Little Monsters

Adrienne Brodeur’s Little Monsters (2023), a work of literary fiction, explores the story of an aging marine biologist and his adult children. Touching on trauma, resilience, and the costs of ambition, Little Monsters is a modernized Cain and Abel story set on Cape Cod. Brodeur lives part-time on the Cape and part-time in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She infuses Little Monsters with her knowledge of beaches and seaside towns. She examines mothers, family, and secrets, subjects of her earlier memoir, Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover and Me (2019).

This guide refers to the 2023 hardcover edition published by Avid Reader Press, an imprint of Simon and Schuster.

Content Warning: Little Monsters discusses incest, molestation, and sexualization of minors. Depictions of mental illness, particularly bipolar disorder, are frequent and often in charged and negative contexts. Little Monsters also contains descriptions of alcohol abuse and portrayals of terminal cancer.

Plot Summary

Adam Gardner, a marine biologist approaching his 70th birthday and retirement, experiences symptoms of bipolar disorder. As he chooses to forgo his medication and embrace periods of mania, Adam imagines himself on the precipice of an important discovery about whale language and sound.

The book includes six parts, all named for a month in 2016 from April to October. It probes the life and secrets of the Gardners, including Adam and his adult children, Ken, a successful businessman and aspiring Republican congressman, and Abby, Adam’s youngest child and his creative heir apparent. Steph Murphy, a police officer in Boston, finds out that Adam is her father. Together, these siblings uncover the past.

The novel is centered in Cape Cod and set against the backdrop of the 2016 election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Its chapters are named after the book’s main characters, the focus of the third-person narrator. Part 1, “April,” introduces Adam and his three children, beginning with Adam.

Adam announces that he has embraced his unmedicated state, hoping his symptoms of mania will unlock secrets of the deep. He conveys grandiose ideas of his work and position, which his age and upcoming retirement threaten. Commenting on the election, Adam demonstrates his misogyny, dismissing Clinton in gendered terms.

In the chapters that follow, the narrative explores Ken’s quest to please his father and be seen as his wealthy father-in-law’s equal. Having married into the Lowell family, Ken closes a deal to build a high-end senior living community, which he hopes will be transformative. As Ken’s motivations and similarities with the biblical Cain become clear, his dynamic with his sister Abby comes into focus.

Abby is on the edge of artistic innovation and recognition of her talent, which has so far proven elusive. A writer for Art Observer interviews her and gushes over Abby’s recent work, which chronicles her childhood pain and Ken’s incestuous abuse. This is one of many secrets that the characters uncover and confront, eventually leading to distance between Ken, Abby, and Adam.

Steph is a police officer in Boston, the wife of Toni, and the mother of newborn Jonah. She is one of Adam’s secrets, the child of a one-night stand. Steph’s mother was a teenager at the time of Steph’s conception. Steph searches her family history for clues to a congenital disease that affects her muscles. She presses her mother for information, who confesses the truth of Steph’s paternity.

As Part 2, “May,” opens, Adam embraces his newfound insights and apparent charm and prepares for his upcoming birthday party. He takes steps to hide his unmedicated behavior from his daughter Abby especially and creates notes for their toasts, demonstrating his desire to control his children. The narrative recalls the facts of Adam’s life and focuses on his history with his wife, Emily, who died giving birth to Abby, and the house they shared in Wellfleet Woods. Central to the novel is Emily’s studio, the Arcadia. Abby lives in this space as a guest of her brother, who inherited it from their mother.

Ken is wealthy and privileged thanks to his wife Jenny’s family money and her father’s assistance. However, Ken hoards the title to the Arcadia. Jenny, Abby’s roommate at the Rhode Island School of Design during their freshmen year, met Ken at Abby’s suggestion. The distance between the two women and its healing consumes much of the novel.

As Adam hides his symptoms, Abby notices his changed behavior and appearance, mentioning her concerns to Ken and Jenny at a dinner at Adam’s house. While he showers, Adam hears his children and Jenny discussing him. He compares himself to Shakespeare’s King Lear and his ungrateful children to Regan and Goneril, Lear’s children and antagonists. Ken dismisses Abby and her concerns, replaying a dynamic that they have throughout the novel. Ken’s interactions with his therapist, George, offer insights into this, along with how his acting out online strains his marriage.

Part 2 offers more information about Steph and her family. She and Toni struggle to name their son. They finally agree to name him Jonah, a name that evokes the problematic prophet who was swallowed by a whale after rebelling against God. As Part 2 ends, Ken’s political aspirations take center stage at a Memorial Day party at his house. Abby and Ken’s childhood friend David attend. David is covering the Clinton campaign as a reporter. He is married, is having an affair with Abby, and, unbeknownst to Ken and Jenny, is the father of their unborn child. Abby hears Ken say something inappropriate about David’s daughter, Peony. Trapped by her overbearing father and dismissive brother, she calls him out publicly.

Part 3, “June,” focuses on the interactions between Steph, her half-siblings, and Adam. Steph keeps her true paternity a secret. She meets Abby, Ken, and Adam while she and Toni spend the summer in Provincetown. Steph and Toni enjoy their summer while Steph investigates her new family. George and Ken continue to meet, although Ken finds his therapy useless, dismissing George as a lesser man. Steph and Toni view Abby’s paintings, withholding their true motivations.

Abby and Jenny meet at the Arcadia, trying to work through their distance. Jenny honors her promise to Ken not to discuss their marriage with Abby. Nevertheless, she explains that they’re having problems, and Abby confesses that she’s pregnant with David’s child.

Ken attempts to repair his marriage and become closer with his twin daughters, Tessa and Frannie. A sailing trip with his family serves as proof that he’s changed until he encounters a family having a picnic on the beach he owns near his home. He argues with the man and gives him and his family a short time to enjoy their grilled dinner and leave. Tessa erupts, pointing out that his land once belonged to Indigenous people who have been driven out.

Part 4, “July,” continues to follow Steph and Toni as they meet the Gardners over the summer. Steph meets Adam at Tzuco’s, charming him. Jenny reconnects with her deceased mother in a dream. This convinces her to recover parts of an identity that she shed when her mother received a terminal cancer diagnosis. Abby signs and names her masterpiece Little Monster, announcing both her pregnancy and her abuse at Ken’s hands when they were children. She plans to give her father the painting for his birthday. Jenny begins to drink more and continues to plan Adam’s party. She is shocked by Adam’s symptoms of mania, signaled by his invitations, which cause the party to grow in number. He retires from the Cape Cod Institute of Oceanography and cleans out his office. Ken, competing for his father’s affections, makes a small model of the apartment he’s giving Adam for his birthday.

These family dynamics contrast with Steph’s own mother and father, who visit for a clambake. Steph’s father tells her to accept the past and move on, claiming that he is her father regardless of biological paternity. Steph’s deception begins to unravel. Abby Googles her email, which produces her photo. Abby recognizes her.

Part 5, “August,” details Adam’s declining mood as his symptoms of mania run their course, and his insights into whale sound and language become more indecipherable to him. He invites Steph to join him on his boat, and they witness whales and sea birds. Abby waits on the shore. She sees Steph, whom she confronts. The next morning, Steph confesses the truth. Abby accepts it, warning her that Adam can’t be a father to her. Jenny and Ken continue to argue, as Jenny implores him to give Abby the deed to the Arcadia. The tension builds between them. He reads Abby’s message on Jenny’s phone and finds out that Abby is pregnant. He tells David, unaware that David is the father.

David meets Abby at Adam’s house. He tells her that he knows about her pregnancy and has already decided to leave his wife. Right before the party, Abby’s painting is delivered to Ken’s house. He stabs it, apparently ruining the painting. Tessa sees him, and Jenny repairs it without Ken’s knowledge. At Adam’s party, Adam is wordy and morose, embarrassing Ken in front of important friends and political contacts. Ken gives Adam the model, explaining that he owns a real apartment in the future development. Hurt and betrayed by the gift, Adam hides his disdain.

Abby gives Adam her painting, announcing her pregnancy. Adam is overjoyed at the thought of a grandson who will carry on the Gardner name, and Abby enjoys the crowd’s applause at the sight of Little Monster. As she bows, her knees buckle, and her contractions make her faint. Steph pushes Ken aside, giving her aid.

Steph picks up Abby’s dog, Frida, from the Arcadia and sees Ken there. She then visits Abby in the hospital, glad that her baby is healthy. Steph rejects any relationship with Adam and Ken, telling Abby she only wants to know her. Ken takes Jenny to visit his therapist, George, and he confesses everything about his childhood and abuse of Abby.

Part 6, “October,” depicts the baby shower Jenny, her daughters, and Toni and Steph throw for Abby. They make a time capsule for Abby’s son, Reid, to open on his 21st birthday. Jenny and Abby discuss Ken, who might never be able to talk to Abby again. He has put the Arcadia in a trust for Reid, allowing Abby to live there for life. Jenny and Abby, along with Tessa, Frannie, Steph, and Toni, have formed a family.