Mona by Leigh Alexander

Mona Reviews

• 
  Nicholas Karpuk

  I write a lot of reviews on Goodreads. I'm kind of compulsive about it. I just want to get my thoughts down, since I don't know many people I can talk to about books.
  
  I also play a lot of video games, and when Steam added the ability to write reviews, I thought this might be a fun opportunity to get the same outlet for my thoughts on games.
  
  Not really. Steam very quickly showed me that gamers are not like Goodreads reviewers. Even the lowliest, obscure indie game had hundreds of angry, nitpicky, highly aggressive reviews. They all had that generic gamer tone popularized by angry internet personalities whose titles all start with "angry", "irritated", "sarcastic", or some other misanthropic adjective.
  
  Leigh Alexander's work is refreshing to me because it has a perspective on gaming that doesn't amount to either treating it like a Consumer Reports product review or an angry rant about its failings. It's something more personal, more a reflection of what games made her think and feel. Books and movies regularly get this kind of appreciation, but in gaming it feels like it often gets drowned out by entitled complaining.
  
  I found Mona compelling because it seemed to draw an interesting comparison between a young woman with dysfunctional relationships and her passion for Silent Hill 2, a game that deals a lot with dysfunctional relationships. Alexander's writing style is readable and direct, and kept me engaged throughout.
  
  I bought this book along with Clipping Through on a really good sale, and it's nice to get content of this quality with DRM or any other restrictive nonsense, and to get special features on top of that. Having read this, I'm definitely ready to read some of her other works.
• 
  Ango Bango

  Leigh Alexander brings her talent for blurring the lines between video game interpretation, critique, and human experience - this time delivering it as short story fiction. Experimental but I could dig it.
• 
  Mark Will Never Cry

  I was kinda dissapointed. I was let here by promise of a monstrous woman and Emily Carroll and I got none of that, it was just kinda okay story about a lady trying to get a job through sex and believing that everything will work out the way she wants it to. I do not think I will be continuing with Leigh Alexander.
• 
  Spencer

  I'm a huge fan of the game Silent Hill 2, and this book is Leigh Alexander's tribute to that truly terrifying game. There is a bit of a plot, but the book works due to the interpretations and and characters parallels to Silent Hill and the fact that I could very much relate to the protagonist. The writing is great and the illustrations by Emily Carroll are amazing as Carroll always is!
• 
  Alexia

  Leigh Alexander's writing keeps surprising me! Mona is an amazing short story, and Emily Caroll's illustrations are perfect for it, as they add a fitting sense of despair and emptiness to the text.
  
  Silent Hill 2 fans are going to enjoy the story even more (though Leigh's descriptions of the game's atmosphere are so accurate that it's definitely not required to have played it) - I read Mona while listening to the game's soundtrack and felt very nostalgic.
• 
  Ryan Gordon

  
  I'm apparently on a Leigh Alexander kick recently, having just finished this and her book Clipping Through and regretting nothing about the time spent reading either.
  
  When I was told that this is a story inspired by Silent Hill 2, I almost didn't read it, because that is honestly not an elevator pitch that should work, right? But it did; Mona works so well, and does it in an intensely compact space. Very happy I read it.
  
  
• 
  Kelsey

  I found this somewhat disappointing. I was under the impression that it was going to be a horror story and it definitely wasn't. The plot wasn't particularly engaging either. The illustrations were excellent, but seemed to be tonally off from the story.
• 
  Craig

  I read this while listening to the audio but I couldn't really get into it. It may have been because I've not played either of the games that the story revolves around but it was an interesting story even if it did end quite abruptly.
• 
  Rhea

  This is a great spooky short story that's a bit Yellow Wallpaper mixed with the unsettling feeling of old Silent Hill games (Silent Hill 2 was the inspiration for this story.) Illustrations by Emily Carroll add to the creepiness of the story.
• 
  Ruth

  loved.