Imagine Wanting Only This

I found some of the chapters very engaging. Some were self indulgent. But I think that is what the author was trying to convey. Reading this after the pandemic I wonder if I would have had a different opinion about world travel to desolate places. I loved her puncturing her own self opinion of herself as a graduate student. I cringe when I remember my own opinion of myself when I was younger. The book was worth the effort to read.

I appreciate the author sharing her experience, but this felt grim and nihilistic and didn't seem like it said much of anything. I walked away from it feeling a little numb and existential dread-y, which isn't what I want in a book.

My stars are based on the style of the drawing and the storytelling alone which were good overall. They both carried me to the end of the novel. However, I did have a hard time personally with the author's actions regarding those photos she stole from the memorial...and then never returned them! I kept waiting for her to reach out to Seth's family, but never did. This is my own bias, as I feel if you UE someplace, you take nothing but photos.

A little too detached

(If you are a huge graphic novels fan, you may want to disregard this entire review.)

I'm not, as a rule, crazy about graphic novels. They tend, in my view, to be beautifully illustrated, yes, but text-wise quite disappointing.

This graphic novel is different. The text is rich, and thoughtful, and brilliant, and the illustrations are wonderful, too.

The story is a meditation on Radtke's own life, and it centers on her experiences with a site where a fellow who was obsessed with decay found his own demise. It's about death and ruin and destruction and degeneration, and it is very wise. Depressing, too, but very true.