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inkandplasma 's review for:
Delicates
by Brenna Thummler
Review live on my blog from 15th February 2021: https://inkandplasma.com/2021/02/15/delicates/
I received an eARC of this graphic novel from Oni Press. It has not affected my honest review.
Content Warnings: depression, bullying, suicidal thoughts.
I was honestly blown away by this graphic novel. I read Sheets and really enjoyed it (I rated it 4 stars) and was expecting a similar experience with Delicates. Instead I got something even more impossibly beautiful and poignant. I honestly cried at the end of this graphic novel, and I can't wait to get a physical copy in my hands so I can read it all over again.
Delicates follows on from Sheets, where Marjorie's family is now successfully running the Laundromat with the help of Wendell and his ghost friends and the ghost-uriser that gets out any stains. All of this happened in the first novel, so these are all familiar characters. I loved seeing that things had improved with Marjorie and Owen's dad, but equally liked that things weren't magically fixed. Marjorie has fallen into a new friendship group ready to start the next school year, and there's a new girl in her class, Eliza, who is repeating eighth grade.
I am absolutely obsessed with the way that this graphic novel handles bullying. I hope school libraries get this in by bulk, because it has such an important message throughout. And while it's frustrating to read, I think having a book where the MC is complicit in the bullying is so, so important because it really successfully shows someone standing up to their friends and challenging their behaviour - something that's not easy to do as a teenager. I absolutely adore Eliza, she's a fantastic and lovable character and the way that her depression and suicidal thoughts are portrayed is lovingly done. I wish I'd had this as a teenager so I could have learned to recognise these signs in myself and others.
The ending is poignant and powerful and so, so beautiful. I wept through the last few pages and I probably will again when I reread it. I highly recommend this graphic novel for all ages - there's a lesson to be learned about kindness and care for all of us in here.
I received an eARC of this graphic novel from Oni Press. It has not affected my honest review.
Content Warnings: depression, bullying, suicidal thoughts.
I was honestly blown away by this graphic novel. I read Sheets and really enjoyed it (I rated it 4 stars) and was expecting a similar experience with Delicates. Instead I got something even more impossibly beautiful and poignant. I honestly cried at the end of this graphic novel, and I can't wait to get a physical copy in my hands so I can read it all over again.
Delicates follows on from Sheets, where Marjorie's family is now successfully running the Laundromat with the help of Wendell and his ghost friends and the ghost-uriser that gets out any stains. All of this happened in the first novel, so these are all familiar characters. I loved seeing that things had improved with Marjorie and Owen's dad, but equally liked that things weren't magically fixed. Marjorie has fallen into a new friendship group ready to start the next school year, and there's a new girl in her class, Eliza, who is repeating eighth grade.
I am absolutely obsessed with the way that this graphic novel handles bullying. I hope school libraries get this in by bulk, because it has such an important message throughout. And while it's frustrating to read, I think having a book where the MC is complicit in the bullying is so, so important because it really successfully shows someone standing up to their friends and challenging their behaviour - something that's not easy to do as a teenager. I absolutely adore Eliza, she's a fantastic and lovable character and the way that her depression and suicidal thoughts are portrayed is lovingly done. I wish I'd had this as a teenager so I could have learned to recognise these signs in myself and others.
The ending is poignant and powerful and so, so beautiful. I wept through the last few pages and I probably will again when I reread it. I highly recommend this graphic novel for all ages - there's a lesson to be learned about kindness and care for all of us in here.