Spinning

This is illustrated so wonderfully! The story is compelling, although a couple of bits I feel like it does some jumps, but easy to pick up again. Really a lot of work went into telling her story about her childhood, sexual harassment/assault, a coming of age and also a coming out. Glad to see she had a supportive cello teacher and found some better balance later in life. I hope to see more from this author, they have a lot of talent! ~Ashley

all i have is four words; fantastic, sad, cute, heartwarming.

4 stars I love Tillie Walden's work.

I really liked the art style and how she chose to tell her story but it felt a bit scattered and like there wasn't a cohesive narrative. It was more of a collection of things that happened to her rather than a full story. There was a lot of things I wish I had learned more about like her relationship with her parents but I felt like I saw a lot more of things less important to the message, if that makes sense. That being said, I still had a good time reading this. I felt like I could relate to Tillie a lot and I felt like the art really added to the story and it wouldn't have been complete without it, which I like in a graphic novel.

Towards the end, I could see the conclusion coming, but the way it all wrapped up (or rather, didn't) was kind of a letdown. It didn't seem like the author really had a passion for this project, or any of the things in it, and it showed because this didn't seem to go anywhere despite it containing an awful lot of heavy subject matter. She may have examined the events of her life for material, but not the contents; not deeply enough anyway.

Queer girl figure skating and growing up. Super good <3 Really captures that awkward disatisfied period between 12-17. Those friends you had just because you were stuck in the same place together. So many things.

There's a sense of sadness in this book that's present in both the art and text of every page. It's not depressing, necessarily, it's just a light sadness that feels authentic and natural when telling a story that tends to have a fair amount of sad moments. Like some other reviewers, I wish the author had spent some more time exploring the themes that she brings up here, but it's hard for me to fault the natural way the story is told. Like Walden says in the afterword, this is a story about ice skating, but Spinning is also about growing up, coming out, and figuring out what you want.

Absolutely lovely and quite haunting; a strikingly wonderful coming-of-age story.