Surprisingly compassionate and humane, while, of course, still taking pains to condemn Dahmer's crimes. Most of Backderf's anger is directed at the adults who failed to recognise the pain and problems that Dahmer was suffering as a teen. Backderf went to school with Jeffrey Dahmer, and so has an amazing insight into the man. Fascinating, painful. ( )

Written by a man who went to high school with and was sort of a peripheral friend of teenaged Jeffrey Dahmer, this is not a particularly sympathetic portrayal of the notorious serial killer. Backderf states in the introduction, "Dahmer was a twisted wretch whose depravity was almost beyond comprehension. Pity him, but don't empathize with him."

It's a well-researched story of what it was like to be around Jeff before he became the infamous Dahmer. Jeff is portrayed as a sad kid who started drinking heavily in high school in an attempt to quiet his demons, but also as a kid who all the other kids knew was "off" for reasons other than just the drinking.

Backderf's biggest takeaway from the experience was that the adults who should have noticed Jeff's behavior either weren't there or didn't care. As he says on p. 67, with a haunting illustration of Jeff as he is becoming Dahmer, "Where were the damn adults?" ( )

Chilling ( )

I’m not sure what to say. It was sad and disgusting at the same time. The author raised good points, such as “Where are the adults?”
Because as someone who has had a traumatic childhood and my mother was pretty much like Dahmer’s mother (Makes me feel gross that we have something similar… but I’m sure a good chick of the population does as well with bad mothers.) life can suck as a child/teen and adults don’t seem to care and wrapped up in their own problems.
Making fun of the disabled does make me uncomfortable, but that’s what it was like before more knowledge came about (and middle schoolers tend to be assholes) so keep that in mind if you’re sensitive to that. ( )

Jeffrey Dahmer always exhibited tendencies that seemed different from other kids his age. Derf spent their formative years as an observer and sometime friend of Dahmer all the way through high school graduation and describes him as a lonely boy living with urges that he didn't understand and couldn't control. While acknowledging that the things Dahmer did were horrific, he depicts an environment that might have contributed to Dahmer's unusual behaviors through his words and pictures, making him a somewhat sympathetic person. This isn't the type of book to be an enjoyable read due to the subject matter, but it is well written and offers a unique perspective on the early years of a serial killer. This graphic novel definitely isn't intended to be read by children due to the explicit nature of the illustrations and text. Overall, My Friend Dahmer, is a unique vision of the decline of a person into madness. ( )