Reviews

Perfect Hair by Tommi Parrish

notthatcosta's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I'm not particularly well versed in graphic novels so this one is hard to review, but what I can say for sure is that it was a unique experience, the illustrations are beautiful and I enjoyed it immensely, so much so that I was sad it was over so soon.

It worked as a great palette cleanser, a burst of a story - a slice of a life that is dark, but presented with humour and a bizarre, almost eery, ease. 

Perfect Hair made me want to explore Tommi Parrish's work further, and delve into some other graphic novels. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Transphobia

knkoch's review

challenging emotional mysterious

3.75

Fascinating and frustrating. I’m glad I picked this up, as it’s a good complement to The Lie and How We Told It. I loved the squishy clay quality of the bodies Parrish draws, and the way the same character can change shape and size from panel to panel. Different shading, depth, and color in faces and bodies makes it seem as if the light is shifting or the wind blowing. Change is continuous, even though these are technically static images.

I also love the way Parrish tends to draw bodies as amply large and round. Typically larger bodies are disdained, coded as disgusting or humorous, and thus best minimized or erased in media or art. But here, large is the default, and made lovely.

I was disappointed that the various storylines didn’t unite or deepen a little more by the end, and it felt like it ended too quickly. This lack of conclusion, coupled with the same vagueness and subtlety as in The Lie, frustrated me. But I will probably l read it again in a few days and see if that helps a little. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

kimswhims's review

2.0

Decided against using stars because I didn't want to affect the rating, when really it is just personal taste that this wasn't my thing. I'm just not into depressing story lines and the art is not my thing either.
A very short 30min read to complete it, so I didn't have to spend much time on it. phew :D

briface's review

5.0

I love how the characters change and morph throughout the story, sometimes as vague outlines almost just shapes and others with more detail, it makes the work come alive.

bethanyparker's review

4.0

I LOVE adult graphic novels. Consuming information through art combined with text is something that is taken too lightly. This book pulled at my heartstrings and made me uncomfortable. I like that.

sea_level's review

reflective slow-paced

2.5

levitybooks's review

2.0

To me this seems like an aesthetically brilliant 'demo reel' that clearly shows Parrish can use very diverse styles of drawing, because sometimes the same scene was redrawn in pencil or ink line art or coloured in what looks like felt-tip pen.

I found the narrative is too messy and disjointed, it seemed more without structure than poststructualist. I guess I'm also not as interested in body and gender identity as the sole focus of the story, though these features are important themes that would deepen a character that already seems human due to their being described in at least one other perspective other than sexual orientation. I could be wrong though. Hopefully in a larger work this might resemble something that feels like DeForge's 'Big Kids'.

In short, this promises (for me) a lot of aesthetic potential but warns against a narrow and weak narrative focus for Parrish's future work.

_mjmp_'s review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

erynathena's review

reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bookscomics's review

4.0

I loved the art, especially the human characters. Loved the bodies, the way they change in size and shape, and even their faces get more detailed and less detailed from panel to panel depending on what they’re doing and how they feel. Colors were gorgeous, especially the blues. Stories about people as individuals and about loneliness and anxieties. Also about looking for intimacy and affection in the wrong places or receiving it in ways that we don’t want or are unexpected. Highly recommend.