Review of "My Friend Dahmer" by Derf Backderf

Just finished "My Friend Dahmer," a graphic novel by Derf Backderf.  This was a fantastic introduction to the graphic novel genre.  I have thumbed through Alan Moore's books in the past, but never really sat down and devoured a graphic novel...til now...

Backderf was friends with Dahmer in high school and tells the story of a sad teenager tormented by family dysfunction and a dark fantasy life. His book really makes you feel empathy for Dahmer, who seemed to really just crave love and social connections to others.  This was a difficult part for me to reconcile during my reading (particularly since I feel repulsed by Dahmer's crimes and felt happy knowing that he had been murdered by another inmate in prison), but Backderf leaves open the question of how things might have been different if Dahmer had loving friends and a stable family life.  Ultimately, we'll never know, but there are parts of Backderf's book that make the case for why understanding  psychopathy and serial killing are sociological matters--how psychological disturbance is rooted in a person's social context.  

I'm VERY excited to teach this book in my brand new "Sociology of Serial Homicide" course this fall...and I look forward to seeing the movie, which is set to be released soon. I'd highly recommend this graphic novel to anyone who is interested in the origin story of one of America's most notorious serial killers.

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