A review by dembury
Shoplifter by Michael Cho

2.0

The two stars I've given here are solely for Cho's liltingly lovely artwork. "Shoplifter" is crafted in just white, black, and a hot bubblegum pink shade. Although I'm not sure the colors match the story, it's really wonderful art and I loved looking at it. The cityscapes and street views were especially well done (the one where Corinna is hailing a cab at night is my favorite).

That being said: this. Story. Sucked. I'm sorry, but that's really the most concise way I can put it. At first, I was really trying to relate to this, because I too am a Literature major and often worry about where I'm going to end up career-wise. But Corinna's worries were so very common that I found myself yawning over them instead of sympathizing with her. There's nearly no character development, and readers barely get to know Corinna other than what she worries about. Her whole "shoplifting" quirk adds, truly, nothing to the story. Lastly, I found that the ending was much too predictable and was very cliche. It was just a feel good, bow-tied-up-on-tip ending that was unsurprising.

So again: lovely lovely artwork I want to see more of!! The artwork is enough to make me seek out more of Cho's work! But "Shoplifter" just has a flat story and unappealing characters, and the writing is very basic.