Reviews

***SPOILERS HIDDEN***

In book two of the [b:Sheets|38958846|Sheets (Sheets, #1)|Brenna Thummler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529034024l/38958846._SX50_.jpg|60537871] graphic-novel series, Marjorie Glatt's life is getting a little more complicated. She still misses her late mother, but she has no choice but to grow up and move forward. Her father, whose debilitating depression in Sheets led to neglect of Marjorie and her little brother, is more energized. Wendell the cute ghost also plays a more significant role in Marjorie’s life, although not always in ways she’d prefer.

Delicates is different from Sheets in these ways and several others, and I appreciated that author Brenna Thummler didn't retread any old ground. It does, however, rely too much on teen social tropes. This book introduces Eliza, Marjorie's classmate. A reserved, lonely kid who feels invisible, she's an avid photographer determined to capture the invisible on camera: ghosts. She's also the daughter of the well-liked swim teacher, though this association doesn't benefit her. Predictably, Eliza is the "weirdo" student shunned by peers too immature to appreciate and respect her passion and independent thinking.

Perspective shifts back and forth from Marjorie to Eliza in an equal split, and their lives intersect continually.

Spoiler

In Marjorie’s world, she’s navigating a stressful relationship with the overbearing leader of her clique and wrestling with mixed feelings about Eliza. Marjorie is caring, but like many teens, she succumbs to peer pressure that goes against her personal values. Fortunately, Wendell gets her back on track by nudging her conscience in the right direction. Eliza indulges in her passion while sadly recognizing how detrimental it is to her social life. Both girls eventually come to understandings about themselves and where they fit in the world, and by the end, everything is wrapped up in a bow, even the more complicated issues such as Eliza's suicidal inclinations and her conflicts with Marjorie's friend group.

I liked this book and rated it the same as Sheets, but its focus on adolescent friend drama does make it less original. The middle-school years can be awful, but surely authors can avoid falling back on the same old themes of dysfunctional cliques, shunning, and loneliness. Even if such sorrow is relatable to many, it isn't to all (and those who do relate might long for some realistic fiction that lets them escape it). The rich and varied stories one can find in graphic novels for adults are harder to find in those for tween and teens, yet there's a lot that can be said about characters this age. Sheets's original combination of bereavement and ghost friend make it pleasingly different and show that Thummler can think outside the box. She showed off some of that in Delicates by focusing on two different kinds of middle-school misery--but the fact remains that the book contributes to the middle-school misery cliché.

This graphic novel is more reflective than others in the sub-genre, though. Marjorie shines as someone whose inner life is marked by maturity and a willingness to ponder and identify what she stands for. Such a tendency toward self-examination shows readers how they can be. The symbolism of Eliza’s passion for ghost photography is inventive, if obvious to adult readers. Many will relate to and be inspired by how she marches to the beat of her own drummer, and many will relate to and be inspired by Marjorie’s struggles to align her actions with her conscience. There’s a little more here for more readers, and despite being less original than Sheets, Delicates is touching and expands the story in a constructive way.