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A review by crloken
I Am Not Okay With This by Charles Forsman
2.0
I was really disappointed to hear that Netflix had cancelled its fun little show I An Not Okay With This after only one season. So when I saw this book the other day I decided to give it a read to see potentially where the show may have been going. I think I may now be okay with it getting cancelled.
This is a bleak little book about a despondent teenager named Sydney who is dealing with normal teenage problems such as her disinterest in school, alienation from her best friend, burgeoning sexuality, and her ability to kill people with her mind. Mostly she uses it to make people have extreme pain, but she can use it to kill. There's a shadow that follows her, and sometimes even seems to take over.
The dark themes and subject matters are contrasted with the art style which reminded me of a comic strip more than a graphic novel. I thought this worked overall, and thought the pencils were clear and expressive.
Thematically, this is a story about how terrible being a kid can be, and how "it gets better" can ring false. But this is also a story that is ultimately devoid of hope. Adults are all predatory or hostile, with the exception of her mum. I get that it can feel this way, and can be true, but it didn't ring true so much as depressing.
Ultimately, I am tired of stories that attempt to have their cake and eat it too by telling a story in which the main character commits suicide because of the awfulness of the world, but then include a brief message from the suicide hotline saying it's never the answer. If your story can't express in itself why suicide isn't the answer then you either don't agree with the hotline message, or you aren't capable enough to be writing this story .
If this is all this story has to offer then I guess I'm okay with the show ending early.
This is a bleak little book about a despondent teenager named Sydney who is dealing with normal teenage problems such as her disinterest in school, alienation from her best friend, burgeoning sexuality, and her ability to kill people with her mind. Mostly she uses it to make people have extreme pain, but she can use it to kill. There's a shadow that follows her, and sometimes even seems to take over.
The dark themes and subject matters are contrasted with the art style which reminded me of a comic strip more than a graphic novel. I thought this worked overall, and thought the pencils were clear and expressive.
Thematically, this is a story about how terrible being a kid can be, and how "it gets better" can ring false. But this is also a story that is ultimately devoid of hope. Adults are all predatory or hostile, with the exception of her mum. I get that it can feel this way, and can be true, but it didn't ring true so much as depressing.
Ultimately, I am tired of stories that attempt to have their cake and eat it too by
If this is all this story has to offer then I guess I'm okay with the show ending early.