Genre: YA Graphic Novel
Published: February 2, 2012
Pages: 272
Synopsis
After her mother died, Glory retreated into herself and her music. Her single father raised her as a piano prodigy, with a rigid schedule and the goal of playing sold-out shows across the globe. Now, as a teenager, Glory has disappeared. As we flash back to the events leading up to her disappearance, we see a girl on the precipice of disaster. Brilliant and lonely, Glory is drawn to an artistic new boy, Frank, who moves in next door. The farther she falls, the deeper she spirals into madness. Before long, Glory is unable to play anything but the song "Chopsticks."
But nothing is what it seems, and Glory's reality is not reality at all. In this stunningly moving novel told in photographs, pictures, and words, it's up to the reader to decide what is real, what is imagined, and what has been madness all along....
But nothing is what it seems, and Glory's reality is not reality at all. In this stunningly moving novel told in photographs, pictures, and words, it's up to the reader to decide what is real, what is imagined, and what has been madness all along....
The Following Review May Contain Spoilers
Read at Your Own Risk
Review
Sofia the Great from Platypire Reviews recommended this book to me for Hispanic Heritage Month, and even though this review is very, very late, I did read the book during Hispanic Heritage Month as suggested.
When I finished reading this book, I felt largely confused still, and talking to Sofia about it made me feel like I really didn't understand the book at all. But then I read the book blurb again, and I think that we just understood the book differently, and that's actually perfectly okay. I completely understand how she reached the conclusion that she did, but I think I saw something in the pictures she didn't which led to my different interpretation.
So basically, I think the whole love story was entirely a figment of Glory's imagination during a psychotic break. My evidence (because that's important for a claim of this magnitude), the facility Glory is admitted to has the same address and logo as her supposed boyfriend's school, and the chief administrator's name is the same as the founder of the school for boys (which her boyfriend is supposed to attend.) Additionally, pictures that are supposed to have come from Frank (her boyfriend), are shown with Glory's signature at the end of the book.
So Sofia basically read a love story of a troubled piano prodigy, while I got to experience a psychotic break with Glory. I think I actually prefer to be on my end of that (which may be part of why it was my experience in the first place.)
I'm not really sure how to rate this book though, because for me it was neither good nor bad, and as it was mostly pictures, there isn't really a story arc to talk about (especially since I'm still not even sure if I understood what the pictures were supposed to be conveying. Seriously, even with my evidence, I'm not sure my reality is really real.) So I'm going to call this 3 out of 5 stars because it was just middle of the road, although I am still thinking about it over a month later, so I guess that should count for something, maybe. - Katie
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