The Monster at the End of This Book: Starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover

Emutrainer

When ReadGeek gave me a my list of highly recommended books to read I was a bit surprised to see a Sesame Street book topping the list. After rating over a hundred books the site seemed confidence that “The Monster at the End of this Book” may be one of the greatest books I have ever read giving it a predicted rating of 9.6. With a spare 5 minutes I decided to indulge the site’s algorithm and ended up learning more about one’s self than I ever though I could from a little golden book. The one major theme you might recognize is the “breaking of the fourth wall” that the main and only character in the book, Grover, engages in. However, upon closer inspection there is no breaking of the fourth wall as the walls were never established in the book. From page one the intent of the book was to engage solely and directly to the audience without regards to developing a plot that does not involve audience interaction. The book never deludes you into thinking you are adventuring in some fantasy world but rather encourages you to acknowledge that you are reading a book on every page. For this book there are no walls to break. While engagement with the main character is the primary substance of the book the revelation that the enjoyment of the book depends on how well the reader can imagine Grover being a real character comes with some disturbing conclusions. Grover’s initial reaction to believing that the end of the book contains a monster is, understandably, fear. You, as the reader, are safe from anything that may come along in the pages but Grover is not. While a monster at the end of the book may, at most, give you a slight scare you would not be harmed. Even children, the main audience for this book, will know this. However, Grover claims no such resistance to any possible monsters. Grover repeatedly begs the reader to not turn the page but you obviously do. It’s a book. It’s can’t hurt you and Grover is not a real character anyway so why worry about the well-being of this character? However since the whole book’s premise is to engage the reader directly with the main character the tenacity of turning the pages also come with the idea that the reader is still engaged with the ideas of the book with the main idea being that Grover is a real character that is talking to you. This leads to the notion that the closer you bring Grover to his perceived doom the more you have demonstrated that Grover is real because you keep engaging with him. Spoiler warning for the next two paragraphs! Eventually the book comes to a climax when you are on the next to last page of the book and Grover gives one final plea to put the book down and stop before it is too late and Grover is doomed to whatever fate the book’s author and illustrator has deemed appropriate for him. You turn the page anyway. Turning the page, there appears to be nothing new to see and Grover comes to the conclusion that the monster mentioned on the title page was actually Grover and that Grover is the monster. On the surface this may appear to be a correct and quirky conclusion to a loveable kid’s story but Grover’s conclusion is actually false. You are the monster. You were the one turning the pages eager to see Grover meet his grim fate at whatever would come at the end of the book. You ignored appeal after appeal and smashed though Grover’s futile attempt to stop you from the unknown horror that lay at the end of the book for him. You powered on ignoring Grover’s polite, panicky, pleas persisting towards the end of the book willing to sacrifice the only character in the book to satisfy your sick curiosity. While the term monster can be defined as being “an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening” another definition of monster is “an inhumanly cruel or wicked person”. Would you agree that a person who ignores a peaceful creature’s simple request to save him from danger is a cruel person? Would you agree that a person who feels their own needs of finding out what happens at the end of the book is more important than the self-aware character in the book is wicked ? Well you were that person. You are the monster at the end of the book. Overall, I give this book a 9.5/10. Nice call ReadGeek!