Review: Munmun by Jesse Andrews (DNF)

Munmun by Jesse Andrews
Published by Harry N. Abrams on April 3rd 2018
Pages: 407

Source: Purchased Physical Copy
Goodreads

In an alternate reality a lot like our world, every person’s physical size is directly proportional to their wealth. The poorest of the poor are the size of rats, and billionaires are the size of skyscrapers. Warner and his sister Prayer are destitute—and tiny. Their size is not just demeaning, but dangerous: day and night they face mortal dangers that bigger richer people don’t ever have to think about, from being mauled by cats to their house getting stepped on. There are no cars or phones built small enough for them, or schools or hospitals, for that matter—there’s no point, when no one that little has any purchasing power, and when salaried doctors and teachers would never fit in buildings so small. Warner and Prayer know their only hope is to scale up, but how can two littlepoors survive in a world built against them?

First, I understand this is satire and that it has an important message. I also want to say that I know people who straight up adored this book.

Why I Did Not Finish Munmun by Jesse Andrews

The satire does a great job in illustrating the systematic oppression of the poor, but it does such a good job that I felt sick reading this book. I was in a constant bad mood while reading it, so I had to stop to preserve my sanity.
The author is known for being funny and there are some really funny scenes. However, much of what was supposed to be funny made me feel sick. I couldn’t laugh and I felt gross that, even though this is a satire, I was supposed to laugh at certain parts.
A huge part of the book is the protagonist’s sister trying to marry up. This is a realistic way out of poverty that we see throughout media and culture, and the book does a good job of showing why it is exploitative rather than a true path out of poverty. However, the protagonist is a teen boy and I’m not interested in reading about the exploitation of women through the pain it causes men. Especially when this story is written by a man. This may not bother you, but it bothered me. The exploitation of women is horrific. Full stop. I don’t need a man’s pain to make it matter.

My hope in sharing why I couldn’t finish it is that you will be able to determine if this book is for you! I stopped reading after part one, so it may have gotten better after that. I’ll never know.