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A review by thebooknerdscorner
Kirby's Lessons for Falling (in Love) by Laura Gao
2.0
A graphic novel starring a young rock climber who is learning how to fall, both physically and emotionally.
After suffering from an injury that has Kirby out of rock climbing for several months, Kirby finds herself enrolled in the Newspaper Club instead. There, she meets a group of rambunctious kids who aren't afraid to be their authentic (and queer) selves. Kirby soon finds herself paired up with another girl, Bex, and they soon find themselves offering a matchmaking service which gets them into more trouble than they anticipated.
I'm sorry, but I just didn't connect with this one at all. I recognize that this story has great themes about identity, learning to trust, dealing with grief, pushing through setbacks, and so much more, but it felt too disjointed for me to really grasp any one message in any powerful way.
The parts that explore Kirby's Chinese history are fine and Bex is Latine, which is also great, but nothing is too terribly in depth, which just felt like a waste of potential to me. However, I did appreciate how this one talks about super religious families reacting in different ways when their kids come out as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Reading this book felt like trying to connect a bunch of dots that are scattered all around. I found the paneling difficult to follow, the art style to be a bit too erratic, and the plot to be all over the place. This book is written in a series of lessons more than anything else, which could have been a neat reading experience, but only had me confused.
Overall, I was very disappointed with "Kirby's Lessons for Falling (In Love)." It was extremely disjointed, and I found myself bored or confused (or both) for the majority of my time reading this one. I can say with certainty that I won't remember having read this book in a few weeks; that's how little of an impact it had on me. There are some great messages scattered throughout this novel, but there isn't enough to back them up. Very mid, very skippable, in my opinion.
After suffering from an injury that has Kirby out of rock climbing for several months, Kirby finds herself enrolled in the Newspaper Club instead. There, she meets a group of rambunctious kids who aren't afraid to be their authentic (and queer) selves. Kirby soon finds herself paired up with another girl, Bex, and they soon find themselves offering a matchmaking service which gets them into more trouble than they anticipated.
I'm sorry, but I just didn't connect with this one at all. I recognize that this story has great themes about identity, learning to trust, dealing with grief, pushing through setbacks, and so much more, but it felt too disjointed for me to really grasp any one message in any powerful way.
The parts that explore Kirby's Chinese history are fine and Bex is Latine, which is also great, but nothing is too terribly in depth, which just felt like a waste of potential to me. However, I did appreciate how this one talks about super religious families reacting in different ways when their kids come out as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Reading this book felt like trying to connect a bunch of dots that are scattered all around. I found the paneling difficult to follow, the art style to be a bit too erratic, and the plot to be all over the place. This book is written in a series of lessons more than anything else, which could have been a neat reading experience, but only had me confused.
Overall, I was very disappointed with "Kirby's Lessons for Falling (In Love)." It was extremely disjointed, and I found myself bored or confused (or both) for the majority of my time reading this one. I can say with certainty that I won't remember having read this book in a few weeks; that's how little of an impact it had on me. There are some great messages scattered throughout this novel, but there isn't enough to back them up. Very mid, very skippable, in my opinion.