Scan barcode
A review by sapphisms
The Spy Who Raised Me by Ted Anderson
3.0
i received this book through netgalley in exchange for an honest review
cw: child abuse
i think people are a little too harsh on this graphic novel- it's not the best i've read, but certainly not as bad as the other reviews seem to make it out to be. the art style is fine and consistent with the narrative being told and certainly it's a bit reminiscent of black widow comics, though certainly not as cohesive. i think the biggest problem with it is that the story feels all-over-the-place and a lot of the events just doesn't get resolved (). the moral is very obvious (children can make their own decisions about their future), but the narrative that drives it goes in too many places. it's been mentioned several times over in other reviews, but this is a story essentially about child abuse, even with the veneer of it being a spy story, and it never actually seems to meaningfully engage with that fact. even in her confrontation with her mom, who starts to pull out the 'i don't need the codewords because i'm your mother' thing, it's just overlooked in favor of trying to get back to the action. having a mother literally abuse and control her daughter and use her as an espionage tool is a tragic background, especially when the mother appears to be working for a fictionalized version of the coca cola colombian death squads (which is a BAFFLING detail. has no one else noticed or mentioned this? seeing that on-paper made me feel crazy.), but it's never engaged with in any manner other than 'oh wow look at what cool spy skills i actually have'.
again, not as bad as other reviews make it out to be, but i'm not sure that the book is well-written enough to tackle the child abuse in a way that'd make it acceptable to be in the middle-grade genre, nor is it mature enough to really fend for itself in the young adult genre. it's just kind of a middle-of-the-road graphic novel without anything too substantial.
cw: child abuse
i think people are a little too harsh on this graphic novel- it's not the best i've read, but certainly not as bad as the other reviews seem to make it out to be. the art style is fine and consistent with the narrative being told and certainly it's a bit reminiscent of black widow comics, though certainly not as cohesive. i think the biggest problem with it is that the story feels all-over-the-place and a lot of the events just doesn't get resolved (
Spoiler
why was the father programmed? why is the mother so dedicated to the company? why was it important she secure a job for her daughter?again, not as bad as other reviews make it out to be, but i'm not sure that the book is well-written enough to tackle the child abuse in a way that'd make it acceptable to be in the middle-grade genre, nor is it mature enough to really fend for itself in the young adult genre. it's just kind of a middle-of-the-road graphic novel without anything too substantial.