Eliza and Her Monsters: levels of relatability 

⚠️Spoilers ahead!⚠️

By Sophia Doshi

When I first picked up this book in the YA section of my local library, my first thought was that it might be too childish for me. Yet after reading the synopsis, I found the prospective story rather intriguing, so I checked it out (among a couple of other books) and started reading it when I got home. At first, I was a bit skeptical that I would be able to enjoy it because of the main character's meekness. This remained my mindset until she started interacting with the other characters, including her online friends and the new boy at her school. And yes—this is a friends-to-lovers trope, and the author, Francesca Zappia, writes it to be super cute.

Eliza Mirk is an anti-social, shy, and anxious main character. She struggles to navigate high school and feels like she is meant to be in a much lower-stakes environment where a number on a paper doesn't determine the trajectory of her future. As a teenage girl who has struggled with the mental aspect of workloads and stress from school interwoven with other external stressors, I can somewhat relate to Eliza. However, the difference between her and me is that I have a Type A personality, meaning that my work motivates me, I always have to be the leader of a group, and I'm not in front to get up before a crowd—all those things. Success is a motivator, as is validation. Eliza most definitely does not have the same mindset as me, and that is where our similarities end. So, if it's not the character's reliability that provides the appeal, then what does? Let's start with the character's special interests. Her main interest is creating and publishing her internet-famous webcomic, Monstrous Sea. In the story, her webtoon is revered by millions of people online, and later in the book, she finds out that her homeroom teacher has a quote from it tattooed on her arm.

Personally, I'd get such an ego boost from it if I had an internet-famous webcomic, but once again, Eliza and I go about things differently. So, one of the reasons I love the book is the creativity on Zappia's part to insert a story within a story that drives the plot forward. Another reason why I love this book is because of how well-written the slow burn friends-to-lovers trope is written. It's a refreshing break from how shy Eliza is (and her shyness and low-key annoyingly wimpish personality was quite the hindrance in the book for me) and gives her and her eventual boyfriend a cute story for the reader to revel in. I never considered contemporary to be one of my top genres, but between Eliza and Her Monsters and The Last True Poets of the Sea (which you can read in my entry about Culture Pop!), the genre has certainly risen through the ranks. 

Another reason why I love this book is because of how Eliza's panic attacks, anxiety, and experience in therapy are described. Yes, I'm Type A, but also suffer from a couple of different forms of anxiety, so Zappia's portrayal of Eliza's struggles really resounded with me. Additionally, her therapist is actually really good, and their conversations are similar to the ones I have with my therapist. I also love nature, and within the last few pages/chapter(s), Eliza details how helpful she has found connecting with nature in her healing journey. 

Now, there are some things that made me raise a confused eyebrow (or two). For one, when Wallace became so incredibly angry at Eliza for not telling him about her LadyConstellation identity that he didn't realize he was making her suicidal. For one, no one should ever treat a person whether or not they're already struggling, so badly that they feel suicide is their only remaining option. Secondly, his anger was so out of character that I was left in shock when the plot turned into him bashing her (verbally—there's no physical abuse in this book). 

Another problem that I have with Wallace's character is when he completely broke character (again!) by aggressively demanding that Eliza finishes the webcomic so he can get a book deal out of it to pay for college. During this time, Eliza was so mentally unstable and overwhelmed with her anxiety that he shouldn't have even been talking about anything Monstrous Sea-related with her at all. For all his sensitivity and gentleness, this character change really threw me for a damn loop.

Yet in general, I loved this book. It was deeper than I anticipated (I cried multiple times reading this) and it properly touched on some sensitive but personal subjects. A solid 4/5 for me!

My parting words are: