I heard about On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden on the good and great podcast Books Unbound.
This is a sapphic romance/coming of age graphic novel set in a futuristic space setting where people travel around using spaceships shaped like fish. We follow Mia, a young woman who begins working with on a ship with other women who restore old buildings around the universe. But we also go back into time when Mia was at a boarding school and falling in love.
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| Starts great with a cat on page 5! |
And I'd like to tell you that I loved this book because I certainly liked the premise. But, to be honest, I am not much of a visual reader and I don't understand what's happening in the panels without text. And there are entire pages of that in this book. I cannot for the life of me figure out what is happening and I find the entire thing confusing. I found myself literally reading the Wikipedia summary of the book while I was reading it, so this was not my favorite reading experience.
But, hey, if this is a book for you, it will hit. The storyline between Mia and her girlfriend is adorable. I love the found family plotline of the women on the ship. There's a cat! There are adorable spaceships. I mean, if this calls for you, read it! Don't let my orneriness re: graphic books be your guide. 3/5 stars
Hat mentions (why hats?):
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I would say it counts as a big book - you have to look at a lot of pictures with many details and translate that into meaning. And my library counts graphic novels for books read for the summer reading program, so I have professional backing for my opinion. :)
ReplyDeleteThere are some graphic novels I've liked ( Maus, Nathan Hal's Hazardous Tales for my kids) but mostly would rather just read words.
Maus was really good. I also liked the graphic memoir/history called Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts. Maybe graphic nonfiction is where I should hang my hat.
Delete500 pages is 500 pages! I would count it. I've never read a graphic novel but my younger son is into manga so he has.
ReplyDeleteI really admire graphic novels, but it turns out that I just prefer to read words on the page.
DeleteThat is a conundrum! I would say that since read the whole thing, including wikipedia summaries, that it was quite a project for you and counts as a long book.
ReplyDeleteI've never actually read a graphic novel (I don't think???) Somehow it doesn't really appeal to me.
Graphic novels aren't for everyone, but I admire the form. It's a combo of all the art - drawing, painting, writing - and that's really delightful.
DeleteI vote yes, it's a big book. Do you know about the concept of closure when it's applied to comics? Basically, there is a lot you supply when you close the gap between pictures - you are interpreting the action you don't see as much as the action you do see. The white space between panels and what is implied between scenes is important. So yes, you did equal heavy lifting reading a comic as reading a novel.
ReplyDeleteI apparently wasn't signed in when I commented, but this comment about closure is from TJC.
DeleteI do not know about the concept of closure. I literally had to look up on a web page to make sure I was using the term "panel" correctly in this post. Honestly, I should have taken my writing classes more seriously in college. It turns out that I use information from those classes more than I ever thought I would!
DeleteI actually own a Green River Killer graphic novel. It's not nearly as creepy as you might think. I don't read them often, but this one was pretty interesting.
ReplyDeleteI mean...to be fair, it DOES sound creepy. I am not sure I'd be able to sleep at night after reading that.
DeleteI totally get that! At least it was more character-driven; there weren't illustrations of any murdered victims (at least not that I recall!).
DeleteI’ve read a few graphic novels, years ago, that I loved. But I don’t go seeking them out. I would totally count this for your 500 pages, especially since you had to do so much reference work.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the consensus is to count it, so I'm counting it!
DeleteLove graphic novels/nonfiction. One of my favourites is "Stitches" by David Small.
ReplyDeleteShould this qualify for your book goal? Absolutely. Just my opinion but regardless of text, your brain is comprehending each frame and knitting them together. It's analysis, synthesis, comprehension, evaluation...it's good brain exercise so YES.
Awesome. I was leaning towards including it as a Big Book, but I like the validation.
DeleteI vote you count it as a big book - you had to try to figure out a lot of stuff words or not. I do not care for graphic novels. This would not be my jam. At all.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's not for everyone. I think the romance + graphic novel + YA means it has a pretty niche audience.
DeleteI am not a graphic book reader, like you - I'm just not a visual reader, I much prefer making pictures out of words. However, I live with with a graphic book reader who had a recent relatively late diagnosis of dyslexia and who has also done well in assignments when they can be turned into graphic representations. In this process I have come to a greater appreciation for the form, even if I'm still unlikely to pick one up. Thanks for this review, I will pass the book rec on.
ReplyDeleteI totally get that there are people for whom graphic novels are IT. And I WANT to be one of those people because it's such a cool idea with the words and the art and the everything. But it turns out that it's not the right thing for me, but I am happy they are out there to be the right thing for other people.
DeleteHuh... I don't thing graphic novels are for me. I have no interest in them. However I remember loving to read comic books. And graphic novel is just the fancy word for it, right? So I don't know. I guess I can't honestly say I don't like them since its been ages I had a comic book in hand.
ReplyDeleteWell, my understanding is that comic books are short and serialized. You might expect a comic to come out every week or every month. Graphic novels tend to be longer (this one was over 500 pages) and the storyline is wrapped up in one (or maybe two) books. My take is that there is a different tone to graphic novels, too. The stories are usually more complex and can be much more character driven (I think we can all admit that comic books are plot driven!). So they're not really the same thing, but they have some superficial similarities.
DeleteI can't get into graphic novels either - I loved comic books when I was young, but as an adult I just feel like I'm reading a comic book and that's not my thing anymore. I did love Ducks by Kate Beaton, but I've tried multiple other ones and felt meh. Oh wait, I read Boxers and Saints for my library and thought they were amazing. So maybe I just don't like most of the ones I've read. Bleahhhh I am rambling.
ReplyDeleteEven Ducks was not something I cared for. I tried it, but it ended up being "meh." Oh, well. It's for other readers and that's great!
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