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A review by 600bars
Lena Finkle's Magic Barrel: A Graphic Novel by Anya Ulinich
4.0
Everyone felt so real that I thought this was a memoir 2/3rds of the way through the book and started to look for her instagram so I could see what the characters looked like irl! This book is about Lena Finkle, who immigrated to the US as an 18 yo with her family from the collapsing soviet union in 1991. The book traces her major relationships up to age 38. It was a fantastic portrayal of falling in love and heartbreak.
When she was in Moscow, Lena had a high school sweetheart named Alik. They remained in contact for the next 20 years via letter. Upon moving to the US, Lena immediately marries a dude from a gas station. I was wondering what her family had to say about that but she was still very much in touch with her parents later in the book so it must have turned out fine. They quickly divorce, because they were teenagers with no concept of what marriage should be. Lena then marries Josh and has a miserable, tumultuous 15 years with him. They finally divorce, and Lena is at a loss.
This is a somewhat common situation that I don’t see depicted all that often: you marry and have kids young, when suddenly circumstance leaves you to re-enter the dating world while middle aged. Most people have their rumspringa when they’re in their 20s, so it’s scary to have to navigate the game with very little dating experience but lots of life experience (2 marriages, 2 children, etc). Lena feels old and tired, but at the same time she’s like a wide eyed baby.
Predictably, Lena falls in love with the type of guy who only shops at the dollar store and dumpster dives all his possessions and sleeps on the floor. “The Orphan” is 45 and has had a WiLd and CRaZy life. He lives like a perpetual man child in self- imposed poverty. Naturally, he is the heir to a soft drink fortune. (And yes, he did attend Oberlin College for 1 year before dropping out. Classic!!!! After that he dates Miranda July then hops freight for a year). The Orphan is magnetic and Lena is addicted to him. He is such a stereotype/caricature, and you want to scream at Lena for falling for it, but at the same time I get it! Most of us have already encountered multiple figures like the Orphan by her age, but she is blind to the red flags waving in her face.
Her relationship with Alik was very interesting as well. He’s one of her few remaining ties to Moscow, and ultimately feels more like family than a lover. Alik is barely even a real person to her anymore. He’s “half man, half nostalgia”.
I loved reading the love story portion, even though I knew it was going to end in disaster. Falling in love is a sickness!! The heartbreak section was great too. The whole book is referencing books I haven’t read, namely Malamud’s Leo Finkle and the Magic Barrel and various Russian lit. The art is beautiful, the block lettering is very tidy but still human. There is a lizzie Mcguire situation going on here where Lena has a mini cartoony self that is used to either depict her past self or her imagined self, in addition to her mini self that works as her inner voice. I liked everything about this, the story the characters the art the flow its funny its sad its so real etc etc etc
When she was in Moscow, Lena had a high school sweetheart named Alik. They remained in contact for the next 20 years via letter. Upon moving to the US, Lena immediately marries a dude from a gas station. I was wondering what her family had to say about that but she was still very much in touch with her parents later in the book so it must have turned out fine. They quickly divorce, because they were teenagers with no concept of what marriage should be. Lena then marries Josh and has a miserable, tumultuous 15 years with him. They finally divorce, and Lena is at a loss.
This is a somewhat common situation that I don’t see depicted all that often: you marry and have kids young, when suddenly circumstance leaves you to re-enter the dating world while middle aged. Most people have their rumspringa when they’re in their 20s, so it’s scary to have to navigate the game with very little dating experience but lots of life experience (2 marriages, 2 children, etc). Lena feels old and tired, but at the same time she’s like a wide eyed baby.
Predictably, Lena falls in love with the type of guy who only shops at the dollar store and dumpster dives all his possessions and sleeps on the floor. “The Orphan” is 45 and has had a WiLd and CRaZy life. He lives like a perpetual man child in self- imposed poverty. Naturally, he is the heir to a soft drink fortune. (And yes, he did attend Oberlin College for 1 year before dropping out. Classic!!!! After that he dates Miranda July then hops freight for a year). The Orphan is magnetic and Lena is addicted to him. He is such a stereotype/caricature, and you want to scream at Lena for falling for it, but at the same time I get it! Most of us have already encountered multiple figures like the Orphan by her age, but she is blind to the red flags waving in her face.
Her relationship with Alik was very interesting as well. He’s one of her few remaining ties to Moscow, and ultimately feels more like family than a lover. Alik is barely even a real person to her anymore. He’s “half man, half nostalgia”.
I loved reading the love story portion, even though I knew it was going to end in disaster. Falling in love is a sickness!! The heartbreak section was great too. The whole book is referencing books I haven’t read, namely Malamud’s Leo Finkle and the Magic Barrel and various Russian lit. The art is beautiful, the block lettering is very tidy but still human. There is a lizzie Mcguire situation going on here where Lena has a mini cartoony self that is used to either depict her past self or her imagined self, in addition to her mini self that works as her inner voice. I liked everything about this, the story the characters the art the flow its funny its sad its so real etc etc etc