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robin_dh's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kinbote4zembla's review against another edition
4.0
I don't know where to start with this. The most obvious thing, maybe, to a reader who browses through this in the store would be the frank (read: pornographic) depiction of an odd relationship. And, in the latter half of the work, it threatens to overwhelm the narrative. But that could very well be the point, so it doesn't feel right to discuss that aspect negatively.
The trickiest thing, for me, though isn't the sex. It is the suggestion that Tina is underage that really bothers me. Nothing is definite, sure, but the possibility alone nearly taints the reading experience, especially since that part of the book is presented almost as a twist. I don't know. This is a tricky area in art, in general. Is a representation of something dark, or awful, or illegal, really immoral? How do we reconcile our moral judgment of the act with a representation of the act? There are no definite answers.
And I would say that it speaks to the skill with which this "graphic novel" was made that I've rated it rather highly.
This is a work in which a lonely, isolated man finds solace in someone who is everything that is not ideal in his world. She is overweight, she is "ugly" (Tina's illustration borders the grotesque), she is stupid, she is ignorant of art, and she is young (Martin, the narrator, is 38 and balding).
I would argue that all of this is metaphorical. Why do we idealize things? Is it because Martin is alone and unsuccessful and broke - that he represents everything that is not ideal - that he finds solace in someone like him? At first, he thinks Tina is his foil. But she isn't. Tina is Martin. And in a Persona-level identity swap, the latter half of the work finds Martin in Tina's latex suit, imagining himself crawling into her skin so that he can become her.
It is really Martin that is grotesque. It is his insecurities and his anxieties projected onto the girl that makes this work really powerful.
Power relations, art, sex, all of these things are discussed. And, oddly, unexpectedly, this story has a heart. It's just a dark heart.
4 Premature Ejaculations out of 5
The trickiest thing, for me, though isn't the sex. It is the suggestion that Tina is underage that really bothers me. Nothing is definite, sure, but the possibility alone nearly taints the reading experience, especially since that part of the book is presented almost as a twist. I don't know. This is a tricky area in art, in general. Is a representation of something dark, or awful, or illegal, really immoral? How do we reconcile our moral judgment of the act with a representation of the act? There are no definite answers.
And I would say that it speaks to the skill with which this "graphic novel" was made that I've rated it rather highly.
This is a work in which a lonely, isolated man finds solace in someone who is everything that is not ideal in his world. She is overweight, she is "ugly" (Tina's illustration borders the grotesque), she is stupid, she is ignorant of art, and she is young (Martin, the narrator, is 38 and balding).
I would argue that all of this is metaphorical. Why do we idealize things? Is it because Martin is alone and unsuccessful and broke - that he represents everything that is not ideal - that he finds solace in someone like him? At first, he thinks Tina is his foil. But she isn't. Tina is Martin. And in a Persona-level identity swap, the latter half of the work finds Martin in Tina's latex suit, imagining himself crawling into her skin so that he can become her.
It is really Martin that is grotesque. It is his insecurities and his anxieties projected onto the girl that makes this work really powerful.
Power relations, art, sex, all of these things are discussed. And, oddly, unexpectedly, this story has a heart. It's just a dark heart.
4 Premature Ejaculations out of 5
tingeorges's review
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Nice artwork, but not much of a story there.
ehawk's review against another edition
4.0
intriguing, erotic and grotesque. gave me many thoughts on what is beauty, what is crude? great read.
youfelinedevil's review
3.0
maybe im missing something but like... I feel like readers are putting all this stuff on tina that might not even be there?? and it seems like the point is like here's this guy who is not seeing her, is incapable of seeing her. So maybe it's appropriate that cronenberg compares her to lolita, bc humbert was forever incapable of seeing through himself to her. also doubly appropriate bc cronenberg is like she's sexy she's earthy she's scary and I'm like... she's probably a kid. our protagonist realizes this and it doesn't really seem to bother him. I don't even know if thisis a spoiler bc you can see it coming. arriving.
in general I am very much over this whole weird freakout men seem to have about sex, as if they're the first to notice it's dirty or goofy or whatever. your thesis about how demeaning and surreal and disgusting it is doesn't make you an envelope pushing intellectual, it just makes you a nerd puritan. maybe you've been allowed to indulge too much and now you're bored, idk. inevitably you drag women into it bc we're the ones you want to fuck and the whole thing manages to become misogynistic on top of everything else.
I feel like I can't rate this bc I don't know where the authors coming from. does he sympathize with the protagonist? are the ironic things meant to be ironic? does he buy his own bullshit?
in general I am very much over this whole weird freakout men seem to have about sex, as if they're the first to notice it's dirty or goofy or whatever. your thesis about how demeaning and surreal and disgusting it is doesn't make you an envelope pushing intellectual, it just makes you a nerd puritan. maybe you've been allowed to indulge too much and now you're bored, idk. inevitably you drag women into it bc we're the ones you want to fuck and the whole thing manages to become misogynistic on top of everything else.
I feel like I can't rate this bc I don't know where the authors coming from. does he sympathize with the protagonist? are the ironic things meant to be ironic? does he buy his own bullshit?
bohowallflower's review
3.0
Really interesting. I didn't think I'd find myself reading this one, but once I got into it, I couldn't stop reading. It had a lot of great themes regarding sexual deviance and the dangers of passion and getting addicted to people for their physicality rather than who they are as a person.
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