A Review of 'Skim' by Mariko Tamaki

"Heartbreakingly funny, moving and vibrantly drawn, Skim is an extraordinary book-- a smart and sensitive graphic novel of the highest literary and artistic quality, by and about young women.

'Skim' is Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a not-slim, would-be Wiccan goth who goes to a private girls' school.  When her classmate Katie Matthews is dumped by her boyfriend, who then kills himself, the entire school goes into mourning overdrive.  As concerned guidance counselors provide lectures on the 'cycle of grief,' and the popular clique starts a new club (Girls Celebrate Life!) to bolster school spirit, Skim sinks into an ever-deepening depression.

And falling in love only makes things worse...

Suicide, depression, love, being gay or not, crushes, cliques, and finding a way to be your own fully human self-- are all explored in this brilliant collaboration by cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki.  An edgy, keenly observed and poignant glimpse into the heartache of being young."

It's my favorite graphic in this book

I read this during finals week last semester when I was supposed to be writing papers and reading other things.  But instead, I decided that it was time to read some graphic novels.

I have been increasingly surprised by graphic novels this year.  I like not being limited to graphic novels about superheroes-- the graphic novel world is a bigger  and more diverse place than I thought it was.  And it's awesome.  One of the books that I stumbled upon while perusing YouTube while I should have been doing important school things was this one, 'Skim,' reviewed by Sanne of BooksandQuills (check her out, if you haven't already).

I wasn't terribly impressed with this graphic novel (I know, I built you up by saying these great things about graphic novels and now I'm slamming a graphic novel).  Skim could have gone in a number of different directions, but instead of fulfilling any of those directions fully, it kind of touched on all of the directions a little bit, making the story feel incomplete.  Yes, life, especially at the age of these characters, is really confusing and includes exploration and thoughts about the things detailed in the description above, but it didn't transfer very well into the book.  Life can be like this, but books ought to be a little more focused, I guess.  At least, this book should be.

This fact was really distracting for me and I couldn't get a lot out of this book, to be honest.  Maybe I read it at the wrong time in my life, but as a 20-year-old reading this book, it didn't really resonate with me.

I give 'Skim':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude