Another meh offering from Minx. Honestly, this story doesn't make a lot of sense. The main character is hard to follow and unrealistic, the boyfriend is paper thin, and the plot is both dull and unbelievable (yeah many teens have secret boyfriends who get sent back to Spain). In the end, the main character hasn't achieved anything but is somehow magically changed (through the power of shoplifting?). Oh Minx, I want to like your line of teen girl graphic novels but alas all I am left with is another disappointment. It's 1987 and Shira Spektor lives is an apartment building with her father, her grandmother and an eccentric, but lovable old movie star, Minerva. Shira spends most of her days with her grandmother and Minerva, which certainly doesn't prepare her for dealing with the here and now at her private Jewish high school with your typical mean girls and jocks. She's never even had a real first kiss! As Shira's father becomes more and more distant and critical while also getting closer to his secretary, she finds her own way to feel good by shoplifting and discovering her first love with a dark, young Spaniard. This was a lovely little story. This one of the better young adult graphic novels I've come across. Good plot, good sketches, good all around. I loved the added element of the grandmother and old actress neighbor who take the place of her mother who died years before. I loved these characters.
Do You like book Token (2008)?
The story was kind of ordinary but I really love the drawings.
—noe
3 1/2 stars. I liked the bittersweet ending. Great art, too.
—SJLovesTW
