Book Review Seventeen: Graylight

Graylight by Naomi Nowak, published by ComicsLit.

Honestly, I wouldn't pick this book for myself. My boyfriend bought it for me as a gift and I think he mainly liked the drug-induced illustrations. They truly do have the colors of what I imagine an acid trip to be like. There's an example below of the unconventional format Nowak uses for her illustrations. Generally I am used to there being lines or boxes to separate time or space in graphic novels. The most prominent example of this is Persepolis where not only the words in the box are important but the size of the box as well. If the box were to take up the entire page than that shows the reader it's extremely essential to the theme, plot, and character development. The author wouldn't waste valuable space on something nonessential. However, Nowak disturbs the traditional format of graphic novels and comics by overlapping scenes and characters. She lets her characters expand out of the boxes and into the excess space on the page. They literally are not confined by time or dimension.

The plot of this novel revolves around Aurora. She is a mother who promised her son that no woman would ever hurt him the way that she hurt his father. Basically she is protecting him from falling for someone just as beautiful and powerful as herself. She is also an author (and apparently a witch) who has scheduled an interview with the young journalist, Erik. Erik is smitten with a young woman, Sasha, who is portrayed as beautiful, strange, and a bit of a thief. He invites her along to the interview where she rubs Aurora the wrong way. Sasha steals a book from the home on her way out which forces Edmund to go after her. This is a pivotal point in the plot because she has the opportunity to seduce Edmund and to hurt him. There isn't a huge plot or conflict after this. There's an important turn of events but because it's "a quick read" and not heavy on the dialogue or narration it seems to all be resolved quickly. In order to make the novel last longer and feel suspense I would recommend taking a while to peruse the illustrations and really concentrate on the colors and the overlap.

I like plot. I like character development. And I like words. Therefore this wasn't exactly the novel for me (not to say that it didn't have all three, just that they weren't priorities for Nowak). It had an interesting, yet confusing, storyline. I understand it after reading it over twice, however Nowak complicated the chronology of the story and the setting of the story with her unconventional format and use of color. I suppose it didn't help that the main characters all looked so similar; I was confused in several areas as to who was talking to whom.

Due to a few graphic images and the confusing yet advanced storyline I wouldn't recommend this novel for anyone younger than 13-16. Although I have commented on the strange use of color and its drug-like effect, many of the pictures are indeed beautiful and beg to be studied at length. One will find herself going back to this book long after reading it just to look at these images and marvel at Nowak's artistic talent.