DNF’d at 30% don’t like the authorial voice and prose and so far the premise is not even remotely delivering. It’s meant to show why a young girl would be drawn to this cult but it is not at all delivering. No interesting characters. No likeable characters either even, for that matter.

This is a weird one for me because it’s about shallow aspects of western culture and it’s appropriation, sometimes very cleverly. But by necessity the shallow interactions between characters and this one annoying guy, kind of stymied my enjoyment of what it was doing and the punch the ending should have had. In the end, it felt like it had succeeded... but at a cost?

Interesting concept and I liked the prose a lot.

I was a bit worried going from Song of Achilles directly into this. Seemed like it would have been hard to match but it turns out Miller was more than up to the task. I absolutely loved this. Again grounding the story in a different lens made me incredibly invested in. Absolutely lovely and the ending was chef’s kiss~~

We follow the points of view, non-linearly, of three generations of Métis women. As with The Break (of which one character actually is in this novel as well!), this book has great prose work and is adept with voice. Each character sounds and feels distinct and the narrative arrangement is perfect. Even with one narrator on the audiobook everything was very clear; mannerisms, ticks, diction all delineate each person.

There are also heartbreaking similarities between the characters. Mostly, this focuses on internalized racism, misogyny, and toxic behaviours and the struggle to identify them and conquer them when they are constantly being sustained and stoked by the often well-meaning family members who simply do not have the ability to communicate effectively—or meaningfully, often.

This shines a light on the ways in which violence and racism have effected indigenous people, particularly women, in ways often not considered in literature of this type. It then uses structure to show how nuanced and menacing the things endured manifest as through their lives. And through them, their children’s lives.

So, I’ve got mixed feelings on this. I saw a few reviewers saying this would be great for teens. I disagree. It’s perfect for older LGBTQIA2S+ people, or questioning, in general, I think. But younger generations will be more critical of this than I am. I think the people who would feel seen by this are people like Steven, and that’s great. Let me explain.

Firstly, I love the concept of this. Inverting power dynamics and agency and becoming super heroic by being yourself and embracing empowering aspects of your identity. There’s also a few other super heroes in here with interesting powers. Kind of like Mystery Men? They’ve got odd balls powers or ones that work in ways that aren’t typical. But, as they also hold the power in this society, they also still display rampant transphobia and homophobia and other prejudice. People in society are OK with heroes and they get insurance so that when someone needs saving they’re super hero gets paid for their work. But if they don’t have it then they aren’t saved; possibly sued? Not sure. One example is a person was saved from an aircraft going down and didn’t have insurance and the hero just let them fall to their death, murdering them by letting them ago when they failed to produce insurance documents.

There didn’t need to be villains because the heroes were a mix of both. Their institution was corrupt and bigoted and upheld conformity. And I really, really stress that this displays a lot of transphobia and homophobia. People don’t use the correct pronoun on purpose and there’s just a lot of casual micro aggressions. Frustratingly, the protagonist is questioning, and so doesn’t correct any pronoun usage and doesn’t address it whatsoever. Just takes it on the chin.

They also self identify as a transvestite, which is antiquated and a slur—codified by mental health professionals that did not know what they were doing and treated it as a disassemble and perversion. The correct term is cross dresser. And probably, these days, simply queer. In the same way that older gay men do not self identify as queer because of the slur usage in their time, the casualness of throwing around the T slur feels like an older generational thing and oddly out of place. You’d think the author would want to shy away from the term, rather than use it. Younger queer people would be triggered and simply close this book having seen it, assuming the story isn’t handled well. It’s a red flag.

Personally, I think the story does enough to warrant the author and protagonist self identifying on their journey and it’s clearly meant as something reclaimed to them, at least. Which is important. The question I wrestle with: When writing a comic showing embodying cross dressing as a positive thing. It’s a bit weird to usher in the slur as a positive in the comic as well. It is, at the very least, antiquated. So I don’t really like that.

Craft-wise for this actual graphic novel, I thought this had fairly basic, uninteresting art and the panelling was very sophomoric and troublesome. It’s always either a full-page spread, a double-page spread, or 9 small panels. 90% of it is the 9 panel format, which gets boring and in double page spreads makes me want to continue from the top left to the far right of the second page, because that’s how most comics would use that layout. You get used to it. At the very least…it is uninteresting to look at, though.

Plot-wise, this is intense. A killer is going around murdering trans people and their point-of-view has a voice in some pages with full text and no panels. And they also use the T slur sometimes and other times call the victims trans women, so I really don’t get that. And the killer identifies the protagonist, Drag Man as trans. And tbh, the protagonist seems to self opt into this with a flashback in which their trans identity was stifled by their mom. And the internalized therapy from a damaging psychiatrist seems to have possibly permanently stymied that identity. The best the protagonist hopes for is cross dressing but never asserting pronouns either way. (Another reason this feels like it’s aimed at older folx).

Regardless of wether or not all of this “works” or not. It is very interesting and, perhaps a safe way for the author to express a complex history and struggle with identity, and they should be applauded. There is some great stuff here. I’m not quite sure where I land. I think it does what it sets out to do. I don’t think it tries to be offensive and it is a specific story about a person. The super hero aspects of it do make me feel like it could do more to show positive embodiment in current terms. After all, it is about aspiring to an ideal, in this genre.

I think that if you are okay reading a lot of casual transphobia and homophobia and dysphoria, give it a go and see where you land on it.

This has some lovely moments but does tend to drag and shuffle in between them. Voice was good, though. Completely fine. Does what it says it does on the tin, eh.

The fact that this didn’t make the shortlist on the Giller prize is wild to me. Perhaps it’s because she’s won and been nominated for a lot of awards, I don’t know. But this is maybe the strongest book I’ve consumed from the Longlist so far.

This is a series of, almost flash fiction really, certainly short stories, of peoples in Vietnam. It showcases wildly disparate experiences and lives as it traces a history and future of a family of a baby that is abandoned but taken up by a young boy embodying radical ideals comparatively to the war torn country: that of tenderness and love.

It is highly impactful and effective at showing the plethora of possibilities that are possible when dissent feels slight, but in actuality, is an action that transforms many individuals; the least of which is a child getting to, presumably, survive.

The prose are sparse and punchy as hell. Some poets can absolutely use that craft to make wildly fantastic novels, and this is one of those books. I immediately put her other novels on hold and definitely will be picking up a physical copy of this book to see how it reads on the page. The narration by the author was excellent; far exceeding most narrators somehow. Clearly a multi-talented individual.