Reviews

Kate Beaton is best known for getting a point or joke across in short comic strips and illustrations, and it's quite evident in this graphic memoir, in the way that she highlights various incidents in her life working in the oil sands without drawing them out in a way that lessens their impact. So much of the terror and indignation one feels while reading it is due to how mundane and thus detached the scenes and interactions are presented, and the understatement just gives you pause.

Yet mostly, it's like so much is threatening to spill over, but the reluctance due to fear and trauma is so strong, which heightens the urgency. The way she desperately tried to contextualize and make sense of the behavior of the men around her, how it was like an alternate reality to her--it rang true to how most cannot believe that the people they know and sometimes love are capable of great harm in the appropriate circumstances, particularly that of isolation, negligence, and economic exploitation.

I have to say, though, that I think it tried to tackle too many issues, in that I think they overall had less of the potential impact, or just felt less focused, specifically that of environmental destruction. It was an interesting point that I was invested in when she brought it up--how the oil sands workers were often apathetic to or dismissive about the harmful conditions they wrought upon not only wildlife, but people, because they were getting a good pay check (never mind the mental and physical devastation they had to endure in the process).

I do love the lack of finality, or closure, in the ultimate panels. I think there is a pressure to bring a neatly tied conclusion to narratives like these, but it's clear that because these issues have yet to be rectified or even addressed, and the compulsion to silence and resignation is too strong, it was poignant to have Kate's friends, quite apart from the world she experienced, express such disbelief at her own perceived lack of indignation toward misogynistic treatment.