of othersiders. And, if he really is living in a fantasy world cooked up by his own faulty brain chemistry, he has his mind as a monster. Ash, on the other hand, has monsters wearing a human form: like Solomon's stepfather.

“The real monsters—they’re all human.”