while it took me a while to catch onto the plot and keep track of the characters, this was a charming read, if not the most memorable. each theme was important, but none felt fully explored- which seems like something I should’ve seen coming, since the author is still so young. 

but when I realized I’d already come to the end of the story, something was still missing, a key part of calling this a memoir. for example, when did she see *** again (“it would be years until I saw *** again...”)? what about L******, did she simply disappear from the narrative? the book wraps the ice skating up with a bow, but could’ve benefited from having a focus, or having ice skating remain the focus. 

I understand that the author’s note explains how this story became more than skating, but having an author’s note to explain why the book leaves so much unanswered (“I don’t need to understand my past to write a comic about”) seems shallow from a writing standpoint, a “what was the point” feeling, considering I went into this expecting a memoir as it is described. what I found was a collection of memories and nice art, but little retrospection and acknowledgement of what happened over the course of it. 

however, I’ll stop complaining, because again, I still think this was charming and I admire how strong a person Tillie is.