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A review by bluepigeon
Lena Finkle's Magic Barrel: A Graphic Novel by Anya Ulinich
4.0
Lena Finkle's Magic Barrel is a story of immigration, the perpetual arriving; a story of online dating and serial marriages, the nostalgic first love that never was or could be; a story of dating a man who loves women, but cannot stay; and a story of one woman insisting on searching for happiness.
All in all, a great tale, true to the immigrant experience, even down to the generalized anxiety disorder. There is a lot in this novel, which is packed with everything from coming-of-age, learning to pretend to be Jewish, finding love, hating love, many phone and face-to-face conversations with "girl friends" about men... The graphic structure mostly carries the story well, except for the long monologs (either in conversation or in thought), which perhaps could be better if divided up in more panels, instead of covering whole pages. It is challenging to get a lot of conversation through in graphic novel format, but it is doable, especially when the images don't have to be exactly about what the words are saying or what the characters are doing (sitting and talking), but something more, something that adds to the words instead of just representing them.
Recommended for those who are dating online, those going through a divorce, those who never understood why that good guy broke up with them, and those who like construction sites.
All in all, a great tale, true to the immigrant experience, even down to the generalized anxiety disorder. There is a lot in this novel, which is packed with everything from coming-of-age, learning to pretend to be Jewish, finding love, hating love, many phone and face-to-face conversations with "girl friends" about men... The graphic structure mostly carries the story well, except for the long monologs (either in conversation or in thought), which perhaps could be better if divided up in more panels, instead of covering whole pages. It is challenging to get a lot of conversation through in graphic novel format, but it is doable, especially when the images don't have to be exactly about what the words are saying or what the characters are doing (sitting and talking), but something more, something that adds to the words instead of just representing them.
Recommended for those who are dating online, those going through a divorce, those who never understood why that good guy broke up with them, and those who like construction sites.