Sometimes the art is a mix of photo-realistic and comic-style (“Thursdays, 6 to 8 p.m.”), sometimes it’s illustrations bookending a story (“The Composite Boyfriend”, “Girl on a Roof”, “At the Movies”) or small vignettes strewn throughout (“Secret Life, with Cats”), some of it is beautifully illustrated comic panels (“RoseRedSnowRidingBeautyShoesHoodSleepingWhite”, “Motion Studies: Getting Out of Bed”).
Some short reviews:
Thursdays, 6 to 8 p.m – ☆☆☆. Comic-ish (panels, but additional text above panels). Fairy tale retelling with a definite Bluebeard’s wife vibe.
The Composite Boyfriend: ☆☆☆☆. Prose, with beginning and ending illustrations. I loved the paper doll composite boyfriend, and thought the story was an interesting premise.
RoseRedSnowRidingBeautyShoesHoodSleepingWhite: ☆☆☆☆☆. Comic. Delightful fairy tale of a woman who, while trying to find a Halloween costume, sarcastically declares herself a sort of composite princess, only to find herself sucked through the mirror. Sweetly bizarre and bittersweet.
Secret Life, with Cats: ☆☆☆☆☆. Prose, with initial illustration and small vignettes interspersed. It’s a creepy crazy cat lady story. Of course I loved it!
The Ruin of Grant Lowery: ☆☆. Comic. I didn’t think the art (bits of photos with MS Paint-style art overlayed) matched the cruel fairy story. My least favorite.
Girl on a Roof: ☆☆. Prose, with beginning and ending illustrations. Interesting premise (a girl writing a letter to her girlfriend, after Katrina), but boring. It felt thematically odd coming after the fairy tale.
Jakob Wywialowski and the Angels: ☆☆☆☆☆. Comic. My favorite! Excellent mix of the everyday (man trying to get rid of pests in the attic) and weird (but the pests are angels). It also has my favorite quote:
“They were sort of smudged, but you could tell that underneath the soot they were real pretty. I felt bad about throwing them out of the attic, but what was I supposed to do? One thing leads to another, and before you know it, you’ve got seraphim.”
At the Movies: ☆☆. Prose, with initial illustration. I just did not understand this one.
Motion Studies: Getting Out of Bed: ☆☆☆☆. Illustrations with text. The beautiful art is what really makes this one. Without it, the story would be pretty boring.
The Wrong Fairy: ☆☆☆☆☆. Prose with initial illustration. A fairy tale from the point of view of an alcoholic artist. It’s minimally illustrated, but deals with the subject of art itself, and it was a fascinating dip into the crazy artist / “off to fairyland” tropes. Another favorite.
Digging Up the Cat: ☆☆☆. Comic-ish. Exactly what it says – semi-autobiographical story of the author digging up her dead pet cat to rebury him.
The Church of the Funnies: ☆☆☆. Prose with initial illustrations. This is the text of a sermon the author gave. Interesting take on art as a sort of religion.
Backwards in Seville: ☆☆☆. Comic. A very tragic sort of fairytale.
Overall, I found most of the stories pretty polarizing – I either really liked them, or really didn’t. Overall, though, I’d give this 4 stars, and definitely recommend it to anyone who loves graphic novels or fairy tale retellings!
I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.