I thought I had published this, but had merely saved it. Sorry for the lateness!
I read this, then re-read it. I'll be really frank -- it's been 30 years since I was in my late twenties. Yup, we can talk about my pet dinosaur roaming around Mills at another time.
So, after two reads, I was able to put my head into the twenty-something lifestyle I had eons ago.
You know what?
It doesn't matter if it was the 70s, 80s, 90s, new millenium, and now the teens of the 2K century.
It's all still the same sort of angst we have when we are in our twenties and trying to make our way in the world.
It's just a mess of trying to go from job to job to find that job that makes you think, "Yeah, now, Now, NOW! I'm finally doing some thing that relates to my <pick one of these> -- education/passion/interest/level of debt to creditors.... You get my drift.
We all go through this. It is heart-wrenching.You realize you don't have the world by the tail, it has YOU by the tail and you are being swung around and around! In reading Gabrielle's stories, I realized that we go through this multiple times in our lives. We all have the same questions and fears. She captures it very well for the twenty-something crowd. I want to see her work in her 30s and 40s and 50s grapple with the questions and philosophies we are faced with with at each milestone/decade of our lives.
Part I put me into her timeline trajectory. Reading her journal, I have a sense of time passing. I missed that in the other two parts of the book. Parts II and III had no reference to a "when" in time. Perhaps that was done on purpose? Perhaps Gabrielle did that, stating in a way, "These situations could happen to anyone in their twenties, in any given time from 1970 onward." True. However, in dating entries from story to story, it gives one the feeling that our characters are/are not maturing/growing.
Gabrielle's story is poignant. No, really. Okay, like my mother would say, you'll understand when you are older. It is perspective. For example: She's trying to make sense of her relationship with Tom. So was I. It was sort of nebulous with a touch of establishing a boundary. They were wanting something, but not wanting to risk. It was only in the Extra's section when he disappears in the hole in the bathroom that we are given evidence that she cares for him, maybe loves him.
INDIVIDUAL TAKES:
Page 7, second row, left panel --going into a place inside yourself to be creative.
Page 94 -- her take on a job, and believe me, sometimes you take a job just because you need the dough. Jail....warden.....inmates. Priceless!
Page 95 -- the southwest panel was right-on (okay, dating self, oh well) -- it is so true.
ARTWORK -- because you know that is important! Most/all of the characters in Gabrielle's stories do NOT look happy. People look anxious, questioning, insecure, "where is my place in the world," WTF!, and just "deer-in-the-headlights or blank stare because we are just trying to figure out who the heck we are and where the heck do I belong and why is this stuff harder than we were told about !" looks.
Examine at the cover! Even there, with a videographer doing a staged project that friends are participating in willingly, people DO NOT look COMFORTABLE but rather, they look uneasy.
One exception -- page 63, southeast panel, Tom has a kind, gentle look.
EXTRAS -- I have to admit, page 103's John Ashcroft was a hilarious bit of political humor. Her boss' comment on Bush's reelection strategy -- priceless.
At the end of the evening, this is a good book, one that deserves more than one or two reads. Keep this memoir, read it once every year or two. See if your perspective with Age changes how you interpret or feel about Gabrielle's stories.
That's true about the passing of time throughout the story. It's very subtle the way she labels the corners of the pages, that a lot of times I found that I'd just skipped over them. But they are important as a frame of reference, even if it is as small as a day or two, one day here another there until it's a year later all of a sudden. I agree that something was trying to get worked out with Tom during the story but I didn't know what to think. I was really surprised in the extras when she dives in after him, because I honestly thought she'd leaned more in the direction of breaking it off. I would also be very curious to see how she's worked everything out, if she were to do another graphic novel about a later period in her life.
ReplyDeleteAnnie, I truly do appreciate your reading of this novel. Me being a 20-something living in the midst of my angst clearly informed my reading of the book! We all handle this angst in different ways, but as you mentioned, it's the same cycle for everyone, essentially. God knows the job/housing circuit is a painful one these days, no matter where we are in this country, although I'm still left with a vapid feeling in response to HOW she displays these moments, as well as which ones. Still, thanks for grounding this in a collective vision!
ReplyDeleteAnnie,
ReplyDeletewell the graphics are not the most important but they do make the narrative extend in terms of expression and events etc. You connected to this post in many ways. And helped ground your colleagues a little bit. The observations about time and labeling are very important to how the reader is positioned in juxtaposition to the narrative. Going from journal to a somewhat nebulous timeline disorients the reader in terms of narrative unity. It doesn't allow us to form some solid characterization because like the lack of face lines, we are left filing in for ourselves.
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Annie, I just wanted to post a quick response in agreement with your stance that it is all about perspective. I don't know how many times I can say it but AMEN!
ReplyDelete