Customer Reviews

Festering Romance

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really enjoyed this book, it was a great read with a solid story I think young and old people alike can relate to.

The story follows art student Janet and how she learns to leave the past behind and move forward with here relationships and life. The characters are fun and likable, even down to the 'antagonist' Freya, who sets up Janet on a date with the male lead Derek. Renee Lott's art style and comic format makes the book a smooth read while keeping the characters fun and exciting. The exaggerated emotions and poses really drive home the dialogue. Overall it's a fun book with a lot of heart that I really enjoyed reading.

This is a great graphic novel by a promising new cartoonist. The story didn't seem rushed or forced, and with that, you start caring about Janet and sympathizing with her situation before you know it. I couldn't put it down, and I was pleasantly surprised how things turned out in the end. There's some great themes concerning friendship and letting go, and it was handled in a classy and engaging way. It's a coming of age story in the same vein as Bryan Lee O'Malley's Lost At Sea. The storytelling is really top notch and very easy to follow, making this a great gift for that one friend that isn't quite into graphic novels, reads young adult fiction, but is intimidated or confused by the medium of comics. It would be a fantastic way to start a graphic novel library! The art is very expressive, but still very slick and precise. If you've ever been to Savannah, Georgia, you'll recognize the setting of the story right away, which adds some authenticity to the overall book as well. Highly recommended! I'm sure I'll read it again slower to enjoy the art a little more.

This book made me laugh out loud a couple of times. I found it to be very charming and I loved watching the festering romance develop over the course of the story. The characters have ghosts in their closets (literally) and find that it is impossible to move forward until they can get rid of what they are holding on to. I thought this grapic novel was very well done. I really enjoyed the artwork, and the insight into 20-something dating was spot on.

Maybe I'm asking too much of the graphic novel form, but to me, something this slight isn't worth printing and binding or paying $12 for. This could have been a two-month serialized story in "Cathy." Boy meets girl, boy has pizza with girl, boy and girl both have ghosts that interfere with their budding romance, boy and girl have brief talks with their ghosts that free said ghosts, boy and girl get on with budding romance. The B&W drawings tell the story, but they're nothing to look at. You can read it in one quick sitting and feel nothing more profound than you would after an episode of Seinfeld, and you won't have laughed half as much. I don't mean to knock the effort or the author, but I don't recommend the book because, again, you can get a story or an experience just as fun and smart from a sitcom episode or your favorite daily funnies.

I'll be honest on a couple of levels here before I start this review.

#1) I only read the preview
#2) I knew Renee in our freshman year of college.
#2a) Our brief friendship didn't end well.

And so the review begins.

I was initially researching graphic novels for a personal need when I remembered that Renee was in the Sequential Department at our school. I decided to look her up and see what she was up to when I found this book and its preview.

Now, as stated above, I have a bias against Renee. However, you don't need to be biased to see the faults in her writing, etc. Again, I didn't read the whole story, but what I did read set a tone that seemed amateurish and fake. The dialogue seemed particularly forced; in one scene two characters say "Thank you" back and forth so much that I want to stab myself with a fork. Now, people can be that gracious but rarely are, and it seemed like Ms. Lott was on autopilot when she crafted this scene. Later, the two talk about "2D Design" class and things that went on within it. I understand this reference as I went to the same school, but it made me think about the cardinal rule and really the POINT of writing, which is to illustrate an idea or concept. And quite frankly I don't think I'd be "there" with her if I didn't already know her past. Granted, I suppose she could go on to better explain things beyond the pages I read, but being an insider, I know that what she has written here is very "surface." But then, maybe her character is supposed to be fairly shallow as she seemed to be a rather unfeeling in her dealings with me.

Onto the drawing, as graphic novels are part writing/story, part drawing. When I knew the younger Renee she was doing some interesting things with character design in which "East Meets West." She took anime/manga style drawings and combined them with a bit of Western features and line. This, was exciting. What I saw in this book...was not. But then, I'm biased on this point as well. I've never been much of a fan of manga style drawing and am especially against Westerners taking it as it really is done best by those who fashioned it; it's an Eastern visual language with its own symbols, etc. The average person from America has not been raised with these symbols and doesn't understand them. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't try, but I kind of feel that to draw in this style is to rip off someone else's culture; when an American takes this visual language and uses it in a comic or other setting it is a bastardization of something we don't really "get" to begin with. Beyond that I was disappointed with the lack of variety in line-work, panel positioning, panel shape/page layout, and the general kind of "Blah, I could do that myself" look of the thing.

So, to wrap up this review I will say that I am disappointed in this work but as it has been published and Renee will likely be published again, I hope she does better next time.