This was the first full graphic novel I have read, and I was surprised how easy it was to become absorbed in all the visual stimulation on the page. I had never even read a comic book before, so it was possible all of the colors, speech bubbles, and vibrant facial expressions would be overwhelming. But after the first page everything came together and it was clear that the story would be all the more powerful because the reader gets to see every single emotion on the characters’ faces. There never seemed to be a blank facial expression. The hurt, pain, happiness, worry, and excitement the characters (Sandell in particular) ever feel are fully exposed. Nothing is left unsaid, and in a way this is not dependent on the words on the page. So much of who the characters are is conveyed through their faces and through their eyes. The faces say so much. On page 238, when she and Ben have said goodbye for the final time, there is no overly dramatic scene. Instead, the scene is simple. One tear as the train pulls away holds so much meaning for her, for Ben, and for the progression of the story and of her journey. There is certainly pain in their departure, but there is also a certain peace that exists now. This peace is by no means a grand resolution, however. Much of Sandell’s story is left unresolved, out of her control. She cannot change her father, only herself, and her success at doing so is slowly but surely woven into the story. Leaving Ben is sort of an embodiment of her progress. Yet somehow one of the most powerful aspects of the story is the fact that her father can never really be part of the things she changes, yet she will never stop hoping for it. During my first read, I’ll admit I was kind of worried that the ending would be neatly tied up, that she would get to the bottom of her father’s reasons and lies, and that their relationship would be mended. Should the story have ended that way, in a weird way I would have felt disappointed. Everything about their father-daughter relationship, lies aside, seemed real. She loved, hated, feared, and admired him all at the same time, never one at the expense of the other. Even after the discovery of all his betrayals, he is still her father and she continues to look for him in certain aspects of her life. The scene where she is putting together her resume really stood out to me, because her father was a part of it regardless of what she knew he’d done. Something about that scene epitomized the chord the whole story struck, the fact that some things are never all-or-nothing all at once. The way the story as whole is crafted stays true to the sort of theme presented in that one short, seemingly insignificant resume scene. Just because there are pictures accompanying the words and paragraphs takes absolutely nothing away from (and adds to!) the thematic elements that would be found in any traditional form of novel. So many things aren’t black and white, and her story very powerfully presents this. She is still allowed to love and look up to her father, no matter what he has done. Inability to change him does not have to equate to cutting him off. Sandell develops this ultimate conclusion (although that sounds final in a way that perhaps it is not) through a story that stands both as a piece of literature and work of art.