A very clever book. It’s told from 2 sides and you can start with either story. It covers racism, ageism, misogyny and makes you think. I am buying this for my daughter today as I know she will love it too. Look forward to reading more from this talented writer.

The story just wasn't for me. I found everyone very unlikeable and didn't care what happened to anyone.

Oh I wanted this to be great. And it just wasn't.

I started with the section in the 80s and that was the stronger section for me. While I enjoyed the prose when I was reading the book I felt no urgency to get back to it when I put it down. It was largely episodic, almost vignettes and I do think that by the end I felt that the story was greater than the sum of its parts.

But, I found the next section to be a hot mess. It wanted to tackled so many issues and was vaguely satirical but it was missing any humour - it was a real struggle to get through and honestly was a bit cringe inducing with people named Siri, Alexa, Porsche, Chanel... Do I need to go on? My biggest issue with it was that it used today's technology - Instagram, YouTube etc and these will not be what 'the kids' are using in the future... I don't even know what the kids are using now but these points of reference felt really stale. There was nothing new in this section. It wasn't clever. While politically I'd say I'm aligned with de Krester, this was too literal and lacked any sense of emotion for me.

First half on its own is probably 4 stars, second half is 2 - meet in the middle for a middling three star review.

My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Scary Monsters by Michele Krietzer
Krietzer is hugely talented, but I struggled with why these two stories were put together as one novel. I read Lili’s section first, followed by Lyle’s. I loved both but felt as if I was forcing myself to interpret one story through the other’s filter, looking for clues and correlations.
Lili grows to adulthood in the 80s – a free spirited, Australian immigrant of Asian heritage. Her story highlights issues of sexism, racism. She feels pressed to be a model immigrant, is ambitious and bright. But beneath her everyday life as a teacher there lurks menace – stories of the Yorkshire Ripper in the news, a creepy neighbour, anxiety-ridden walks home alone in the dark, north African immigrants rounded up. Her new friend Minna is uncowed, but then she’s wealthy and white and wears her privilege lightly.
Lyle’s story takes place in the future – he too is an immigrant and Australia seems to have become a police state with punitive laws and unspeakably high temperatures. Lyle’s wife is ambitious and wants much more than the life they have. To get it, Lyle must accept the loss of what he once held most important.
I wonder if I should perhaps read this book again, the other way around to see if I get a new interpretation. I kept thinking of how Lili had been so cold in her room in France, whereas Lyle is baking under global warming. Of how Lili felt invisible and wanted not to be and Lyle longs to remain so. But I also felt as if there must be more between these two stories that I failed to see.

I requested this book because I found the concept unusual – we can start by either reading Lili’s or Lyle’s story – in a physical copy, you can read one story and then flip the book upside down to read the second one. At the beginning of my post I uploaded the photos, so you can get the idea. In the electronic version, you can click on the chosen name: LILI or LYLE, and you will be taken to that story.

The book starts with this message:

‘Who decides how to read a novel? This one can be read in two ways. In one version LILI precedes LYLE. In the other, LYLE precedes LILI. Their stories are the same in both versions, just in a different order. The choice is yours’.

That immediately piqued my interest.

I really wanted to start with Lyle’s account first, because the first line in his story gripped my interest, compared to Lili’s. But then, having read the synopsis and finding out that Lili’s story happened in the 1980s, and Lyle’s is set in the future, I decided to read them in the ‘traditional’ way: first the past, then the future. I thought that if I start with the future there might be a spoiler for the past, but after reading the whole book, that wasn’t the case – both stories are tenuously linked.

So I went with Lili. As aforementioned, her story is set in 1980s in Montpellier, France. She is a twenty-four year old high school teacher, originally from Australia. She rents an apartment in an old building. In the past, the building block didn’t have a bathroom, there was a shared toilet for the all occupants. The landlord put bathrooms in all of the flats, apart from Lili’s – she needs to use the separate toilet, but she was assured she would be the only person using it.

Lili’s account is filled with news of Peter Sutcliffe, better known as the Yorkshire Ripper; and Louis Althusser, a French philosopher who murdered his wife. All these news make her quite nervous and spooked to leave her apartment to use the toilet. Another thing that she feels unsure of is her neighbour, Rinaldi. He is very straight forward and Lili finds him a bit unsettling.

What struck me in this account was the descriptions of every day racism and ageism. For me, Lili’s part has too many descriptions and not enough dialogue. Also, I couldn’t warm to her character, I found her quite feeble. I would rate her story 3/5.

Then, I read Lyle’s account. Him and his wife Chanel are Asian immigrants living in Australia, in a post-pandemic future, where practising Islam is a punishable offence. De Kretser created a world where you have to watch your every word and move. It reminded me of Orwell’s 1984 and Atwood’s Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale.

Lyle and Chanel have two children, who are anti-government, which their parents view with fear of potential repercussions. Lyle’s elderly mother, Ivy, also lives with them. She is very stubborn and set in her ways. She doesn’t trust doctors in general, and in the past, she refused hospital treatment. Lyle is very cynical towards his mother, however, Chanel’s attitude towards her ageing mother-in-law is simply shocking. It is clear she finds Ivy a hindrance and would be much happier if she wasn’t in the picture.

Chanel is a very powerful woman who likes to get her way. Lyle is meek and listens to his wife no matter what. Despite not really liking the couple, I found their story more interesting compared to Lili’s. I would rate it 4/5.

Having read the book and contemplated about it, I don’t think it was the book for me. However it is my personal opinion only and I know that others might love it.

This was an interesting enough book, but I couldn't really see the point in having the two different parts, I felt it could just as easily been two separate novellas. To me, Lilli's story didn't feel particularly original but Lyle's had a bit more to think about and I would have been happy just to read that one.
Thank you to netgalley and Atlantic for an advance copy of this book.

A challenging and unnerving read. Structured as two novellas, one deals with the present through Lili’s story, and the other with the near future; Lyle’s story.
Both are masterfully written and deal with ‘scary monsters’ all too familiar in our world and scarily possible in the future.
Lili is a language assistant in 1980s Montpelier. She has ambitions to be free, bold and intelligent, a la Simone de Beauvoir, but spend# her time trying to avoid her creepy neighbour in her shabby digs with a shared toilet and timed light switch on the stairs. Misogyny and racism.
Lyle also from Asia works for an authoritarian Australian government dept weeding out ‘unsuitable’ citizens such as anyone even only 25% Moslem. Material ambition, the issue of an aging and dependant relative and uncontrollable temperatures make this vision of the near future a vile prospect, despite the satirical tone.
Thank you to #NetGalley and #Atlantic books for my pre release digital copy.
Plenty to think about here, and to fear, whichever way round you read the stories.

This is essentially a book on 2 halves intriguingly you get to choose which book you would like to read first the past with the main character Lili or the future with the main characters Lyle
I don’t read book blurb before reading so just randomly chose Lili first .
I did like both books but strongly preferred Lyle which was a far more unique book that Lili which was written in a style I’m more comfortable with .There were few links between the books and I wasn’t really sure that either gained much by being paired in this way apart from the fun of deciding for yourself which to read first which was a bit gimmicky
The lili book felt like a book I’d read before a young girl grows to adulthood whilst travelling the world and experiencing the biases that were found in the 80s and still around today .The book touches on racism sexism and sexuality biases .I didn’t feel this book was that special ,it was well written with a clear flowing prose style and good characters but not a huge story or plot line ,very little surprising
The Luke book however was very different I was quickly pulled into a future Australia with race ,migrant and climate issues marking the country out as a pariah by more moderate societies .
Apart from a stumble of mine when I assumed the temperature they were talking about of 52degrees was in Fahrenheit and a bit chilly when in fact it was Celsius and boiling ,I quickly picked up on the dystopian atmosphere .
I found the Lyle book a fantastic read i was reading it during the COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow in 2021 and the future world read so true and so scary I was hooked ..The storyline of the elderly mothers push into euthanasia was shocking
In summary I liked the Lyle section of the book far more than the Lili and would have preferred it as a stand alone book I didn’t see that it gained much with the pairing .I did enjoy both and would recommend