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chamomiledaydreams 's review for:
Ghost Roast
by Shawneé Gibbs, Shawnelle Gibbs
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This is a wonderful graphic novel! The art style is beautiful, and I love everything about it. Chelsea has gorgeous hairstyles throughout the book; each setting and background image is lovingly crafted and adds to the story's character; facial expressions are vibrant and humorous, maintaining a perfect balance between realism and playful exaggeration; the non-human characters (cats and horses) are just as lovely as the humans in terms of design and motion; and the entire story is printed in full color.
As for the story itself, the writing quality is just as strong as the artwork. Each character has a unique personality and appearance, and the world feels bigger than what we see on the page. I especially love Chelsea's family dynamic: It makes sense that her parents got divorced, and I appreciate what we see of each parent's profession and how they simultaneously complement and contrast with one another. Chelsea's dad is an endearing combination of well-intentioned and oafish, in the way that dads often feel when you're a teenager.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
I adore ghost stories, although I can be picky when it comes to their conclusions. More often than not, ghosts are expected to move on or die a second time, and sometimes I just want a ghost to stay put in the narrative. "Ghost Roast" strikes an interesting chord with me, because we see ghosts forcibly evicted from their afterlife through human machinery, but we don't get the usual scene of the living protagonist letting her dead friend "move on." I'm not upset that Oliver is still haunting the house where he died, but I wouldn't have objected to a peaceful and cathartic moving on scene with him and his aunt, similar to the one in Roshani Chokshi's "The Spirit Glass."
My main reservation with this graphic novel is that we don't talk enough about the afterlife the characters witness. What happens to the ghosts that are sucked up by ghost hunting equipment? Is there a place that most spirits go, when they don't linger in the mortal realm? Can ghosts stuck on Earth move on to that place once they've been left behind? I understand Chelsea's reservations when it comes to speaking frankly with her father about ghosts. Even if an open discussion would have solved many issues, knowing Chelsea's desire to appear normal and her hesitation to be drawn back into her father's ghost hunting business, it makes sense that she would be tight-lipped about her experiences. But I would've loved to hear a conversation between them that establishes some more lore and worldbuilding: What do we know about ghosts, and what are some possible explanations for their existence? I assume that the world of "Ghost Roast" is like ours, only slightly different, but I never got enough confirmation to be certain of that.
Still, this graphic novel is a delight. I love how the authors balance Chelsea's modern life with the history of New Orleans, addressing topics such as slavery and the Civil War in a way that doesn't feel anachronistic. Adding such a strong historical element to a ghost story is compelling, and I enjoy how the book ends with the dead characters' lives being shared publicly, through a coordination of direct communication with their spirits and physical evidence such as old correspondence and DNA testing. I also love Oliver's message that Chelsea needs to focus on living while she still can. For once, it's the dead character asking the living character to move on, and not the other way around. The ending is heartwarming and bittersweet without being too upsetting or heartrending.
As for the story itself, the writing quality is just as strong as the artwork. Each character has a unique personality and appearance, and the world feels bigger than what we see on the page. I especially love Chelsea's family dynamic: It makes sense that her parents got divorced, and I appreciate what we see of each parent's profession and how they simultaneously complement and contrast with one another. Chelsea's dad is an endearing combination of well-intentioned and oafish, in the way that dads often feel when you're a teenager.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
I adore ghost stories, although I can be picky when it comes to their conclusions. More often than not, ghosts are expected to move on or die a second time, and sometimes I just want a ghost to stay put in the narrative. "Ghost Roast" strikes an interesting chord with me, because we see ghosts forcibly evicted from their afterlife through human machinery, but we don't get the usual scene of the living protagonist letting her dead friend "move on." I'm not upset that Oliver is still haunting the house where he died, but I wouldn't have objected to a peaceful and cathartic moving on scene with him and his aunt, similar to the one in Roshani Chokshi's "The Spirit Glass."
My main reservation with this graphic novel is that we don't talk enough about the afterlife the characters witness. What happens to the ghosts that are sucked up by ghost hunting equipment? Is there a place that most spirits go, when they don't linger in the mortal realm? Can ghosts stuck on Earth move on to that place once they've been left behind? I understand Chelsea's reservations when it comes to speaking frankly with her father about ghosts. Even if an open discussion would have solved many issues, knowing Chelsea's desire to appear normal and her hesitation to be drawn back into her father's ghost hunting business, it makes sense that she would be tight-lipped about her experiences. But I would've loved to hear a conversation between them that establishes some more lore and worldbuilding: What do we know about ghosts, and what are some possible explanations for their existence? I assume that the world of "Ghost Roast" is like ours, only slightly different, but I never got enough confirmation to be certain of that.
Still, this graphic novel is a delight. I love how the authors balance Chelsea's modern life with the history of New Orleans, addressing topics such as slavery and the Civil War in a way that doesn't feel anachronistic. Adding such a strong historical element to a ghost story is compelling, and I enjoy how the book ends with the dead characters' lives being shared publicly, through a coordination of direct communication with their spirits and physical evidence such as old correspondence and DNA testing. I also love Oliver's message that Chelsea needs to focus on living while she still can. For once, it's the dead character asking the living character to move on, and not the other way around. The ending is heartwarming and bittersweet without being too upsetting or heartrending.