Graphic Novel Monday: REVIEW: A Mess of Everything, by Miss Lasko-Gross

A Mess of Everything, by Miss Lasko-Gross. Published 2009 by Fantagraphics.

A Mess of Everything is Miss Lasko-Gross's follow-up to her 2007 book Escape from Special, a memoir of her middle-school years. Her next book covers early high school as she navigates rebellion, her friends' problems and her own attempts to do the right thing and be herself even when it means being unpopular.

But Melissa is no goody-goody, even if she's a smart, privileged teen from an affluent Massachusetts suburb with liberal politics. She makes mistakes, does the wrong thing as often as the right one, and has to swallow her pride more than once. She struggles with identity, friendship and her relationship with her parents. Particularly troubling is her friend Terry, who seems to have an eating disorder that her own mother is ignoring. In this case, growing up might mean learning to let go and letting her friend make her own mistakes- in other words, admitting that, even though as a child herself, Melissa may not be in a position to help her troubled friend, that doesn't mean the story has to end badly.

I love her storytelling but I also love her edgy and expressive artwork. But it's the story and the characterizations that make this book sing for me. I enjoyed watching her navigate her way through her teen years, with all its melodrama and craziness, and it was rewarding to see how she finds her way and her people in the end. A Mess of Everything is a great read for anyone who's going through or has gone through the mess of teenagerhood and came out okay in the end.

RATING: Buy

Mess of Everything
by Miss Lasko Gross

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FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

Graphic Novel Monday: Safe Area Goražde, by Joe Sacco

Safe Area Goražde: The War in Eastern Bosnia, 1992-1995. Published 2002 by Fantagraphics. Hardcover.

Click here to buy Safe Area Goražde via IndieBound.org.

Over the last few years, I've read a number of graphic novels, and while I'm by no means an expert in the form, it's something I enjoy and return to often. Once in a while I come across one that changes my perceptions of the form, of what it can be and what it can do. Safe Area Goražde is just such a book.

And, as a matter of fact, it was the first graphic novel I ever read. For some reason, these standout graphic novels always end up being nonfiction- think of David Small's family story Stitches, or Emmaneul Guibert's amazing The Photographer, about a journey through Afghanistan. Safe Area Goražde is also nonfiction, a journalism piece by writer Joe Sacco, who has since written (and drawn) extensively about the war in Bosnia. This book chronicles his time in an eastern enclave under a nominal cease-fire but cut off from the rest of the country and still experiencing zealous ethnic cleansing and violence. Christopher Hitchens' introduction helps place the reader with the necessary background information on Sacco and on the political and military situation while Sacco's narrative and artwork focus on the people and the trials of everyday life under siege.

And the art is amazing. Strictly black and white and pen and ink, it's nonetheless incredibly detailed, varied and expressive. Moments of stunning violence and quiet despair are rendered with equal skill; crosshatching creates quiet shadows while bodies lay in pools of inky blood. But again it's his characters who steal the show with their careful, detailed faces. The reader can feel the tension in a basement refuge from something as simple as someone's slightly downcast eyes or head tilted just so. Scenes of people running or in a panicked crowd put the reader right in the middle of the action and panels zoom in and out almost cinematically. A picture of freezing rain or snow makes me feel cold, too.

I was stunned after reading this incredible book; as an introduction to the graphic form it's harsh and difficult but when you put it down you'll never again doubt the form's potential for communicating both information and emotion in a mature, intelligent, adult-friendly way. I've since read a number of Sacco's other books and while they're all wonderful and retain his characteristic style, none have had quite the same impact on me as Safe Area Goražde. If you're interested in a serious, unflinching book, it's a great read.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not read this book for review.

Graphic Novel Monday: Escape from "Special" by Miss Lasko-Gross

Escape from "Special" by Miss Lasko-Gross. Published 2006 by Fantagraphics Books. Graphica. Memoir.

Escape from "Special" is a book that's a little tough to like, but even tougher to ignore. I say it's a little tough to like only because Lasko-Gross covers such emotionally volatile territory- the inner life of a young girl from elementary school to the beginning of high school- in such a raw and honest way, and using artwork that is both accomplished and dark.

Lasko-Gross's character, Melissa, is a troubled girl who feels alienated and different in school and at home, in the special-education classes she attends and in a family she feels doesn't understand her. She lacks interest in religion, which her parents think could provide her with a community but which she sees as boring and oppressive. Her alienation deepens as she enters adolescence and navigates the murky, difficult waters of friendships and growing up. She enters high school having found a group of outsiders like herself, but not without a certain lingering insecurity.

Escape from "Special" can be difficult reading at times, if only because Lasko-Gross is so honest about the pain of adolescence and the quiet betrayals of friends that can leave a vulnerable teenager humiliated and sad. "It takes so much energy to keep girlfriends," Melissa says, "One slip up and I'm 'weird' or we're 'in a fight.' They get offended so easily! I can't let my guard down, even for a minute." This is not a woman who's forgotten what it's like to be kid, or to feel different, or to feel let down by people she's trusted. Lasko-Gross's artwork is varied and often quite beautiful. When she focuses on Melissa she often uses a graphic style that underlines her isolation; other times, the panels are full of detail and contrast. Her panels are flexible and varied and give the story a lot of movement; Lasko-Gross uses closeups and panoramas skillfully to bring the story along and reflect its emotional content.

Lasko-Gross's book is about kids, but it's definitely not for kids, although I think some older teenagers would appreciate her emotional honesty and would be able to handle the mild profanity and sexual references. I probably would have loved to have had this book when I was fifteen or sixteen. As it is, I'm glad it's around now, for me and for anyone else who's ever felt like they needed to escape.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review from the publisher.