Pet

Akwaeke Emezi’s Pet, published in 2019, is a Speculative Fiction/Fantasy novel intended for Young Adult readers. Named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time, Pet was also a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. The novel received the Stonewall Book Award, which recognizes achievement in LGBTQIA+ literature. Emezi, a non-binary Nigerian Igbo and Tamil writer who uses they/them pronouns, is also the author of two novels for Adults which explore themes of gender, sexuality, and spirituality: Freshwater (2018) and The Death of Vivek Oji (2020).

Please be aware that Pet includes depictions of child sexual and physical abuse.

Plot Summary

Pet takes place in a utopian future after a revolution that vanquished all monsters from the world. In Pet, “monsters” represent all the evils, systemic inequalities, and injustice that exist in a society. In the future, children are taught that “angels” rid America of monsters and the world is now completely safe. These “angels” represent the revolutionaries who abolished prisons, prosecuted and rehabilitated corrupt police officers, and removed statues of slave-owners and racists. Anti-gay and anti-trans hatred as well as racism are now relics of the past.