My Friend Dahmer
As the title suggests this graphic novel is about a guy who goes through middle school and high school knowing notorious serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, as a young teenager before he began his killing spree. Although most of the story takes place before Dahmer fully gives in to his disturbing, sick urges, it is no less dark and upsetting. We get a glimpse of the factors leading up to Dahmer's eventual fall and a peek into his sad home life. His parents argued viciously and often, he was an outcast at school (until he found he could amuse other kids with impersonations of someone with a disability like cerebral palsy), and he had an ominous obsession with dead animals. The author knew Dahmer to be odd and increasingly strange as Dahmer started showing up at school drunk every day. The question that keeps going through everyone's minds is, why didn't anyone notice these red flags before it was too late?
I dreaded reading this book as I have no interest in someone who has caused as much pain as Jeffrey Dahmer. However, by reading this book it has made me realize how disturbing his childhood and home life really must have been. Still no excuse for the heinous crimes he committed, but it does give some insight into how truly disturbed he was. The author did a lot of research by gathering stories and facts to fill in the holes in his own stories of Dahmer and his illustrations give a hauntingly realistic view into their world in small town Ohio in the 1970's.
Derf Backderf's website:
http://www.derfcity.com
Book trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxAyCtsKvbc
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