Maggie Thrash

This novel based on and set amid the Satanic Panic of the 80's and 90's is hilarious and ghoulish—snortingly funny, in a way that made me feel somewhat guilty. It's audacious, uproarious, uncompromisingly queer, and macabre, like an R-rated Addams Family. There are lines I am still snickering at a month later, which somewhat lightens the horrors I can never unread. Rainbow Black's prose is unflinching, in every way, staring down grisly horror, dreadful abuse and negligence, and ghastly, show more cringeworthy precocious adolescence. Only you can decide which is the most traumatic! show less

This is a graphic memoir about Maggie Thrash's summer in 2000 as a 15 year old at the preppy Camp Bellflower for Girls in Kentucky. A casual touch awakens romantic yearnings for a slightly older female counselor, Erin, who seems to reciprocate those forbidden (by the camp) feelings. Maggie's struggles with this important development in her identity, and the fallout it creates, are honestly portrayed in simple, well-done drawings and believable dialog.

There's both heartache and humor, as some show more girls rally around her while the camp's conventions continually raise obstacles. A head counselor says to Maggie, “It’s a place where girls can be totally innocent and free, maybe for the last time in their lives. Don’t ruin it for everyone.” Love can ruin it for everyone? Say it ain't so. show less

For the sake of honesty, I confess that I believed some stupid things before I started reading Honor Girl.

I started reading Honor Girl under the assumption that my experience reading it would help me understand what it felt like for some of my friends when they first realized they were lesbians or bisexual. But as I fell deeper and deeper into Maggie's story, I realized that there is no difference between falling in love as a straight person and falling in love as a gay person. Love is love, show more regardless of who it is with and Maggie's love story is beautiful and innocent and so reminiscent of many other first love stories, requited or unrequited, that absolutely anyone who has felt their heart swell to bursting with a crush can relate.

Later, after I had finished Honor Girl and come to this great conclusion, I asked my coworker, Hadley, why it was that she had picked it out for me, and while I don't remember the answer, I do remember her surprise at the fact that I enjoyed it as much as I did and that I recommend it frequently to teenagers who come into the store looking for a compelling story that they can relate to; one of first love, heartache, and summer camp. show less

My inner black-clad, post-punk RebL soul is totally delighted that Maggie Thrash juxtaposes her memoir with one of Shakespeare’s ghost stories in Lost Soul, Be at Peace. And like angsty Hamlet, Thrash confronts her family’s past where many of us dare not tread. This graphic novel depicts all my teenage angst, though my angst had different origins than Maggie’s. The dark, moody tone reflects what many young people feel—including Hamlet.

This Thrash memoir takes place a year and a half show more after her other graphic memoir, Honor Girl. Maggie is depressed and flunking eleventh grade. She feels estranged from her patrician mother workaholic, federal judge of a father. Maggie loves her cat, Tommi, but Tommi disappears just when a ghost Tommy appears. Then hilarity ensues.

Just kidding.

There are details in this book that connected with MY lost soul. For example the web search that resulted in advice to drink more water to ease depression and the idea that a person could rid themselves of real (and theoretically metaphorical) ghosts by repeating mantras. However, I was conflicted regarding Maggie’s comments on privileged classmates. I get that her teenaged self wanted to stand up to the ignorance of her peers, but it felt retroactively imposed. However, the part that did land was her acknowledging her own inability to craft an informed, effective response to racism and classism.

The publisher sent an ARC of the book that didn’t have any of the color finishing. Reading back through the ARC, I noticed how deeply readers can get into the text and illustrations. For example, Maggie’s mom often speaks outside her speech bubbles—chatter to which no one attends. In some ways, I preferred the melancholy grayscale illustrations. They reminded me of the darkness in Hamlet! Eventually, a final copy came into the collection where I work and I realized that the colors do make the story more accessible.

For the full review, visit http://reblnation.com/book-review-lost-soul-be-at-peace/ show less