Serial killers quickly become mythic figures in history; all evidence of what little humanity they may have once possessed is rapidly washed away by the sensationalism surrounding the murders themselves. But everybody has to come from somewhere. This is the story of where Jeffery Dahmer, famed for the abduction, rape, and murder of 17 young men, came from, who his friends were, and possibly, a little of why he turned out the way he did. It is written by Derf Backderf, pseudonym of John Backderf, underground comix veteran and high school friend to Dahmer. Or, as close to a friend as Dahmer ever got.
My biggest impression after reading this book was how conflicted the author was. On the one hand, he fully acknowledges how deplorable and inexcusable Dahmer's actions were. On the other hand, he was witness to many of the events that led Dahmer down his path. The signs were all there: a broken home, strange, violent, anti-social behavior, heavy alcohol abuse from an early age, and an obsession with death. Backderf opines that nobody noticed how badly things were for Dahmer, or that if they did notice, they took no action. Adults didn't seem to notice him. His fellow classmates were quite the opposite; they did notice him, even going so far as to create a Jeffery Dahmer fan club, but none were actually close to him. He was a freak show, a class clown with a severely dark streak. Fun to observe, but never to interact with. Backderf's sense of regret is palpable through every page of the book; he is pained by the way he and his friends treated Dahmer, and wonders how much exactly this contributed to his insanity.
Backderf uses his own memories and the memories of his old high school buddies, as well as countless interviews, police reports, and the memoirs of Dahmer's father, all of which are public record, to piece together all that he knew of Dahmer with all that nobody could have known, until it was too late. Using calendars from his past, Backderf was able to reconstruct in proper chronological order pivotal events in Dahmer's life, most eerily his first murder, which occurred not 6 months after they graduated high school. He even includes drawings of Dahmer from his high school sketchbooks.
The art is big and unflinchingly ugly. This is entirely intentional, and matches the tone of the story quite well/ It reeks of the 70s. At first I got the impression of someone who struggles with anatomy, but it quickly became apparent that this was a stylistic choice. The clarity and detail of the backgrounds proves that Backderf's ability is not lacking. Additionally, he notes that Dahmer had a strange physiology, and his depiction reflects that.
Frankly, this book was creepy, and filled me with a pervasive sense of dread. A couple of weeks before Dahmer's crimes were exposed to the public eye, Backderf and his friends joked that Dahmer was probably a serial killer by then. They had no way of knowing that it was very possible that Dahmer was murdering someone in the very moments they spoke those words. I personally believe that we are all connected, and I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. But this book was a jarring reminder that there are people in this world, so deep, and dark, and secretive, that they are unknowable. You may think you know them, but in reality, it is very possible that the person you know is just a facade, a disguise used to survive in a world in which they do not belong. Truly, it made my stomach churn.
I give My Friend Dahmer a B+, for being a very well done book that I found no pleasure in reading. It was informative, and interesting, but rather unpleasant. Still, I recommend it was anyone interested in the subjects of psychology or insanity.
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