Currently kicking myself for not picking this up WAY sooner. (It's been chilling in my want to read for over two years) So this is an apology to this book because wow, this was SO GOOD. Such an important topic, and conveyed so, so well. And as a YA novel, no less. I really don't have much more to say, except that I can recommend to everyone to read it and engage with the subject. A reminder that we must not look away when others, people we love, are being hurt. Even if it would be easier to look away and pretend that nothing bad could ever happen. Unfortunately, the world isn't like that. We humans aren't like that. "A pool of water with the moon reflecting in it ... who would want to throw a stone and break the picture? A thing that is happening happens whether you look at it or not. And yes, maybe it is easier not to look. Maybe it is easier to say because you do not see it, it is not happening. Maybe you can pull the stone out of the pool and put the moon back together. But the truth does not care about what you want; the truth is what it is. It is not moved by want, it is not a blade of grass to be bent by the wind of your hopes and desires. The truth does not change whether it is seen or unseen. "

"Good and innocent, they not the same thing; they don't wear the same face." Eine Stadt in der Monster lange der Vergangenheit angehören muss sich fragen, ob sie wirklich so sicher ist wie angenommen. Eine grandiose Geschichte die hochaktuell und hochpolitisch ist, die zwingt uns zu hinterfragen wie wir mit den Monstern unserer Gesellschaft verfahren.

If you think there is nothing bad left, it's probably gone hiding... While a good thought in theory (to teach children, teenagers and basically everyone) the premise of "Pet" was not executed well in my opinion. Though it offers a good example on how to include diverse life realities like open relationships, trans identities and so forth the book itself seemed really lifeless to me. In my taste the pacing was too slow, too much adult characters, too little range of emotions in the main character. Emotions and growing up are the main selling point of YAs - at least that's why I pick them up once in a while. "Pet" missed the spark of that and felt like an incomplete shell.