Take a photo of a barcode or cover
janine1122 's review for:
Imagine Wanting Only This
by Kristen Radtke
I really loved this graphic memoir. One of the things that I loved about it was that, even though I finished it hours ago, I am definitely still processing what it meant to me, and for me.
I loved the artwork in the book. It was sparse but powerful, and I think the choice to use black and white only really enhanced the meaning and the power of the images and words. I also loved the way Radtke interspersed actual photographs into some of the images, blending her artwork with the real world she's talking about. I thought those cells were particularly powerful, both in the mixed media as well as in her CHOICES regarding when to mix that media.
Ultimately, this story is about a life in transition. Radtke dealing with the loss of someone she loved very much at the same time that she was trying to figure out who she was and what she wanted out of life clearly impacted her in ways that it seemed she obviously didn't understand at the time. There were layers of stories -- her uncle, her 20s, her career, her wanderlust, her obsession with ruins -- and it was all interweaved so beautifully. She didn't shove things in the reader's face, but rather transitioned from one thing into the other and back again in a way that sometimes came off as disjointed as she surely felt. I loved watching her journey, as painful as it sometimes (often?) was, because it felt so true -- the obsession over one thing because you think it might give you answers or make you feel more secure when nothing else makes sense.
The ending was particularly powerful -- it broke things down to the most basic of truths, which can either serve as a comfort and/or a powerful reminder of how small we are in the great big world around us.
I loved the artwork in the book. It was sparse but powerful, and I think the choice to use black and white only really enhanced the meaning and the power of the images and words. I also loved the way Radtke interspersed actual photographs into some of the images, blending her artwork with the real world she's talking about. I thought those cells were particularly powerful, both in the mixed media as well as in her CHOICES regarding when to mix that media.
Ultimately, this story is about a life in transition. Radtke dealing with the loss of someone she loved very much at the same time that she was trying to figure out who she was and what she wanted out of life clearly impacted her in ways that it seemed she obviously didn't understand at the time. There were layers of stories -- her uncle, her 20s, her career, her wanderlust, her obsession with ruins -- and it was all interweaved so beautifully. She didn't shove things in the reader's face, but rather transitioned from one thing into the other and back again in a way that sometimes came off as disjointed as she surely felt. I loved watching her journey, as painful as it sometimes (often?) was, because it felt so true -- the obsession over one thing because you think it might give you answers or make you feel more secure when nothing else makes sense.
The ending was particularly powerful -- it broke things down to the most basic of truths, which can either serve as a comfort and/or a powerful reminder of how small we are in the great big world around us.