It's going to be tough not to dominate this review with my own personal opinion, as I was a bit more harsh with my critique than the rest of the group. TIME TO BE OBJECTIVE. That's not to say that the book wasn't enjoyable, but there were definitely (rare) moments when we felt the drag. It's an issue because this is an autobiography, which means the tone and the plot is based on real human beings, and real human beings fluctuate, but we didn't feel the fluctuation in Blankets. Realistically, no human being is in one mental state for 16 years, but it felt that way when reading Blankets. With Persepolis, it was a plateau in terms of the plot, but with Blankets, it's a tonal plateau that started to drag on.
The issue, perhaps, is somewhat similar to one of our key issues with Persepolis: the flow plateau. In fact, the chapters that focused on Thompson's childhood and his brother were our favorite chapters, so it's interesting that this book is perceived as a love story when the best part is outside of the love story. That's not to say that the love story isn't beautiful, we all fell in love with the relationship while reading Blanket, and the author does an impeccable job of translating the characters' feelings and the tone through his narrative and through the absolutely gorgeous art. The first issue most of us brought up, when discussing the general feel and impression of the book, is the lack of focus on Thompson's baby brother. In many instances, it becomes incredibly cold, which only prompts you to pull the mental blankets closer. The book's title is actually the perfect representation of how you'll feel while reading Blankets it's a cozy and warm story of first love. The fact that Persepolis and Blankets are so similar but so different is still blowing me away. I'll try to move on from that. Blankets (2003) by Craig Thompson is a memoir that delves into Thompson's childhood and first love, another coming-of-age tale that's completely apolitical.
The Fact VS Fiction dilemma carried through from Snow, Glass, Apples into Persepolis, and now, we're faced with the review of another graphic novel autobiography.
It's always fascinating to see the parallels between books randomly chosen each month. How sexy beans is Bader's cover art AGAIN? If you haven't heard of the Shda3wa Book Club before, check out our read for February and my short introduction to book club here (and then our March review of Persepolis here).
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