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sweddy65's review against another edition
4.0
This was....
exhausting
maddening
interior
crazy-making
and kind of wonderful.
exhausting
maddening
interior
crazy-making
and kind of wonderful.
kristinana's review against another edition
4.0
"Plans:
-Work on the comic til I die.
-Die."
These are the words of Ariel Schrag in her latest comic, her magnum opus, Likewise. Luckily she decided to finish the comic but continue to live. This comic is not for everyone -- maybe not even all lovers of her earlier books, Potential, Definition, and Awkward. Yes, these books -- each of which chronicles a different year of high school -- have their share of teen angst. But unless you have been a teenage girl or have a teenage daughter, you've probably never seen a meltdown of the proportions Ariel goes through in Likewise -- and even if you have seen one in life, you may not have seen one in print.
Said meltdown is in reaction to her continued obsession with the loss of the infinitely unworthy Sally, a young woman whose vacillations and mixed signals will be familiar to anyone who has been in a truly bad relationship. Schrag flawlessly documents the extreme passion and self-loathing of which teenagers are capable; her ongoing struggles with her own internalized homophobia being the most painful aspect. However, as much as Schrag's uber-confessional style (begun with Awkward) continues to fascinate, what makes Likewise really special is the development of her artistic identity. Schrag discovers Flaubert and Joyce (FYI, I have a desire to write a conference paper on Ulysses in Likewise and Fun Home, and if I see you presenting a paper on this topic I will consider my idea stolen), and you can see her boldly inserting herself into this literary conversation, asserting to a friend at one point that she wants to make comics respectable as literature. Her inner dialogue -- which is ongoing -- often falls into incomplete sentences and almost unintelligible word association. She certainly takes to heart Joyce's desire to incorporate everything, all of life. I love the panels where she draws someone saying, "This isn't going to be in the comic, is it?" and proceeds to include everything after answering in the negative. Certainly she has come to see the painful part of being a nonfiction-writing artist, as she recognizes her own tendency to put art above people. (Luckily she's a very lovable character.) One of my favorite parts is when she stops in the middle of recording dialogue for the book (she documents herself working on both Potential and Likewise, and she uses a tape recorder to record both conversations and personal reflections) and begins talking to her future self, wondering how she is balancing college and working on the comic. It's a wonderful meta moment, and one especially striking from someone so young.
-Work on the comic til I die.
-Die."
These are the words of Ariel Schrag in her latest comic, her magnum opus, Likewise. Luckily she decided to finish the comic but continue to live. This comic is not for everyone -- maybe not even all lovers of her earlier books, Potential, Definition, and Awkward. Yes, these books -- each of which chronicles a different year of high school -- have their share of teen angst. But unless you have been a teenage girl or have a teenage daughter, you've probably never seen a meltdown of the proportions Ariel goes through in Likewise -- and even if you have seen one in life, you may not have seen one in print.
Said meltdown is in reaction to her continued obsession with the loss of the infinitely unworthy Sally, a young woman whose vacillations and mixed signals will be familiar to anyone who has been in a truly bad relationship. Schrag flawlessly documents the extreme passion and self-loathing of which teenagers are capable; her ongoing struggles with her own internalized homophobia being the most painful aspect. However, as much as Schrag's uber-confessional style (begun with Awkward) continues to fascinate, what makes Likewise really special is the development of her artistic identity. Schrag discovers Flaubert and Joyce (FYI, I have a desire to write a conference paper on Ulysses in Likewise and Fun Home, and if I see you presenting a paper on this topic I will consider my idea stolen), and you can see her boldly inserting herself into this literary conversation, asserting to a friend at one point that she wants to make comics respectable as literature. Her inner dialogue -- which is ongoing -- often falls into incomplete sentences and almost unintelligible word association. She certainly takes to heart Joyce's desire to incorporate everything, all of life. I love the panels where she draws someone saying, "This isn't going to be in the comic, is it?" and proceeds to include everything after answering in the negative. Certainly she has come to see the painful part of being a nonfiction-writing artist, as she recognizes her own tendency to put art above people. (Luckily she's a very lovable character.) One of my favorite parts is when she stops in the middle of recording dialogue for the book (she documents herself working on both Potential and Likewise, and she uses a tape recorder to record both conversations and personal reflections) and begins talking to her future self, wondering how she is balancing college and working on the comic. It's a wonderful meta moment, and one especially striking from someone so young.
library_lurker's review against another edition
1.0
i will NEVER understand why queer people like this book! not only is much of it TERRIBLE, poorly illustrated inside jokes that aren't explained, it's pretty full of homophobia. this is not a queer classic. it sucks.
pilesandpiles's review against another edition
2.0
In Likewise, Ariel Schrag represents, in comic form, the emotional tumult of her senior year of high school (1997-98), centered on an ongoing relationship with a girl she was in love with who (sort of) just wanted to be friends. Some parts of it are really good, but other parts made me feel embarrassed for Ariel -- the way I would feel if I knew my zines and journals from high school had been compiled into a book that anyone could buy on Amazon. It can get pretty painful reading almost 400 pages by a highly self-aware teen about her internal universe. I can see how this could be an important book for queer teens -- I think I would have liked it a lot more when I was Ariel's age in the comic.
tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
After adoring Awkward, Definition, and Potential, I anticipating loving this one, too. But after 100 pages of Schrag obsessing over her ex-girlfriend, I was 500% done with that. Especially once Schrag discovers Ulysses and fills the book with hundreds of words of poorly handled stream-of-consciousness spewing.
missnicelady's review against another edition
1.0
Wow. What a disappointment. I loved "Potential" and "Definition," but Schrag's senior year comic was self-indulgent, boring, repetitive, and, at 350+ pages, a chore to get through. Even at that length, many of the story threads felt like half the information was missing. Characters flitted in and out with no introduction or context, and there are several pages in which Ariel and a friend seem to be speaking to each other in their own made-up language, which is never explained for the reader. Too much of the book is taken up with Ariel obsessing and obsessing and obsessing over her ex in a really uninteresting way. There's also too much meta, as Schrag's growing fame from her first books creeps its way into her ability to tell this story -- the book becomes about itself. But not in a good way.
juliawehr's review against another edition
2.0
Having really enjoyed Ariel Schrag's graphic memoir documenting her junior year of high school, I similarly thought her senior year's would be earnest, exploratory and mildly amusing. Rather, at 200 or so pages in I'm struggling to finish this. The stream of consciousness narrative, strange and boring esoteric-ish conversations, and pining over her ex-girlfriend feels like an endless bad dream. Maybe I'll pick it up again sometime, but probably not.
corpuslibris's review
3.0
Enjoyed this one as well, but I liked Potential more. Some really interesting things again with panels and styles and moods, especially towards the end. Schrag is so good with facial expressions and especially eyes. There were panels between which the only difference was a subtle shift in eyes, and it made me laugh out loud. The middle dragged on a bit. I totally read these in the wrong order -- now I have to go back and get the first 2 years...
teelight's review
3.0
The art work is the strongest in this book of the series. The art work is really one of the only things going for it though. The plot drags much more than it does in the other books. I'ld really only read it if you want to see how the series ends.