In an extraordinary true story of sex, drugs, punk music and the mafia, Ulli Lust recounts her two months spent hitchhiking across Italy as a seventeen-year-old. Coming in at a whopping 464 pages, this was by far the longest graphic novel I’ve ever read, but I think the story benefitted from the longer form, encapsulating Lust’s gripping Odyssey across Italy.
I liked Lust’s art style – though she emphasised the grotesque at times, she illustrated each character so vividly and exaggerated features without becoming too cartoonish. But as well as capturing the intimate, Lust’s illustrations of grand Italian landmarks and sweeping landscapes were particularly exceptional. I loved how Lust used the form of a graphic novel to tell the story. She warped panels and changed her style to expand on visual metaphors, and it made for a unique reading experience. Though the dialogue was casual and conversational, it didn’t bore me or feel unnecessary, because it matched the grounded reality of Lust’s journey.
I always find it difficult to review nonfiction, because who am I to tell an author I didn’t like the pacing of their life story? Life isn’t sectioned off into neat chapters with a beginning, middle and end. But in the case of this graphic novel, it became quite repetitive in the middle, and I felt it dragged. The story was framed by excerpts of Lust’s travel journal from the time, and I really liked the older, wiser narrative voice that accompanied the prologue and epilogue. I wished that had continued throughout the book – perhaps it would have made the middle section less repetitive.
This is not a book I would have normally chosen for myself. It’s very outside of my reading comfort zone, both in form and subject matter, however I quite enjoyed it. It was different, and refreshing, and a valuable reading experience. Here’s to trying something new!
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexism, and Toxic relationship