Marie Levesque is a pudgy, awkward Canadian teenager in love with a pair of tag-team wrestlers, barely keeping up with her school work, and dealing with a difficult homelife with few who understand her circumstances.
Her mother is schizophrenic, depressed, and suffering from a trauma only alluded to. As her mom goes in and out of "good days" and in and out of the local mental ward, Marie tries to get a sense of her mother's current and future life while working to figure out her own place. Thank goodness she has Kelly, her one friend who tries to help her through, but even this relationship has its trade-offs, as her schoolmates tease the two for possibly being lesbians.
Part The Tale of One Bad Rat, part Ghost World, Von Allan's graphic novel The Road to God Knows... is not a masterpiece -- it often lags through exposition during mundane moments only to give too little time to poignant ones -- but it is a worthy book that takes on the subject of mental illness and how it affects those living with it and young people living around it. Even the unbalanced punctuated equilibrium I mention in critique serves the purpose of illustrating that moments of reprieve are often to be savored and moments of real happiness are often too short for kids who must navigate such uncertain terrain.
The title suggests not knowing, a gawky journey with no clear end, and Allan's overtly ungainly poses for Marie -- whether she's walking, standing, or sitting -- work to further illustrate a certain floundering that permeates the characters and themes of this text. A happy ending means the mom pulls out of her "slump;" Marie finds a niche; everybody succeed. Everybody happy.
But that's not the reality of mental illness or adolescence; certainly not the unquestioned reality of the two combined. In the end, we do get a happy moment: Marie and Kelly have worked to earn money to attend a wrestling event featuring the pair Marie has a crush on. The girls seem to woot in delight as the action starts. But this end is just a reprieve, no end at all, really, as any adolescent who reads it and is living under similar circumstances will know.
Yet, the lesson is that moments of happiness are OK. Kids need breaks from life and deserve joy just like anyone. There's no shame in enjoying one's self. It doesn't change anything about one's character or how much one loves their struggling parent.
The Road to God Knows... works well as a young adult novel. It has its slow spots in plot and stumbling points in page layout and art that keep it from genius, but it has a utility that makes it a worthy read and a facility with dealing with a tough subject to talk about for many young people that makes it a title that teachers, guidance councilors, and students should know. This graphic novel is adroit enough to offer points of contact and conversation for young readers who may be experiencing similar feelings and realities as Marie.
Her mother is schizophrenic, depressed, and suffering from a trauma only alluded to. As her mom goes in and out of "good days" and in and out of the local mental ward, Marie tries to get a sense of her mother's current and future life while working to figure out her own place. Thank goodness she has Kelly, her one friend who tries to help her through, but even this relationship has its trade-offs, as her schoolmates tease the two for possibly being lesbians.
Part The Tale of One Bad Rat, part Ghost World, Von Allan's graphic novel The Road to God Knows... is not a masterpiece -- it often lags through exposition during mundane moments only to give too little time to poignant ones -- but it is a worthy book that takes on the subject of mental illness and how it affects those living with it and young people living around it. Even the unbalanced punctuated equilibrium I mention in critique serves the purpose of illustrating that moments of reprieve are often to be savored and moments of real happiness are often too short for kids who must navigate such uncertain terrain.
The title suggests not knowing, a gawky journey with no clear end, and Allan's overtly ungainly poses for Marie -- whether she's walking, standing, or sitting -- work to further illustrate a certain floundering that permeates the characters and themes of this text. A happy ending means the mom pulls out of her "slump;" Marie finds a niche; everybody succeed. Everybody happy.
But that's not the reality of mental illness or adolescence; certainly not the unquestioned reality of the two combined. In the end, we do get a happy moment: Marie and Kelly have worked to earn money to attend a wrestling event featuring the pair Marie has a crush on. The girls seem to woot in delight as the action starts. But this end is just a reprieve, no end at all, really, as any adolescent who reads it and is living under similar circumstances will know.
Yet, the lesson is that moments of happiness are OK. Kids need breaks from life and deserve joy just like anyone. There's no shame in enjoying one's self. It doesn't change anything about one's character or how much one loves their struggling parent.
The Road to God Knows... works well as a young adult novel. It has its slow spots in plot and stumbling points in page layout and art that keep it from genius, but it has a utility that makes it a worthy read and a facility with dealing with a tough subject to talk about for many young people that makes it a title that teachers, guidance councilors, and students should know. This graphic novel is adroit enough to offer points of contact and conversation for young readers who may be experiencing similar feelings and realities as Marie.
No comments:
Post a Comment