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Bad Houses
Lives intersect in the most unexpected ways when teenagers Anne and Lewis cross paths at an estate sale in sleepy Failin, Oregon. Failin was once a thriving logging community. Now the town's businesses are crumbling, its citizens bitter and disaffected. Anne and Lewis refuse to succumb to the fate of the older generation as they discover - together - the secrets of their hometown and their own families. Bad Houses is a coming-of-age tale about love, trust, hoarding, and dead people's stuff from award-winning creators Sara Ryan (Empress of the World) and Carla Speed McNeil (Finder).
160 pages, Paperback
First published November 12, 2013
About the author
Sara Ryan
36 books195 followersI write books and comics for teens and others. Reviews and star ratings make me anxious, but I'm reporting what I read here.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 184 reviews
April 21, 2014
Behold! The mystical and mysterious world of ESTATE SALES!
Honestly, I'm a sucker for niche culture stories.
Bad Houses is set in Failin(g), OR, and written by Sara Ryan, an acquaintance of mine who's an amazing author and teen librarian in Portland. The illustration is by Carla Speed McNeil, a great indie artist who is most famous for Finder, a kind of crazy fantasy comic that everyone seems to like but me. Not that I disliked it, I just didn't connect and so, didn't finish it.
Whatev.
ANYWAY, Sara's ideas and storytelling is SO accessible for me (yeah PacNW culture), and McNeil's illustration is seamless and invisible, which is kinda the highest compliment for a GN's illustration work. It tells the story. Fluidly, brilliantly, believably. Yes, McNeil, do more of this kind of thing. You are freaking good at it.
SOOOOOOO.... back to the nicheyness.
One of these characters works with the family estate sale business. They move from dead person's house to dead person's house, organizing their belongings in a sellable way.
The other character likes to go to estate sales, and is an outsider for several different reasons. There are a couple of mysterious and illuminating plot points, and we think a lot about STUFF.
I gotta admit, I can be sentimental about stuff.
I like to keep things I think might be useful.
I hate the feeling of realizing you need something that you gave away just months before. So, I figure, better safe than sorry.
But I'm not a hoarder. Not clinically, that is.
This book is about growing up and claiming your space and community and personality and family and figuring out who YOU REALLY ARE.
It also shows the inner workings of the estate sale business (duh).
It's a beautiful story, easy to read in one sitting. And the only other thing I want from it is more.
On the other hand, it didn't change my brain in any way. And I wouldn't call it innovative. Just very, very good. And TOTALLY my wheelhouse.
Honestly, I'm a sucker for niche culture stories.
Bad Houses is set in Failin(g), OR, and written by Sara Ryan, an acquaintance of mine who's an amazing author and teen librarian in Portland. The illustration is by Carla Speed McNeil, a great indie artist who is most famous for Finder, a kind of crazy fantasy comic that everyone seems to like but me. Not that I disliked it, I just didn't connect and so, didn't finish it.
Whatev.
ANYWAY, Sara's ideas and storytelling is SO accessible for me (yeah PacNW culture), and McNeil's illustration is seamless and invisible, which is kinda the highest compliment for a GN's illustration work. It tells the story. Fluidly, brilliantly, believably. Yes, McNeil, do more of this kind of thing. You are freaking good at it.
SOOOOOOO.... back to the nicheyness.
One of these characters works with the family estate sale business. They move from dead person's house to dead person's house, organizing their belongings in a sellable way.
The other character likes to go to estate sales, and is an outsider for several different reasons. There are a couple of mysterious and illuminating plot points, and we think a lot about STUFF.
I gotta admit, I can be sentimental about stuff.
I like to keep things I think might be useful.
I hate the feeling of realizing you need something that you gave away just months before. So, I figure, better safe than sorry.
But I'm not a hoarder. Not clinically, that is.
This book is about growing up and claiming your space and community and personality and family and figuring out who YOU REALLY ARE.
It also shows the inner workings of the estate sale business (duh).
It's a beautiful story, easy to read in one sitting. And the only other thing I want from it is more.
On the other hand, it didn't change my brain in any way. And I wouldn't call it innovative. Just very, very good. And TOTALLY my wheelhouse.
September 12, 2013
A bad house, in the estate curator's terminology, is a house with little or no potential for reselling; quite often it's filled with the detritus of years, a hoarding of objects whose only value is in relation to the personal history of the deceased.
Lewis and his mother run a business curating estate sales. His days are filled with the stuff of the dead, and people descending upon these possessions like buzzards upon a corpse.
Anne lives with her mother in a bad house. Her days are filled with unwanted memories her mother resurrects from these stockpiled possessions, in which she is an interloper in moments that never happened for her.
The two meet at an estate sale curated by Lewis and his mother. This leads to revelations (for the reader) about the pasts of everyone involved. Of course there is love, the refuge of people experiencing the same feelings in otherwise drastically different situations. The past springs forward into stark relief, and you find it's a gordian knot of connections.
The book is not exactly about bad houses. It's about the people. We carry inside ourselves a wealth of memory anchored with deep personal meanings. Everyone is a bad house where the years add dusty layers of despair, pathos, crumbling hope so that you claw through the accumulated debris to merely look out.
But if you're careful and be mindful of yourself and the meanings you assign to the objects of your existence, you don't need to be a bad house. You can learn from the mistakes of others, as well as the wisdoms of their joys.
Lewis and his mother run a business curating estate sales. His days are filled with the stuff of the dead, and people descending upon these possessions like buzzards upon a corpse.
Anne lives with her mother in a bad house. Her days are filled with unwanted memories her mother resurrects from these stockpiled possessions, in which she is an interloper in moments that never happened for her.
The two meet at an estate sale curated by Lewis and his mother. This leads to revelations (for the reader) about the pasts of everyone involved. Of course there is love, the refuge of people experiencing the same feelings in otherwise drastically different situations. The past springs forward into stark relief, and you find it's a gordian knot of connections.
The book is not exactly about bad houses. It's about the people. We carry inside ourselves a wealth of memory anchored with deep personal meanings. Everyone is a bad house where the years add dusty layers of despair, pathos, crumbling hope so that you claw through the accumulated debris to merely look out.
But if you're careful and be mindful of yourself and the meanings you assign to the objects of your existence, you don't need to be a bad house. You can learn from the mistakes of others, as well as the wisdoms of their joys.
December 11, 2017
Intertwining family dramas in a sleepy Oregon town with a the larger theme of material objects, memory, and attemptimg to erase the past.
I will seek out more work by Ryan.
I will seek out more work by Ryan.
April 29, 2014
I started reading this book about growing up and intersecting lives at estate sales, and I immediately started writing about an estate sale that I had just gone to across the street, where two people, mother and son, died of heart attacks within a year. I didn't like them very much, didn't really imagine I would like their stuff, yet on the third day of the sale, really good stuff gone, took the fam into the house, and I got to know these two better as I went through their intimate keepsakes and just the stuff of their lives. There was nothing I wanted from their house, but I learned that the difference between a yard sale and estate sale is that the latter is what people want to keep, what they really value, so you learn a lot from them about people, and Sara Ryan's story helps you understand this, too. This book makes me want to go to estate sales, study the culture as Ryan and McNeil did. This book, however, didn't really grab me, as a story, in spite of its point about estate sales and this kinda ambitious interlocking character story, but it's good, the art is good. Just not blown away by it.
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January 27, 2014Yay, new adult graphic novel!
What I thought was really fascinating about this graphic novel was the kid/parent relationships. I wouldn’t want to be in either of these families if you paid me money, and both the kids seem very aware that their parents are kind of messed up about certain things. But nonetheless, everyone seems to have a pretty positive and caring relationship – and you could see how it worked!
What I thought was really fascinating about this graphic novel was the kid/parent relationships. I wouldn’t want to be in either of these families if you paid me money, and both the kids seem very aware that their parents are kind of messed up about certain things. But nonetheless, everyone seems to have a pretty positive and caring relationship – and you could see how it worked!
September 28, 2016
interesting look at the things we accumulate over the years...very often we allow things to define who we think we are - a very deep trap.
August 30, 2013
*I got an ARC from the publisher*
I liked stories where seemingly separate narratives come together in the end. This story had a lot of promise. It focuses on estate sales in a small town where everybody knows each other. Lewis and his mom Cat organize these sales, and Anne, a teenage photographer, comes to them in hopes of capturing the spirit of the abandoned objects. There are also stories of Anne's mom, a nurse at the nursing home and a hoarder; her boyfriend, a man who has fallen on hard times; Fred, a grumpy antiques dealer. Once I realized how they are all connected, I was very excited to see it through. But no, such a short ghaphic novel didn't allow for that. The connections were left dangling, and the ones that were tied were done so in 1-3 panels, so I feel a little cheated.
I already thought this was going to be funny, but there were no jokes, even in situations that would call for a subtle one. It wasn't exactly mopey, but everything was too serious for a coming of age story. I like a little humor, even in the bleakest of situations. This lack of humor made the potentially interesting characters fall flat.
Good art, and very good story potential with not enough follow-up.
I liked stories where seemingly separate narratives come together in the end. This story had a lot of promise. It focuses on estate sales in a small town where everybody knows each other. Lewis and his mom Cat organize these sales, and Anne, a teenage photographer, comes to them in hopes of capturing the spirit of the abandoned objects. There are also stories of Anne's mom, a nurse at the nursing home and a hoarder; her boyfriend, a man who has fallen on hard times; Fred, a grumpy antiques dealer. Once I realized how they are all connected, I was very excited to see it through. But no, such a short ghaphic novel didn't allow for that. The connections were left dangling, and the ones that were tied were done so in 1-3 panels, so I feel a little cheated.
I already thought this was going to be funny, but there were no jokes, even in situations that would call for a subtle one. It wasn't exactly mopey, but everything was too serious for a coming of age story. I like a little humor, even in the bleakest of situations. This lack of humor made the potentially interesting characters fall flat.
Good art, and very good story potential with not enough follow-up.
November 7, 2013
Bad Houses is a graphic novel written by Sara Ryan, edited by Sierra Hahn, and illustrated by Carla Speed McNeil. It is scheduled for release on November 12th 2013. This graphic novel shows the intersecting lives of teens (or early twenty somethings) Anne and Lewis intersect at an estate sale in Failing Oregon. This town was once a thriving logging community, but the economy and the morale of the community are stating to crumble. as Anne and Lewis discover themselves, and each other, they also uncover secrets their parents and the town have tried to keep hidden. Anne's mother's hoarding and new boyfriend stress Anne out as she tries to get her own life in order while sorting through the remaining affects of deceased people's lives.
Bad Houses was a unique and unexpected find. I enjoyed the detailed look at how very different people can cross paths and have large impacts on each other. I specifically enjoyed the main story or Anne and Lewis finding each other, and themselves, as they deal with the world around them. My least favorite character, AJ, is a man struggling with unemployment and putting his mother in a nursing home. He has anger management issues, and seems to lack in compassion and basic morals. Anne's mother is a more sympathetic character, but still not one I can say I would want to met. She is a hoarder and a chain smoker, and while unwilling to change for her daughter seems willing to take steps to make room for AJ in their home. One of the secondary stories, which intertwines the estate sale business with the mystery of Lewis's father, is my favorite part of the story and somehow managers to bring everything together in a perfect storm.
I would recommend Bad Houses to young adult, new adult, and adult readers. The read is intriguing, with illustrations serving as a perfect match to the actions and dialogue. I though the books had a feel of both horrifying realism and hope for the future. Readers that have dealt with any of the situations the characters in the book face, which include all sorts of major life changes, would find solace and some hope and understanding with being entertained by the read.
Bad Houses was a unique and unexpected find. I enjoyed the detailed look at how very different people can cross paths and have large impacts on each other. I specifically enjoyed the main story or Anne and Lewis finding each other, and themselves, as they deal with the world around them. My least favorite character, AJ, is a man struggling with unemployment and putting his mother in a nursing home. He has anger management issues, and seems to lack in compassion and basic morals. Anne's mother is a more sympathetic character, but still not one I can say I would want to met. She is a hoarder and a chain smoker, and while unwilling to change for her daughter seems willing to take steps to make room for AJ in their home. One of the secondary stories, which intertwines the estate sale business with the mystery of Lewis's father, is my favorite part of the story and somehow managers to bring everything together in a perfect storm.
I would recommend Bad Houses to young adult, new adult, and adult readers. The read is intriguing, with illustrations serving as a perfect match to the actions and dialogue. I though the books had a feel of both horrifying realism and hope for the future. Readers that have dealt with any of the situations the characters in the book face, which include all sorts of major life changes, would find solace and some hope and understanding with being entertained by the read.
January 24, 2014
Oh, man. This was splendid. Estate sales, storage auctions, hoarders, old secrets rising up like smoke, shoplifting, young love, old love, nursing homes, drugs... it's all here. I liked the other conventional fiction of Ryan's that I've read, but this hit me in the places I live. I recognized so many of the people, and empathized deeply. I especially loved the ending, a real stand-up-and-cheer kind of closing moment. The illustrations are just my kind of thing as well.
February 22, 2017
3.5 actual rating
The style of this made it a bit hard to follow. Panels were mixed in together for different story lines and sometimes I had a hard time deciding which character was which because two of them looked kind of similar and the black and white art made them hard to distinguish at first. The over all story was pretty good, but I expected from the blurb for it to be a bit more about objects and less about an overarching connection between people.
The style of this made it a bit hard to follow. Panels were mixed in together for different story lines and sometimes I had a hard time deciding which character was which because two of them looked kind of similar and the black and white art made them hard to distinguish at first. The over all story was pretty good, but I expected from the blurb for it to be a bit more about objects and less about an overarching connection between people.
February 12, 2014
This is a powerful graphic novel, an intensely emotional and brilliantly told story. Bad Houses takes place in and around the world of estate sales, and that grim necessity of liquidating a dead person's belongings becomes a metaphor for the various characters' struggles to cope with their own baggage and get on with their lives. The book has some dark and harrowing moments, but at its core, it's a sweet and ultimately hopeful love story. Teenagers Anne and Lewis are growing up in a small town that has seen better days. Both of them have difficult relationships with their parents: Lewis' mother is a control freak who's keeping secrets from him, while Anne's mom has a severe hoarding problem. It seems everyone is being held back by old traumas and regrets. Anne and Lewis meet, and are immediately attracted to each other, but they have to sort through all this old junk (literal and otherwise) before they can get together. You'll be rooting for them all the way. And for all the other characters, too; even the ones who seem like shallow jerks at first are shown to have a vulnerable, damaged side that drives their behavior. Sara Ryan's script is a multi-layered masterpiece, full of moments that will stick with you long after you put the book down. And I can't say enough good things about Carla Speed McNeil's artwork, which is quiet and subtle when it needs to be, and over-the-top intense when the big moments call for it. The nuanced expressions and body language she gives to the characters are some of the best "acting" you'll see on a comic page. It's a bravura performance from both creators, and an experience you shouldn't miss.
November 24, 2015
I find myself again wishing for half star ratings on Goodreads! This book would have been 3.5 but I gave it 4 because it was a good graphic novel, just not a great one for me, personally. The art in this graphic novel was great, I really love the way the artist drew her characters. But the cute, round, faces and, what looked to me to be manga-inspired (just slightly), did not prepare me for the depth of the characters or the darkness of some of their lives. It has a happy ending, but it's not a feel-good graphic novel. I really felt bad for the female protagonist, Anne, with her home life with a hoarding mother. For Anne, her room is the only place in the house she has control over and she can keep the hoarded mess out. I was deeply anguished, along with Anne, in one scene where her mother cleans up the living room for her new "boyfriend". Anne is amazed... until she steps into her room to find all of the junk from the living room was shoved into the only place left uncluttered: her bedroom. As someone who finds peace and safety in cleanliness, I felt so sad for Anne.
Anyway, this graphic novel is a slice of life comic, but of lives that are surrounded by things, objects, and knicnknacks. What makes a home, a home? Is it the people who live there, or the objects they choose to treasure that fill their house?
Anyway, this graphic novel is a slice of life comic, but of lives that are surrounded by things, objects, and knicnknacks. What makes a home, a home? Is it the people who live there, or the objects they choose to treasure that fill their house?
September 29, 2014
As a collaborative work, Bad Houses is the perfect combination of irony and doodle. The work of such talents as Sara Ryan of YA lit fame and Carla Speed McNeil of Comic Book Tattoo, Bad Houses is the story of town in need of a populace. Lewis helps his mom run estate sales, Fred buys up stuff from estate sales and sells them as antiques, Anne photographs the negative spaces. In a way the story depicts the vicious cycle of perpetual Buddhist desire and emptiness. Anne's mom Danica is a hoarder who won't let her throw out baby clothes; "Why would you get rid of that?" is her motto. Thanks to such a childhood, Anne's favorite hobby is burning photo albums and meaningless mementos. Her boyfriend Lewis procures said mementos from estate sales and auctions for her (when he's not tossing people over his shoulder in Aikido, because if you can, really, why wouldn't you?). The desire to hold on to the past that keeps Danica hoarding and Fred buying up a ghost town of trinkets is amusing, painful and in the end, familiar to the youngsters, looking for a blank canvas to paint themselves onto. An incredible read.
February 1, 2014
Carla's drawing and character design are elegant and gritty, cartoony when humorous and human when events need a subtle touch. Her pen and brush can be delicate or strong when the moment demands it.
Sara has created a fully realized world. The characters are believable, the types of people you can imagine having met elsewhere, yet uniquely their own individuals. Their connections feel natural, filling in aspects of the story's larger themes while avoiding the contrivance trap. Failin is aptly named, but any town in America could have it. These characters live not on the edge, but at the center of our social failures and economic decline. To their credit, they make do, picking up the pieces and the leftovers, exploiting whatever opportunities arise.
Sara has created a fully realized world. The characters are believable, the types of people you can imagine having met elsewhere, yet uniquely their own individuals. Their connections feel natural, filling in aspects of the story's larger themes while avoiding the contrivance trap. Failin is aptly named, but any town in America could have it. These characters live not on the edge, but at the center of our social failures and economic decline. To their credit, they make do, picking up the pieces and the leftovers, exploiting whatever opportunities arise.
October 31, 2013
Sara Ryan has not written a lot of comics, but I've loved every one she has written, so I hope that changes in the near future. Some of the best characters in the business with intricate, well thought-out plots about the simple (and not-so-simple) interactions of human lives along with fascinating settings, from a high school drama department (in her mini Me & Edith Head) to a small Oregon town and the business of estate sales.
Mix with art from unsung Indy art hero Carla Speed McNeil, whose epic Sci-Fi/fantasy series Finder I sorely miss, and you've got one of the best graphic novels of 2013.
Mix with art from unsung Indy art hero Carla Speed McNeil, whose epic Sci-Fi/fantasy series Finder I sorely miss, and you've got one of the best graphic novels of 2013.
February 27, 2014
A very compelling graphic novel about economic hardship, a changing economy, and growing up with many of these issues in mind. There are a lot of powerful scenes that exist in this short graphic story, along with a number of characters that we don't get to know too well, but still feel like we understand.
While there's a danger of overstaying one's welcome, a key flaw is that the story is fairly short, not allowing a lot of insight into the characters on a whole. This does benefit to serve the overall story, but I also would have liked to see more.
Overall, a solid read, and definitely one you should look into if you're into more contemporary animated tales.
While there's a danger of overstaying one's welcome, a key flaw is that the story is fairly short, not allowing a lot of insight into the characters on a whole. This does benefit to serve the overall story, but I also would have liked to see more.
Overall, a solid read, and definitely one you should look into if you're into more contemporary animated tales.
August 2, 2015
Masterful short story by Sara Ryan, brilliantly illustrated by Carla Speed McNeil - a match made in heaven. I can't recommend it highly enough.
December 21, 2017
This book really stood out among other graphic novels I've read for telling an ambitious, thematically complex story that remains firmly rooted in realistic fiction. It was fascinating to see the different lenses through which Ryan explored the subject of 'stuff,' and McNeil's art was some of the most dynamic and visually pleasing I've seen done in black and white. I occasionally felt a little lost in the story, partially because the main characters' mothers were difficult to visually distinguish and partially because some plotlines seemed slightly underdeveloped, but on the whole I found Bad Houses stimulating and enjoyable.
July 14, 2018
Computer wiped out my original review.
I m not going to try and rewrite the review. Suffice to say that I really enjoyed this book about people and the skeletons in their closet and how those skeletons affect their lives and relationships.
This is the second book I read about hoarding and I have to say it just saddens me to see how people have come to live this way and how it affects their loved ones. I wish the book could have been longer so I could spend more time inside these people's heads.
I m not going to try and rewrite the review. Suffice to say that I really enjoyed this book about people and the skeletons in their closet and how those skeletons affect their lives and relationships.
This is the second book I read about hoarding and I have to say it just saddens me to see how people have come to live this way and how it affects their loved ones. I wish the book could have been longer so I could spend more time inside these people's heads.
August 1, 2021
The setting is a small economically-depressed town. The main characters are two 20-somethings, their single mothers, and couple of guys the moms' age. The book is about their relationships and also how people relate to possessions; the estate sales and houses are almost characters themselves. It's nicely done, but I had trouble telling some of the characters apart at times, and I felt it ended abruptly, with not enough resolution (or maybe I didn't understand some stuff?). Three and a half stars, rounded up.
June 20, 2017
I love reading about objects, collecting, estate sales and felt that this had a lot of promise, but...
February 17, 2023
Underdeveloped and rambling. Almost quit reading so many times.
September 19, 2017
My biggest complaint is I wish it were longer. I wished it stretched the story out a little more.
December 25, 2020
Coming-of-age story which features a small town, oddball personalities, weird parent situations, hoarders, and estate sales (which combines the funeral voyeur & vintage aficionado themes). I enjoyed how the book had a very detailed setting, that it chose to show only part of to us the readers.
January 22, 2014
Bad Houses explores our connection to the things that shape our lives and what happens to them when we're gone or the things take over our lives. What we treasure and feel is so important loses it's meaning when we're gone. Treasuring too many things can have it's own burdens as the stuff takes over. This book takes place in the small fictional town of Failin, Oregon where the characters have intertwining stories and lives.
Lewis and his mother, Cat, curate and run estate sales. Items are marked for sale and people show up to buy. The book shows the usual group of people who try to work angles. There is an antique store owner who tries to hide things for the half off sale. There are people who try to put stickers on items that are not for sale. One day Lewis meets a woman named Anne who likes photographing empty spaces. Anne breaks into empty spaces to hang out because her mother is a hoarder.
The title refers to houses that are cluttered after a death, or the kinds of bad things that realtors have to clean up, but it also refers to broken lives and the things people try to do to fill them and fix them. The art by Carla Speed McNeil is quite good and the story by Sara Ryan has a desperation and poignancy that I found moving.
I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for letting me review this graphic novel.
Lewis and his mother, Cat, curate and run estate sales. Items are marked for sale and people show up to buy. The book shows the usual group of people who try to work angles. There is an antique store owner who tries to hide things for the half off sale. There are people who try to put stickers on items that are not for sale. One day Lewis meets a woman named Anne who likes photographing empty spaces. Anne breaks into empty spaces to hang out because her mother is a hoarder.
The title refers to houses that are cluttered after a death, or the kinds of bad things that realtors have to clean up, but it also refers to broken lives and the things people try to do to fill them and fix them. The art by Carla Speed McNeil is quite good and the story by Sara Ryan has a desperation and poignancy that I found moving.
I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for letting me review this graphic novel.
August 19, 2014
tl;dr: An engrossing tale of two people who fall in love, but it's also a story of healing the past and moving towards the future. So while the book is great, it's not amazing and that is perhaps its failing. It could have been amazing but it simply did not live up to its potential.
Review: Bad Houses is marketed by Dark House as juvenile fiction but I don't think that's accurate. The story contains adult situations that are reads far too sophisticated for juvenilia.
The story is on point and the side stories are fill in the edges. The flashbacks hint at things that are not fleshed out, but that's okay -- the end doesn't need a pretty bow to necessarily feel complete. You know, feel, and love the characters as if they are a part of your own existing circle of friends. Character development is exquisite and the art is gorgeous. Ryan's ability to capture the essence of a person in succinct form is a brilliant trait coupled with McNeil's art makes this a joyous book to hold.
But the more I sit with this story, the more I feel as if something is missing from the tale. I don't' feel satiated when I closed the cover. Sure, I want more of Anne/Lewis, but there is an element in their story that is missing. If Ryan had explored that more with her writing, let McNeil fill in the art bits, the story would have been perfect. But as such, it isn't and rates only 3.5/5 stars.
Review: Bad Houses is marketed by Dark House as juvenile fiction but I don't think that's accurate. The story contains adult situations that are reads far too sophisticated for juvenilia.
The story is on point and the side stories are fill in the edges. The flashbacks hint at things that are not fleshed out, but that's okay -- the end doesn't need a pretty bow to necessarily feel complete. You know, feel, and love the characters as if they are a part of your own existing circle of friends. Character development is exquisite and the art is gorgeous. Ryan's ability to capture the essence of a person in succinct form is a brilliant trait coupled with McNeil's art makes this a joyous book to hold.
But the more I sit with this story, the more I feel as if something is missing from the tale. I don't' feel satiated when I closed the cover. Sure, I want more of Anne/Lewis, but there is an element in their story that is missing. If Ryan had explored that more with her writing, let McNeil fill in the art bits, the story would have been perfect. But as such, it isn't and rates only 3.5/5 stars.
April 14, 2015
This is a great book. It's about kind of a lot of things. Young love, hoarding, the sentimental value we invest in objects, inability to move on from the past, life in economically-struggling small towns, the complex relationships between children and parents. And more, besides. It interweaves all these elements, all the various plots and characters, in really effective and believable ways. Anne and Lewis have a good chemistry, and their budding romance works well. Anne is a great character in general. She's the emotional centre of the story, and the way she's been affected by her mother's hoarding is really compelling. Sara Ryan also writes very believable dialogue.
The art, too, is really good. McNeil's style is detailed when necessary, less so when not. She doesn't waste time making lots of details that either won't be noticed or, worse, might draw the eye away from what's important. Characters, though, are very detailed, and she does a great job capturing expressions.
This is a really, really good book. I enjoyed it, and I would definitely recommend it.
The art, too, is really good. McNeil's style is detailed when necessary, less so when not. She doesn't waste time making lots of details that either won't be noticed or, worse, might draw the eye away from what's important. Characters, though, are very detailed, and she does a great job capturing expressions.
This is a really, really good book. I enjoyed it, and I would definitely recommend it.
January 15, 2015
There are times when an author decides to work on a graphic novel after only writing novels and the transition is a bit lost at times. This is one of those times. It felt like Ryan was bursting at the seems with story she wanted to tell, but wasn't used to the format writing it takes to tell a story in graphic novel form. It was great when we find out who grumpy Fred really is and the flashback was enlightening, but in the end there was no conclusion. It was just kind of left in the air. I'm all of leaving some things untied, but it was built up here so much we deserved a neat little bow, or a messy bow. That would have been okay too.
The art was wonderful and told a lot of story we didn't get from the writer and despite the loose ends I still liked the story, liked the characters. I just think for a coming of age story there wasn't a whole lot there.
The art was wonderful and told a lot of story we didn't get from the writer and despite the loose ends I still liked the story, liked the characters. I just think for a coming of age story there wasn't a whole lot there.
November 12, 2021
Such a gorgeous story. Honestly I love the found family genre and this one was an incredible addition to my collection. The two teens in this story told such a beautiful love story, but this book also features stories about regrets, reconnection and finding what is important to you in life. <3
I find in most graphic novels that the story flow is never quite right. For example, the major story can often be left until the end or not spread out correctly. This is not one of those books. The story flows smoothly, meaning for the reader that it is easy to follow but not boring or tiring.
Generally just broke my heart with cuteness. I definitely recommend
PSA: This graphic novel is not I colour.
I find in most graphic novels that the story flow is never quite right. For example, the major story can often be left until the end or not spread out correctly. This is not one of those books. The story flows smoothly, meaning for the reader that it is easy to follow but not boring or tiring.
Generally just broke my heart with cuteness. I definitely recommend
PSA: This graphic novel is not I colour.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2014
This is a book about the things we keep and why we keep them. This is a story about what we refuse to keep and why we throw it away. This is a story about two broken homes and how the younger generation manages to new home from the pieces they were given. And, I think, it does a great job with all of that. The story was a little sweeter than I like my angst most of the time, but Sara Ryan sold it too me anyway. It might have been the expressive, punk-rock quality of Carla Speed-McNeil's art, but this whole story came together nicely. It was a little sweet, a little bitter and a contemplative mirror for the reader.
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