Unlovable

Over Thanksgiving Break I took the time to read Unlovable by Esther Pearl Watson. The two things that stood out to me about this book were the style of drawings in their historical context and the premise under which the graphic novel was made. The book states that the author and Mark Todd found a diary in a women's restroom on a road trip from Las Vegas to San Francisco belonging to Tammy Pierce. After reading it, they based Unlovable entirely on its contents, and developed a visual accompaniment for the written text. I find this to be a really intelligent use of resources. Artists often put their own lives into their work, making it more or less autobiographical. However, this is arguably overused, and I believe that it is often difficult to truly evaluate our own lives and depict it in the most entertaining way possible, whatever that may look like. But with unlovable, Watson was able to take someone else's diary and interpret it at her own will. This therefore resulted in a dramatized, but humorous and unusual depiction of a teenager's life in the 80s.

This lends itself to the other aspect of this book that I particularly enjoyed. The drawings that made up each page were, as the title may suggest, horrible. Horrible not in their craft or skill, but in their honest illustration of the unusual characteristics that parallel themselves with teens appearance, the 80s, and youth in general. Tammy, adorned in 80s patterned clothes and permed hair, continually has lopsided nipples, arm pit and leg hair, bright makeup and other slightly disgusting traits. However, from her descriptions of her life in the text, I infer that if Tammy were to draw herself instead of Watson, she would look quite glamorous. This difference shows the creative freedom of working on someone else's story. I enjoyed seeing the crudeness of the characters, and thought that their embodiment of the time they lived in was captured in a way that it was unusual and interesting enough to catch my attention, but in a way where the panels and story line was still clear and aesthetically pleasing.