The Imposter's Daughter

'Graphic novel' is a brand new genre for me, as a reader. My housemate, a comic artist, has been encouraging me to get more into them. I recently read Black Hole by Charles Burns and the first 1/4 of V for Vendetta. First impressions went pretty well with both. My feet were damp as I embarked on Imposter's Daughter.

I like the episodic 'chapters' Some scenes seemed too rapidly sketched and I felt like I was missing some necessary bit of the story. Memoirists, having lived through their own stories must sometimes forget to highlight things in the necessary light for the reader to understand the type of gravity an incident had. It seems like this book sometimes skims dense scenes as if we already knew what was going on. For instance, on pages 31 and 32, I initially had a hard time following the author's leap into the entire-family-fight scene. I just didn't feel prepared, didn't see it coming. I wasn't sure where in the house the mother was, what they were fighting about, or how it had escalated. I was shocked to see the father throwing the Tab bottle at her head--- of course, as the story persists we see these interactions as habitual.

I had a fun time reading this book. The art is really great: comedic, tender, colorful, clear. I love how she used her real-life childhood drawings!!! They really clearly showed the real-life relationship between her and her father. The fact that, as a child, she teased her father about his arrogance,  his sexy secretary, and clearly idolized him helped push the story out of it's comic-box and in to a more realistic narrative. Ahh! I loved how she drew little naked dolls on the floor with their clothes strewn about and their hair blowing. Also, the "No Smoking" posters... Really great.

The story itself, 'poor, estranged, well-to-do professional fights to reclaim true family identity', could have seemed cliche. Her real enthusiasm and honesty carried this book. The innocence and excitement with which the narrator comports herself through the pages is the most compelling part of the story. She really writes as if experiencing the sentiment for the first time again.

Without at all being 'edgy', she includes some nudity and an open account of her drug use. I liked that.  She didn't blow the details out of proportion in order to puff up her identity. I thought her portrayal of herself was rather modest, and that was refreshing.

Martha