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A review by mifterkim
Kisses for Jet by Joris Bas Backer
4.0
I really enjoyed this coming-of-age story set in the Netherlands in the late 90s. The art is great and very emotional, and it captures the time-period and Jet's adolescence and dysphoria really well.
The story very much errs on the side of show, don't tell, so I sometimes found it difficult to work out what exactly was going on. I also sometimes found the revelations and events came out of nowhere, and I had to go back and piece things together from visual clues. This may have been a deliberate choice, invoking the vagueness of bad feelings that have no obvious source until you discover where they come from, but in a medium so quick to read as a graphic novel, it was extra hard to pick up things.
Despite its issues I would highly recommend this book if you are interested in the experiences of a trans teenager growing up before the internet age, or if you like coming-of-age stories in general.
The story very much errs on the side of show, don't tell, so I sometimes found it difficult to work out what exactly was going on. I also sometimes found the revelations and events came out of nowhere, and I had to go back and piece things together from visual clues. This may have been a deliberate choice, invoking the vagueness of bad feelings that have no obvious source until you discover where they come from, but in a medium so quick to read as a graphic novel, it was extra hard to pick up things.
Despite its issues I would highly recommend this book if you are interested in the experiences of a trans teenager growing up before the internet age, or if you like coming-of-age stories in general.