Blankets

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And the whole while, my anger kindled toward an institutionalization of faith whose expression was not compassion, not mercy, not love. That Craig lived in a locale whose cutural acumen was bent toward a fear and persecution of that which skewed from the status quo is a horror that can be understood (while still remaining a horror). That his subculture should behave identically, built on a foundation of fear when it ought to be built on joy, peace, and love is terrifying. Thompson's work engaged in me a fury for a people and place with which I have no experience. They may not even exist as he portrayed them, but at the least, it is a challenge for me to not hate these characters who actively tear down Craig's life even from a young age. And as someone who actively tries not to hate anyone, consider this a testament to the veracity with which Thompson draws out Craig's life and circumstance.

Craig's parents: Craig's parents are strict, devoutly religious Christians who are not very tolerant of liberal Christianity. Yet I say perhaps , because I do not know. I am from San Diego and have never experienced what I’ve just described. I can only imagine what it must feel like, that stillness, that quiet, that cold. There is no real memory of this that exists for me. Phil: Craig's younger brother. Like Craig, he likes to draw, and the first portion of the story details their childhood together, though they later drift apart. Their adventures are also recalled at least once in each chapter throughout the book. Thompson’s writing poetically captures what it is like to hold on to memories, to cling to the past. They are like blankets “held close,” and the comforting dreams they offer can be “more appealing than reality.” This, perhaps, can be stifling; how do we escape the dream, and continue to live, awake? A quilt made of memories, bad and good, side by side sketches about growing up in a small town in Wisconsin; about sharing a room with a younger brother; about surviving school days with merciless bullying; about finding solace in religion; about a boy who meets a girl; about disfunctional families and people with disabilities; about being an artist and about the power of imagination, about the purity of first love reflected in the purity of snow; about losing your religion and losing your inocence ... about beauty and sadness and time turning the pure white snow into a sea of dirty slush; and about the precious few things you can salvage, like a quilt of many shapes and coloursRaina: Craig's first love, a fellow Christian whom Craig first meets at a church camp. Like Craig, her family is not well-off financially, and her parents' divorce causes her stress. She also takes care of her mentally disabled sister and brother. Although she believes in God, she does not believe as strongly as Craig does. Très belle! And for those of you who have developed a love for the grown-up coloring book? You could defile the crap out of Mr. Thompson’s creation : ) Arnold, Andrew. (December 18, 2003). "Top 10 Everything 2003: 1. Blankets by Craig Thompson". Time. accessed September 21, 2011.

Sims, Zach (October 12, 2006). "Library board votes to remove 2 books while policy for acquisitions developed". Marshall Democrat-News. Archived from the original on March 9, 2016 . Retrieved October 12, 2006. In Blankets , young Craig draws a picture of a naked woman and is told that it makes God sad. But you draw the human body in a very respectful, reverent way. Do you remember the exuberance of love, especially first love? The dilated pupils, the irrational desire to follow the pheromones wherever they may lead you, the unpredictability of aroused body parts? Being raised in a born-again family - which is well-portrayed in this book - is not a foreign concept to me. I've spoken before about how damaging the church's messages about sexuality are. We always think of women being oppressed, repressed, damaged, and unhappy as a result of this message, but as I wrote in my review of TAKE MY HAND, men and boys are very hurt and damaged as well.a b Sims, Zach (October 3, 2006). "Library trustees to hold hearing on novels". Marshall Democrat-News. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016 . Retrieved October 8, 2006. The graphic novel drops into lower gear here and we see the quality of the intellect behind the work. Craig’s thinking and research into the Bible is Jesuitical, deep and challenging, and he is left with too many unanswered questions and lingering doubts. Different mentorship probably would have produced a different result. This portion of the book is careful, allowing Craig to slip away, leaving the door to his family open, and conflict at bay.

There were a lot of parts of the book that made me sad, or made me think. Craig goes through frantic periods where he literally burns everything he owns that he thinks is 'sinful' or a 'temptation.' Many born-again Christians do these purges. The results are almost never permanent. I was upset because some of the stuff he burns is very personal and valuable stuff that I knew he would regret burning later. There’s a line in Blankets where Raina says something to you like, “You’re going to drown yourself in cheesiness.” But I never saw Blankets as cheesy. I saw it as committed to unabashed romanticism. Space Dumplins is my most overlooked book. I don’t think anyone read that book. I don’t think my existing readers really knew it existed, or they weren’t interested in a full-color, kid-friendly book from me. It wasn’t the genre they wanted to see me work in. I maybe should have made it a trilogy. But instead, I have this book that seems to be invisible. Sometimes graphic novels get a few things right, like the artwork, or the pacing. In this case, Thompson seemed to get everything right. The growing up story is poignant and real and revealing about farm life in Wisconsin in a close-knit religious family. Craig goes to visit his girlfriend Raina who lives in the snowiest city in the contiguous United States, in the Upper Peninsula of far north Michigan....in winter. We are treated to Raina's home life as well, another Christian family who struggles under enormous pressures. Graphic novels are basically non-existent in my literary diet, so it’s difficult for me to review this one. I really have no ‘gold standard’ against which to compare. However, I can say that I found this one impressive. As Craig leads us through his path from childhood to adulthood, many themes are examined. Tough themes. The things that happen to us and make us who we are today. Nothing is brushed over lightly, including religious fundamentalism, child abuse, bullying, divorce, disabilities, faith, and first love. Thank goodness for those special people in our lives who help us to make it through the torment of childhood and the teen years. But even those relationships have their trials and mistakes, and at some point good things may come to an end. ‘First love’ has a certain connotation to it, doesn’t it? It’s not something I’d want to live through again, that’s for sure. Despite the sweetness of the term, it can be confusing and agonizing whether it ends abruptly or fades away slowly.I can’t describe it properly, and hopefully people who are familiar with graphic novels will understand what I’m trying to say, but emotional scenes in graphic novels seem to somehow create a sense of distance (minimal words telling you how you should feel) and intimacy (almost like you’re looking through their living room window as their world falls apart) that other books can’t seem to recreate.