MINI REVIEWS: It, Paper Girls Vol. 1, Book Love, Manga Classics: Jane Eyre

The last mini review post went over well, so I decided to start making this an occasional thing! This week’s mini review round-up includes one horror novel, 2 graphic novels, and a manga classic retelling!

Some the reviews below are the shortened version of my review, but the “goodreads” link buttons will take you to the full review. Enjoy!

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TITLE: It
AUTHOR: Stephen King
RELEASED: September 1986; Scribner
GENRE: Horror
AGE RANGE: Adult

SYNOPSIS:
It was the children who saw – and felt – what made Derry so horribly different. In the storm drains, in the sewers, It lurked, taking on the shape of every nightmare, each person’s deepest dread. Sometimes It reached up, seizing, tearing, killing…

While I was reading It, it was hard to determine my thoughts on the book objectively because I was too focused on the negative feelings I was taking on from the content. After giving myself a chance to move past those issues, I realized something:

This book has no place in being half the length that it is.

In the 400-ish pages I read, 150+ of them felt superfluous and could have been cut. I think it’s no coincidence that almost everyone I’ve spoken to who has read It, regardless of what their feelings on it were, felt that it was about twice as long as it should’ve been.

There’s so much extraneous stuff that it felt like I was barely getting started by the time I put It down. The story simply isn’t entertaining enough to be worth nearly 1,200 pages, and at risk of being stoned to death for heresy, the recent film adaptation of “chapter 1” was excellent, and I’m really looking forward to “chapter 2” next year.

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TITLE: Paper Girls, Vol. 1
AUTHOR: Brian K. Vaughan
RELEASED: April 5th, 2016; Image Comics
GENRE: Sci-Fi
AGE RANGE: Adult

SYNOPSIS:
In the early hours after Halloween of 1988, four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls uncover the most important story of all time. Suburban drama and otherworldly mysteries collide in this smash-hit series about nostalgia, first jobs, and the last days of childhood.

Eh. After calling it quits on the Saga series (because I realized, several volumes deep, that I simply did not care about it), I thought I’d give a different series from Vaughan a try, because my friends all seem to love his stories so much that I kept feeling like I was missing out on something. After reading this, I’m convinced that his work just isn’t for me. The artwork is super fun and lively, but this volume didn’t catch me at all. I might give the second volume a try, but it’s feeling unlikely right now.

Content warnings for severe homophobia and homophobic slurs (why is almost nobody talking about this…?)

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TITLE: Book Love
AUTHOR: Debbie Tung
RELEASES: January 1st, 2019; Andrews McMeel Publishing
GENRE: Nonfiction
AGE RANGE: Adult/Everyone

SYNOPSIS:
Bookworms rejoice! These charming comics capture exactly what it feels like to be head-over-heels for hardcovers.

Debbie Tung has done it again, with another adorable collection of comics about life as an introverted bookworm. The biggest reason I recommend this collection is not only because the art is cute and simply sweet and the stories themselves are fun, but because I think so many book lovers will be able to relate to it!

Thank you so much to Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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TITLE: Manga Classics: Jane Eyre
AUTHOR: Stacy King
RELEASED: July 12th, 2016; Udon Entertainment
GENRE: Classics
AGE RANGE: Adult

SYNOPSIS:
As an orphaned child, Jane Eyre is first cruelly abused by her aunt, then cast out and sent to a charity school. Though she meets with further abuse, she receives an education, and eventually takes a job as a governess at the estate of Edward Rochester. Jane and Rochester begin to bond, but his dark moods trouble her. When Jane uncovers the terrible secret Rochester has been hiding, she flees and finds temporary refuge at the home of St. John Rivers.

Having never read Jane Eyre before, I thought a Manga Classics edition would be a great introduction to the story, and I was not disappointed! The artwork is so lovely (I was especially fond of the chibi styles in certain silly or sweet moments), and the layout and pacing was very easy to follow.

As for the story itself, I actually knew surprisingly little about it, but I was surprised by how hard it was to like Mr. Rochester! He is truly awful through most of the story and I didn’t care much for him until the very end (perhaps that’s the point, though). There were also much heavier religious overtones than I’m accustomed to in my usual reading, but it’s to be expected from classics. Between these two things, the story wasn’t a perfect read for me, but I still enjoyed it a great deal and am so happy that I chose the Manga Classics rendition for my first introduction.

Thank you so much to Udon Entertainment for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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