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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This may be the one book I wish I hadn’t gone into blind. FOREST HILLS BOOTLEG SOCIETY covers so many heavy topics in a frighteningly relatable and authentic story of a group of girls utilizing their limited life experience to manage their bootleg DVD business.
I understand now why this book has so many mixed reviews. It’s a mixed review kind of book. I didn’t hate FHBS but I certainly didn’t like it either.
After reading and gaining a better understanding of the characters, I feel like this book’s biggest failing was trying to fit it in the fiction section. Because while the book had substance and was a fictional account, FHBS felt more like a work of creative nonfiction with its discussions on youth and loneliness. The lack of a real plot meant this felt more like a literary piece which can be hard to market as a young adult novel.
Compared to the complexity of the characters, the story was almost entirely inconsequential. The main cast - Brooke, Kelly, Melissa, and Maggie - were the focus of the book. These teenagers are each dealing with their own trauma and feelings of loneliness.
I saw myself in Brooke right away. And Maggie. And really, everyone. FHBS reflects on just how lonely being a teen can be, and how trying to fill that gap can lead to more loneliness. Through religion, friendship, or romance, all of these characters are trying to fill that hole in themselves, often to the detriment of others. It gets quite thoughtful, often providing insight to their past and their mental state so readers are able to draw their own conclusions.
I think I despised Maggie the most, both for her behavior and for how much I related to her. She reminds me a lot of myself growing up, maybe not in the religious aspects but in other facets of her personality. She’s written in a way that comes across as both sheltered and potentially neurodivergent, with incredibly naïve views of the world that lead her to both offend her friends but also to be borderline abused by them for her innocence. Her friendship with them isn’t healthy for anyone involved, but her loneliness means she stays.
In fact, all of the girls seem to be bad for one another. Some of this can be blamed on their youth and trauma, like Brooke’s extreme people-pleasing that borders on self-punishment or Kelly being unwilling to be emotionally vulnerable with her girlfriend. None of it is inherently bad, just a consequence of circumstance, but it also feels like the girls don’t learn much. When the story ends they are all worse off than when they started.
Getting little details about the characters’ lives, even background characters, made the book that much more realistic. A reminder that we’re only seeing the public side of the people around us, everyone has a past that influences their actions.
I do think that in some areas it made the page a little busy. These insights are shown through large swaths of text that cover much of the page and illustrations. I’m someone who has trouble focusing on any one thing, so having so much text on the page made it a bit difficult to follow along and differentiate between background info and dialogue.
Getting back to the story, the final pages really struck me. They were the one major turning point in the book when stepping in or stepping up could have changed everything. This section actually reminded me of one of my favorite books, THE WICKER KING. It showed the effect of abandonment, and what happens when adults make no effort to understand and only seek to punish without attempting to understand the issues at play.
It was as poignant as it was sad. It also could have made the book more worthwhile for me had it been handled a bit differently. Once again, I just felt empty. There was little in terms of momentum driving this story forward, an ending with a bit more substance could have changed my final thoughts.
Something worth noting about FHBS is the art direction. The illustrations are beautiful. The designs have a cartoonish feel, but are accompanied by tiny details added to characters and scenes that make each of them feel unique. The cover had Nancy Drew vibes with a character design that reminded me of The Montague Twins. The backgrounds and wide shots were equally gorgeous.
For the life of me I couldn’t find a true point to the story of these four girls and their bootleg hentai, and that’s probably because there isn’t one. Not in the traditional sense. There’s a lot FOREST HILLS BOOTLEG SOCIETY is trying to get across, but in the end it felt like too much and as a result the overall impact suffered.
CW: suicide (discussed), Christianity, homophobia, censored swears and slurs
I understand now why this book has so many mixed reviews. It’s a mixed review kind of book. I didn’t hate FHBS but I certainly didn’t like it either.
After reading and gaining a better understanding of the characters, I feel like this book’s biggest failing was trying to fit it in the fiction section. Because while the book had substance and was a fictional account, FHBS felt more like a work of creative nonfiction with its discussions on youth and loneliness. The lack of a real plot meant this felt more like a literary piece which can be hard to market as a young adult novel.
Compared to the complexity of the characters, the story was almost entirely inconsequential. The main cast - Brooke, Kelly, Melissa, and Maggie - were the focus of the book. These teenagers are each dealing with their own trauma and feelings of loneliness.
I saw myself in Brooke right away. And Maggie. And really, everyone. FHBS reflects on just how lonely being a teen can be, and how trying to fill that gap can lead to more loneliness. Through religion, friendship, or romance, all of these characters are trying to fill that hole in themselves, often to the detriment of others. It gets quite thoughtful, often providing insight to their past and their mental state so readers are able to draw their own conclusions.
I think I despised Maggie the most, both for her behavior and for how much I related to her. She reminds me a lot of myself growing up, maybe not in the religious aspects but in other facets of her personality. She’s written in a way that comes across as both sheltered and potentially neurodivergent, with incredibly naïve views of the world that lead her to both offend her friends but also to be borderline abused by them for her innocence. Her friendship with them isn’t healthy for anyone involved, but her loneliness means she stays.
In fact, all of the girls seem to be bad for one another. Some of this can be blamed on their youth and trauma, like Brooke’s extreme people-pleasing that borders on self-punishment or Kelly being unwilling to be emotionally vulnerable with her girlfriend. None of it is inherently bad, just a consequence of circumstance, but it also feels like the girls don’t learn much. When the story ends they are all worse off than when they started.
Getting little details about the characters’ lives, even background characters, made the book that much more realistic. A reminder that we’re only seeing the public side of the people around us, everyone has a past that influences their actions.
I do think that in some areas it made the page a little busy. These insights are shown through large swaths of text that cover much of the page and illustrations. I’m someone who has trouble focusing on any one thing, so having so much text on the page made it a bit difficult to follow along and differentiate between background info and dialogue.
Getting back to the story, the final pages really struck me. They were the one major turning point in the book when stepping in or stepping up could have changed everything. This section actually reminded me of one of my favorite books, THE WICKER KING. It showed the effect of abandonment, and what happens when adults make no effort to understand and only seek to punish without attempting to understand the issues at play.
It was as poignant as it was sad. It also could have made the book more worthwhile for me had it been handled a bit differently. Once again, I just felt empty. There was little in terms of momentum driving this story forward, an ending with a bit more substance could have changed my final thoughts.
Something worth noting about FHBS is the art direction. The illustrations are beautiful. The designs have a cartoonish feel, but are accompanied by tiny details added to characters and scenes that make each of them feel unique. The cover had Nancy Drew vibes with a character design that reminded me of The Montague Twins. The backgrounds and wide shots were equally gorgeous.
For the life of me I couldn’t find a true point to the story of these four girls and their bootleg hentai, and that’s probably because there isn’t one. Not in the traditional sense. There’s a lot FOREST HILLS BOOTLEG SOCIETY is trying to get across, but in the end it felt like too much and as a result the overall impact suffered.
CW: suicide (discussed), Christianity, homophobia, censored swears and slurs
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia
Minor: Pedophilia, Suicide
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
i love a queer graphic novel. it's such an indulgence for me these days. what's more is that i feel like i knew girls just like this... or i forgot that i was a girl like them. relatable, but not necessarily a happy ending.
Didn’t finish. I’m not sure how it got a started review.
mysterious
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Mid-aughts nostalgia in a really cool form!
Four friends come across anime with adult content and sell DVDs of it to other students.
The thing I really liked about this was the style. Every once in a while, the creators introduce a character by giving them a big chunk of a page and sidebar-ing facts about them. I love art like this.
There are periodic incidental captions that relay things about the context that may or may not have connotations for the plot at hand. Mostly not.
Also, lovely queer content.
Limited color palette with tones of blue, green, black and white.
Super fun!
Four friends come across anime with adult content and sell DVDs of it to other students.
The thing I really liked about this was the style. Every once in a while, the creators introduce a character by giving them a big chunk of a page and sidebar-ing facts about them. I love art like this.
There are periodic incidental captions that relay things about the context that may or may not have connotations for the plot at hand. Mostly not.
Also, lovely queer content.
Limited color palette with tones of blue, green, black and white.
Super fun!