Pet

By: Akwaeke Emezi

Narrated by: Christopher Myers

National Book Award Finalist

Stonewall Book Award Winner

"[A] beautiful, genre-expanding debut...Pet is a nesting doll of creative possibilities." (The New York Times)

The award-winning, genre-defying novel by the New York Times best-selling author of The Death of Vivek Oji that explores themes of identity and justice and asks: How do you share the truth when the world around you is in denial?

Pet is here to hunt a monster. Are you brave enough to look?

There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with the lesson that the city is safe for everyone. But when Jam meets Pet, a creature who some might call monstrous but, in reality, is anything but, she must reconsider what she's been told. Pet has emerged from one of her mother's paintings to hunt a true monster—and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption's house. No one has encountered monsters in years, though, and Jam's quest to protect her best friend and uncover the truth is met with doubt and disbelief.

This award-winning novel from a rising-star author asks: What really makes a monster, and how do you save the world from something if no one will admit it exists?

Stonewall Honor Book

Walter Dean Myers Honor Book

"Like [Madeleine] L'Engle, Akwaeke Emezi asks questions of good and evil and agency, all wrapped up in the terrifying and glorious spectacle of fantastical theology." (NPR)

©2019 Akwaeke Emezi (P)2019 Listening Library

Critic reviews

“A unique science fiction tale.”–Essence

"With great tenderness, Pet questions a society silenced by denial."–Observer

“By far the most striking of the [National Book Award] finalists is PET, a sinister morality tale by Akwaeke Emezi.”–The Wall Street Journal

overall good

a nice flow to the story, but at the end, left it feeling anticlimactic for the characters. there was resolution, but after all the build up, felt a little rushed. I would recommend it as a decent lite read though.

Spectacularly memorable!

This book will stick with me for a long time. The writing is gorgeous. The characters are vibrant and absolutely brimming with life. The diversity made me cry. It's moving in all the right ways. The message is powerful and delivered with a feather light touch. I'm recommending this book to everyone!

Beautiful and powerful story

It’s about Love. Love if family and friends who are like family. And love of community. It’s about angels who look like monsters and monsters who look like angels. It’s a challenge to and for restorative Justice. It’s a fantasy about what our world could look like.

Review of Pet

I loved this book. I listened to it in the car when I was driving long distances and it helped a lot to take my mind off of the drive. It wasn’t just a careless fun read though. It feels really meaningful and I’m glad I read it. The mystery of the story was really interesting and I love how Pet and Jam balanced each other out with her humanity and it’s righteousness and wisdom. It really makes you think also. Plus I really like all the characters! Overall this is an amazing book and I would recommend it to anyone.

Excellent storytelling and wonderful reading.

Pet has excellent storytelling and wonderful reading. I would definitely listen to this again and recommend this story to others.

Loved this read!!!!!!

I liked the story line and the question that was asked through out the book, what are monsters and what are angels? I felt through the book, the author was pushing the boundaries of good and evil. And the author also explained the scenes in much great detail, I could imagine the scenes perfectly! I definitely would recommend to anyone who loves to read fantasy and also who just wants a fun story that also has a deeper meaning in life and will help them see things differently.

Amazing storytelling

The audio book helped me follow along with the different characters, engaging me into the reading with the various voices used to talk for the characters!

Important message

As a child abuse survivor I found this book to be comforting. I found the characters voices to be funny. At first it came across as annoyingly over-pc but once they got into the nitty gritty, I really loved the mixture of magical realism, important issues, and the narrations.

Short reminder that monsters exist

This story makes a good case against pretending everything is OK.

I am definitely going to recommend this one to my friends. With some warnings, as I know it will be a rough read for the one friend with kids. Do I believe she should still read it? Absolutely.

Review

The narrator did so good! The story is amazing and the narrator’s voice is so soothing!