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The book I borrowed from the library. |
I'm telling you this because Skim is one of the graphic novels I took home. I'd seen it in the library for a long time but never picked it up before - the reason for this is the cover design. It's gorgeous and I love it but it didn't make me want to take the book off the shelf.
It turns out that Skim is one of the best graphic novels I have ever read. The drawings are wonderful, it is well plotted, the characters are totally believable and the story managed to touch me and make me laugh at the same time.
Skim is the nickname of sixteen year old Canadian school girl Kimberly Keiko Cameron. There is a strong Japanese influence in the drawings at times and there is a hint that perhaps Skim may have some Japanese heritage but, quite rightly, this is never fully explained - it is part of Skim but not a driving force in this story. Skim's school is thrown into turmoil when the boyfriend of one of the students commits suicide. Though Skim didn't know him she is buffeted by the emotions and reactions that ripple out from this event*. At times she is seen as a suicide risk herself. Perhaps because of all this or maybe in spite of it Skim becomes infatuated with a female teacher who at first appears to encourage romantic feelings. Skim also begins to view her friendships and her life in a new way.
A couple of years ago my life was touched, and continues to be touched, by the violent suicide of a cousin I didn't know well. I can recognise the misinformation, the speculation, the rumours and the range of effects on people connected (quite often indirectly) with the person that died. Mariko and Jillian capture this, the dynamics of teenage friendships, the inner workings of power/popularity in high schools and the stirrings of first love extremely well.
Maybe this makes the story sound a bit too serious but it's not. Skim is also funny and charming, her thoughts about her life and those around her are witty and compelling. I hope that Mariko and Jillian will make a sequel one day. I only ever write about books that I love and this is top of my list at the moment.
It's always great to discover authors - happily Mariko and Jillian Tamaki have published other work that I hope to dip into soon. But I wish I had seen past the cover design before! For me it doesn't fully represent Skim or her story in any meaningful way. This experience has made me think about the importance of cover design and how often my choice of book is based on it. Out of interest I looked online to see what other cover designs had been used for Skim, they are all wonderful but I think that the most truly representative is the French cover. I came close to buying the French version of the book until I remembered I wouldn't be able to read it!
But perhaps I am blaming others for my own shortcomings. I have resolved, in future, to try to see beyond the covers of books, maybe just to grab stuff off the library shelf again without thinking about it too much. Perhaps I'll find another gem like Skim.
ELCAF on 20th-21st June in East London (UK).
*I've taken this concept from Darryl Cunningham's description of the effects of suicide in his graphic novel Psychiatric Tales.