Rating: **** 4 stars

Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki,
Skim
Walker, 2009.

Ages 14+

The pace of this graphic novel perfectly suits the reflective personality of its lead character Skim, a Canadian Japanese teenager, who explores in her diary friendships and the manner and means via which these are tested and tried, relationships, sexuality and feelings on what it is to be alive and what it means to be dead. A boy at school has taken his own life – was it because he was gay? And what about Skim’s intense feelings for her English teacher Ms Archer?

There is a gradual sense of awakening throughout the book that lends a tender feel as Skim becomes alive to new thoughts and feelings and yet, paradoxically, is made to feel deadened by the cumulative effect of this. It is an emotionally deep and complex work.

The sketchy nature of the line drawn strips is indicative of the formative stage in Skim’s development and the monochrome palette is used to good effect highlighting through black backdrops the most intense, despairing phases in Skim’s story. There is a fluid ease within which the visual and textual narratives operate and an interplay whereby they augment one another, signpost difference and operate in synchronicity with one another. A consummate, emotionally real and intense graphic novel.

Jake Hope