Review:
In this graphic novel, Bagieu writes about the lives of a little over 29 women. One of the things I really appreciated about this book was that the women chosen weren't the usual ones - I knew of a few of them, like Margaret Hamilton, Temple Grandin, and Josephine Baker, but quite a few of them were new to me.
If there was any sort of organization to this volume, I didn't see it, but thankfully that didn't turn out to be an issue. For the most part, I loved this graphic novel, which provided enough info about each of the women to give me an idea of whether I might want to look up more about them. You could tell that Bagieu was glossing over certain bits and/or playing certain aspects up (I'm pretty sure that was The IT Crowd's Moss making a guest appearance in Jesselyn Radack's section) - there's only so much detail you can include in a 291-page graphic novel about this many women - but I generally enjoyed her story-telling style. The chapter on Sonita Alizadeh prompted me to look up one of her music videos. Also, the miniature lover in me needs to see if I can find more stuff about Frances Glessner Lee and her crime scene "nutshell studies."
The one chapter that felt out of place was the one devoted to The Shaggs. Their father forced them to perform and record an album, despite the fact that they knew they weren't very good and none of them wanted to. Their father had so much control over their lives that they didn't have friends, and none of them were truly free until he finally died. When their music suddenly got attention again, it wasn't because they wanted it to - only one of the sisters had any interest in trying to continue her musical career.
Except for that one odd chapter, this was an extremely enjoyable and informative work, enough that I plan to seek out more of Bagieu's stuff.
No comments:
Post a Comment