My favorite memoir format is the graphic memoir. This book is prime example of how wonderful the genre is. The author+illustrator Derf Backderf recounts his middle-school and high-school experiences as a friend of the future serial killer Jeff Dahmer. Frequently referenced are the similarities in their lives: besides living in the same town and attending the same schools, both were bottom rung on the social ladder, both had dads who were chemists, both were the oldest sibling to a younger brother, both lived in practically identical homes... so where did their lives diverge? If I were the author, I would have started obsessing over that too. But through lots of research, Backderf shows that their family relationships could not be more different. Why is it always the mom that sparks a serial killer?

The only way this story could be more interesting is if it included more of Dahmer's life, but as the focus of the book is the author's personal interactions with Dahmer, that would be out of the scope. I'm super excited to watch the movie based on this book that came out last year.