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A review by mediaevalmuse
Sabrina by Nick Drnaso
4.0
I was loaned this graphic novel by a friend and told to immediately read it. Like - RIGHT NOW. So I did. If you’re looking for a murder mystery filled with twists and turns, you aren’t going to find it here. In fact, there’s something very detached about this whole narrative - but that’s largely the point. I think if you’re interested in the effect of news cycles, sensationalism, and talk radio, this might be an interesting graphic novel to read, but know that you’re getting into a story about that rather than about the crime itself.
Things I Liked
1. Detachedness: There was something oddly compelling about the way the characters were detached from Sabrina’s disappearance, or detached from their worlds. Teddy (Sabrina’s boyfriend) and Calvin (his high school friend with whom he stays) aren’t really close, and they don’t really have any strong opinions about what’s going on. Sure, Teddy is depressed, and that depression manifests through sleeping a lot and generally doing nothing. The art is likewise very flat and lacking detail, especially when it comes to facial expression. I found it to be an interesting way to talk about being numb to the world. From my understanding, the detachedness in the art and storytelling is Drnaso’s way of critiquing our contemporary culture, and I think he achieves that.
2. Lack of Spectacle: I was at first afraid that this book would show Sabrina being victimized in horrible ways, but to my surprise, we never actually see extreme violence, even when we know it happens. There’s a moment when a video of Sabrina’s murder is uploaded to the internet, and though we watch Calvin watching it, we never see it ourselves. There’s something refreshing about that, especially given the state of our current pop culture products.
3. Conspiracy Theories: The story regularly features characters listening to a talk show that is somewhat close to Breitbart or Info Wars. The rhetoric was inflammatory, but everyone was quite numb to it, even when it resulted in some scary die-hards threatening victims with violence or doxxing. These were the moments when I had the most visceral reactions, as a reader. They put me on edge while the characters themselves were numb, and there was something about that gap between me and the characters that was oddly compelling.
4. Layout: This book uses fairly simple layouts, which were easy to follow. If layouts get a little too elaborate, I tend to get lost - but I was never lost while reading this story. Sometimes the layouts were a little repetitive and not super innovative, but at least I was able to follow the narrative easily.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Small Panels: There were some pages that had a lot of panels and a lot of text. At times, it was difficult to read - I had to pull the book up close to my face.
2. Distribution of Emphasis: I felt like a lot of this story was focused on Calvin, which was fine, but I would have liked to see a balance with another character - maybe Sabrina’s sister, since online and digital media treats women differently than men.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in the digital age, conspiracy theories, fake news, isolation, paranoia, emotional detachment, mysteries, and effect of disappearance/murder on family of the victim.
Things I Liked
1. Detachedness: There was something oddly compelling about the way the characters were detached from Sabrina’s disappearance, or detached from their worlds. Teddy (Sabrina’s boyfriend) and Calvin (his high school friend with whom he stays) aren’t really close, and they don’t really have any strong opinions about what’s going on. Sure, Teddy is depressed, and that depression manifests through sleeping a lot and generally doing nothing. The art is likewise very flat and lacking detail, especially when it comes to facial expression. I found it to be an interesting way to talk about being numb to the world. From my understanding, the detachedness in the art and storytelling is Drnaso’s way of critiquing our contemporary culture, and I think he achieves that.
2. Lack of Spectacle: I was at first afraid that this book would show Sabrina being victimized in horrible ways, but to my surprise, we never actually see extreme violence, even when we know it happens. There’s a moment when a video of Sabrina’s murder is uploaded to the internet, and though we watch Calvin watching it, we never see it ourselves. There’s something refreshing about that, especially given the state of our current pop culture products.
3. Conspiracy Theories: The story regularly features characters listening to a talk show that is somewhat close to Breitbart or Info Wars. The rhetoric was inflammatory, but everyone was quite numb to it, even when it resulted in some scary die-hards threatening victims with violence or doxxing. These were the moments when I had the most visceral reactions, as a reader. They put me on edge while the characters themselves were numb, and there was something about that gap between me and the characters that was oddly compelling.
4. Layout: This book uses fairly simple layouts, which were easy to follow. If layouts get a little too elaborate, I tend to get lost - but I was never lost while reading this story. Sometimes the layouts were a little repetitive and not super innovative, but at least I was able to follow the narrative easily.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Small Panels: There were some pages that had a lot of panels and a lot of text. At times, it was difficult to read - I had to pull the book up close to my face.
2. Distribution of Emphasis: I felt like a lot of this story was focused on Calvin, which was fine, but I would have liked to see a balance with another character - maybe Sabrina’s sister, since online and digital media treats women differently than men.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in the digital age, conspiracy theories, fake news, isolation, paranoia, emotional detachment, mysteries, and effect of disappearance/murder on family of the victim.