Just to make sure, I advise you that this review is full of spoilers! I dedicated a special post to talk about in depth of my thoughts and feeling towards the book Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia as I have a lot to say about it, and not all are great things. For a spoiler-free review of this book, please read this post.

I have to say that it’s quite a tricky review to do. I had a hard time to decide how many stars to give it on Goodreads because I either loved it and hated it. I went in this book expecting a 5-star read, loving it from cover to cover, and wouldn’t shut up about it, and came out slightly disappointed. I read this book in 4 days, and it wasn’t in less time because, after 300 pages, things started to annoy me a bit. Before addressing my main problem with this book and the reason why I hate it, I want to talk some other things that I also didn’t like and others that was a nice touch.

The danger of being online

We know since the beginning that Eliza is sharing her work online completely anonymously. This is actually very common to happen for various reasons that I’m not going to dive into. And when it comes to the part when her identity is finally revealed a lot of crazy things happen. Journalists appear at her door, people calling to her house, and overall just a big circus surrounding her life. It’s true that these type of things do happen, although just because you are famous online and people know your face, your name, your hometown, and even the school you go to, doesn’t mean they suddenly everyone knows everything about you including where you live and what is your phone number.

Eliza’s parents were careless about her “hobby” as they call it. They didn’t realize how big her webcomic became and when they speak out about it suddenly everyone knows her identity. But the parents didn’t reveal more than the school she goes to, her name, her face, and her hometown. So all the other information leaking isn’t their responsibility. If the journalist discovers her home address and the phone that’s because someone else talked – or they are just big snitches.

And again I understand how these things can happen because they are out of our control, and there are people in this world that don’t understand what privacy means. But what really bothered me it that the author made it sound like the problem was Eiza stop being anonymous, when the real danger is all the people that usually aren’t online.

Eliza protected herself staying anonymous, but when she was revealed, all the information that was leaked wasn’t because of her, it was other people’s careless and ignorance that created all that circus at her doorstep. For instance, Youtube is filled with online celebrities that aren’t anonymous, and they don’t have journalists and viewers at their doorstep or calling their houses because people know that you can’t share that type of information online – and isn’t that also a crime?!

I’m afraid I’m not making much sense about this topic. I think it just grinds my gears when it comes to talking about the problems of being online that always goes in the lines of “you shouldn’t put yourself out there”, “you never know who’s watching you”, or “don’t show your face it’s dangerous”. Yes, there is a silent danger online, and it can be around any corner. But if you are conscious of not sharing some types of information, you’ll be fine. We just need to be careful. The same way our parents taught us not to talk with strangers when we were little, instead of making us stay at home to avoid the possibility of meeting them.

So the real danger isn’t being famous online and having your identity revealed, the real danger is people like Eliza’s parents that don’t care about what their kids do online and how much that online life can impact the offline one. Even though there was an obvious critic to neglective parents, what stood out the most in all the situation was how that it was better to keep yourself anonymous online or to not be online at all.

The parenting

It’s true Eliza’s parents didn’t understand her, and she was making it 10 times hard for them too. Although I have to acknowledge they tried the best they could to connect with her. They went on a free-technology family hiking, tried board games nights, they didn’t ignore her even when she wanted. Despite Eliza shut them down constantly they still tried to push for her to make her speak out and tell what was happening in her life. And from a teenager point of view, that’s so annoying but I think is best then to let them be all alone.

Despite the first problem I mentioned above, I liked the way Francesca tackled Eliza’s parents ignoring and don’t even bothering about what she was doing online. They are from a generation before the internet so it’s normal they don’t care about it but that doesn’t mean you should let your children run free in that open world of problems without any type of supervision. Thankfully her parents realised that it was wrong to let her all alone with her hobby and despise her passion.

The romance

Here comes the worst part! Time to talk about Wallace. Oh sweet, cute, and shy Wallace, how did you make me change my mind about you? At the beginning of the story, the love interest is pretty obvious. He is the new guy, he seems “weird” like Eliza, and they both love Monstrous Sea. His life story is also heartbreaking and touching, making me love him even more. I really thought that they were good for each other, after all, thanks to him Eliza was getting out of the house more often and became more aware of the world around her. And probably she would also help him deal with the problems of his own past.

When the lie was revealed, and Wallace became upset I just wanted to roll my eyes out of my head. I knew something like that was coming because it always does. I don’t know who made the rule that after a character being caught lying for a big period of time the person that was lied to needs to get overly upset, avoid, and not talking for an eternity. I don’t enjoy that type of overly dramatic scenes but I can coup with it for a couple of pages, just don’t make it too long.

Well, in this book all that drama and whipping took on FOREVER! I was starting to get a bit annoyed and wanted all to spot ASAP. And then a light at the end of the tunnel appeared, he went to her house to speak to her. That moment I thought “this is it they are going to make up”. Nope! Wallace had to go in like a little B-I-T-C-H and be mean to her when she didn’t even want to talk to him in the first place. She didn’t want to look him in the face and he “forced” her to talk to him and for what? So he could whine about his life and make her feel even worst? So he could dump his problems on her and told it was her fault if his life wasn’t how he wanted? She told him that she couldn’t finish Monstrous Sea and he didn’t care.

Oh! And let’s not forget that after she had a big panic attack that made her fall down and hit her head, he didn’t even care if she was ok. When he went by her house he didn’t ask “how are you”, he only thought of himself. Moving on past that, they have another encounter a few days later. It was graduation day, Eliza didn’t even go to, but went by his house to congratulate him and speak to him again trying to sense him down and explain that she was in no condition to finish Monstrous Sea. And he treats her like shit, being even ruder that he was at Eliza’s house.

The bridge scene

The scene on the bridge after Eliza leaving Wallace’s house is when everything went down. And since I was already quite upset with Wallace attitudes, this was the moment that made all my feeling towards him jump off that same bridge. At this point, Eliza is going through a big depression, her life is upside down, and she feels all alone. When she crosses that bridge where so many people have died (not intentionally), she begins to have suicidal thoughts. Although the most import part of that entire scene is when Eliza realizes that she just want to go back to the safety of her room, curl up in her bed with her dog, and watch some TV. At that time, she was already in therapy so I believe that she was already in the path for that moment to be an exception in her life.

And when she was about to walk away the worst thing happened. From all the people in the city, it had to be Wallace to show up. Mindlessly Eliza was thinking about doing what Wallace’s dad had the “courage” to do. And the thought of having Eliza doing the same thing as his father and on the same place was unbearable to him. I can see how horrific something like that must be, but then the conversation didn’t go as well as I wanted to. Eliza realises what would mean for Wallace if she ended her life in that bridge so she apologizes. And that’s it. There is no “you don’t need to apologize just don’t do it I need you in my life”, or “I am the one that should apologize because I’m the reason you want to do it”. He made her feel even worse with herself. Not only she lied to him for months, now she was thinking about making him go through the same thing his father did. How does that help anyone? How does that help someone with suicidal thoughts? No one should never ever have to apologise from wanting to end their lives, from being mentally ill, from needing help.

The adults in her life

Eliza’s psychologist sounded to me the only reasonable adult in the whole story. When she told Eliza that if Wallace’s life didn’t depend on her finishing Monstrous Sea, then she shouldn’t force herself to do it. Finally, someone said what needs to be said. Wallace was being selfish and needed to take care of his life for himself. While Eliza needed to think about her own health and not put Wallace’s life in first place. The psychologist was a great character but I feel she just appeared for that brilliant comment and then she worked on the backstage. And because Eliza’s depression happens so late in the book, it doesn’t give room for the psychologist to become a regular character in the book.

The appearance of the author of Eliza’s favourite book was the cherry on the top of the cake. In reality, Eliza was going through the same thing that woman went through years ago, and she couldn’t be the best one to advise her about it. After all, no one, not even the psychologist could understand what Eliza was feeling towards her art, and what Monsters Sea represents to her, and only a fellow creator could help with that part of her life.

With all this, Eliza’s parents actually didn’t show much help in getting their girl better. By the end of the book, they were only feeling sorry for failing as parents, instead of saying/doing something useful to help Eliza. Thinking back on the whole story, it seems her parents were just there to mess up and nothing more. They didn’t have much to say about Eliza’s relationship with Wallace, other then “we should meet him”. They knew when things went bad between them and they didn’t say anything. So, even though they have an active presence in the book, they miss other ways of support in Eliza’s life.

In conclusion

I don’t know if I misunderstood something about Wallace and that’s why I didn’t end up liking him at the end. I went on Goodreads and Youtube to try and find someone with the same opinion as me, and I only found two that mention not liking Wallace as well but they have reasons that I don’t agree with. So I don’t know if I’m over analysing, or misunderstanding, or even missing something from the story.

Maybe Wallace having to deal with his own problems, his grief, and PTSD made him act the way he did, but then they still shouldn’t be together. Both had complicated and serious mental issues that need to be worked on. And even though they love each other, if they happen to harm each other then they should take a break. Nobody sais a YA novel needs to finish with both characters dating and living happily ever after. Eliza’s story could have ended with her single, reunited with her family, closer to her brothers, less selfish with her online friends, and working on her mental health. Or it could end with the hopeful thought of Eliza and Wallace back together when both were feeling a lot better.

And I swear, one day, I’ll reread Eliza and Her Monsters and I will rewrite the end to something that I think Eliza deserves and one that I truly enjoy.