Ghost World

I finally read Daniel Clowes‘ graphic novel Ghost World. Holy crap. I could have read it in one sitting. I think I read it in three. Ghost Worldis an honest portrayal of adolescence.

Clowes doesn’t miss any of the detritus. All the tiny, strange, lonely, teenage, summer-before-college plot strings are there in the book, flapping around. And the two main characters, Enid and Rebecca, are grasping at these strings, fumbling to hold onto the narratives of their past, alternatively struggling to tie together a narrative for their future. I’d recommend this book to any reader, maybe 8th grade and up. You know that dorky kid from high school that carried around either a beat up copy of Catcher in the Rye, Cat’s Cradle, or 1984 in his back pocket? I wouldn’t be surprised if Ghost World had joined those ranks. I just got the movie in the mail and can’t wait to watch it.