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lexithomas's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
outoftheblue14's review against another edition
3.0
E-galley received for review through Netgalley.
Ramsey is eighteen years old and has lived all her life in the small, rural town of Paw Paw, Michigan. She loved drawing, playing in a band with her friends, and playing hockey. But her life is about to change: she has been accepted at art school and is about to move to Baltimora and start living in a big city. Ramsey chronicles her life through collages, drawings, lists, and journal entries, thus making the book sort of a graphic novel - but not quite. It certainly wasn't what I expected - I thought it would be prose.
The title comes from an observation from Ramsey's mother - she says Ramsey is going to be "a little fish in a big pong for the first time". Ramsey certainly has many new things to learn: from navigating the town public transport system to figuring out how to make new friends - something she hasn't had to do since she was a child. Luckily, she finds good friends in her new roommates and neighbours, and maybe even a love interest. Ramsey has never had a boyfriend and has never been interested in dating; she prefers having good friends to the drama of getting together and breaking up.
This was a lovely book, but I found myself sometimes glazing over Ramsey's lists. I would've prefer to read more journal entries and less lists, especially because all the lists about her home town seem to be very similar.
Ramsey is eighteen years old and has lived all her life in the small, rural town of Paw Paw, Michigan. She loved drawing, playing in a band with her friends, and playing hockey. But her life is about to change: she has been accepted at art school and is about to move to Baltimora and start living in a big city. Ramsey chronicles her life through collages, drawings, lists, and journal entries, thus making the book sort of a graphic novel - but not quite. It certainly wasn't what I expected - I thought it would be prose.
The title comes from an observation from Ramsey's mother - she says Ramsey is going to be "a little fish in a big pong for the first time". Ramsey certainly has many new things to learn: from navigating the town public transport system to figuring out how to make new friends - something she hasn't had to do since she was a child. Luckily, she finds good friends in her new roommates and neighbours, and maybe even a love interest. Ramsey has never had a boyfriend and has never been interested in dating; she prefers having good friends to the drama of getting together and breaking up.
This was a lovely book, but I found myself sometimes glazing over Ramsey's lists. I would've prefer to read more journal entries and less lists, especially because all the lists about her home town seem to be very similar.
alli_thebookgiraffe's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this story of leaving your little bubble and becoming more cultured and seeing things through eyes that you wouldn't have in your own world. However, I wish this were a series! So many subplots were not finished and it just felt like another book is coming, but there isn't one.
allygatr's review against another edition
5.0
I thought this was relatable and a fun, fresh time. * also think I enjoyed this as I have to live vicariously through anything I can get my hands on since freshman year did not go as expected. I realize I tend to rate graphic novels higher than any other type of novel
papertraildiary's review against another edition
4.0
This is a lovely graphic memoir that's perfect for anybody who's left a small town or city for a bigger one to go to university. Though she describes herself as someone who shuns feelings, it's clear what Ramsey was feeling at that time: loneliness from leaving her familiar group of friends and comfort bubble, confusion when falling for her friend, excitement for her new group of friends and life and then loneliness again when everyone starts to fall into their own ways. It's a familiar tale, and thus really easy to identify with and sympathize. Ramsey's a great artist and storyteller, and it was neat to see how the book was a collage of her old zines, livejournal entries and comics.
xsleepyshadows's review against another edition
2.0
I expected a lot more from this but this girl just ending up being boring yet strangely repeatable to me. This book is just a fast chill read and don't expect anything really to happen, just a slice of life.
One thing I like to do is make lists, I learned that I HATE reading other peoples lists. This book is FULL of lists and diary type writings that I honestly just skipped all of them. ~Ashley
One thing I like to do is make lists, I learned that I HATE reading other peoples lists. This book is FULL of lists and diary type writings that I honestly just skipped all of them. ~Ashley
jwinchell's review against another edition
3.0
How this memoir brought back the swirly twirly emotions and inner workings of being 19! I envied Beyer's "normal" upbringing and her grounding amidst so much change. A cool graphic memoir about a very special time in life.
appelkers's review against another edition
3.0
This book is one of a kind for me. I’ve never before read a book that had this combination of lists, drawings, collages, etc. . It was a lot of fun at the start, but once the newness had wore off I sometimes felt it lacked in the dialogue department. Perhaps I’m being picky, or I’m just not used to reading comics, but for me there just wasn’t enough in the dialogues. They just left me wanting more details, more pages, more depth.
I find this to be a very hard book to review, because I’m just not used to reviewing a book which is not a novel. It’s a bit weird because (perhaps unjustly so) I feel as if I can’t follow the same basic reviewing plan for this one. But on I go with this review. As a fervent list-maker myself I could really appreciate the ones in the book. At first. But it did get a bit old at times. I guess it’s just not as fun to read them as it is to write them? And there were also times when the lists were about things that I would never make a list about. But I will admit that these lists made the book more personal, especially seeing as these were written by Ramsey herself at the time she is portraying in her story. But a smaller amounts of lists would definitely have been fine with me. Especially seeing as they could also slow down the story as well.
The drawings in this book were amazing, every character was always very easily distinguishable which is a definite plus. However the dialogue in them was often a bit too brief to my liking. Especially because we got to know (through the life journals) how good of a writer Ramsey can be. She sometimes had these sentences that really touched home for me. But that wasn’t there in the dialogues. And I understand that people don’t speak like that in real life, no one is that pensive at 18 (or at least I wasn’t). But I don’t have the feeling that most conversations were that basic in real life.
Going of to college is a big step in anyone’s life, and even more so if it’s to a college far away from home. The story that was being told was a very interesting and personal one. It definitely showed us the journey which Ramsey had during this first year away from home. But I guess that sometimes it’s hard to write a memoir about a year like this. Sometimes there are things that were so very important to you, but they can be so very hard to convey as well. And that’s something that I felt while reading this book. And I’m not saying this to be rude in any way, but not everyone has that kind of life in which many things happen (action wise). I think this format would have done better if it were about a year which had been a bit more action packed and less focused on the emotional stuff. The lists were a great way for the reader to meet the writer, but as for telling the story it felt a bit lacking as well. It gave us insight, but only into a very limited topic. But it was nice to read about this year which changed a lot in Ramsey’s life.
I feel like I’ve been blundering my way through this review! If I didn’t feel like I was nearly insulting the author’s life it definitely felt as if the words struggling to come out of my head. So for the record, I did like the story and I did like the format, I just think the combo might have been a bit off. This format didn’t go well with such an emotional journey in my opinion.
I find this to be a very hard book to review, because I’m just not used to reviewing a book which is not a novel. It’s a bit weird because (perhaps unjustly so) I feel as if I can’t follow the same basic reviewing plan for this one. But on I go with this review. As a fervent list-maker myself I could really appreciate the ones in the book. At first. But it did get a bit old at times. I guess it’s just not as fun to read them as it is to write them? And there were also times when the lists were about things that I would never make a list about. But I will admit that these lists made the book more personal, especially seeing as these were written by Ramsey herself at the time she is portraying in her story. But a smaller amounts of lists would definitely have been fine with me. Especially seeing as they could also slow down the story as well.
The drawings in this book were amazing, every character was always very easily distinguishable which is a definite plus. However the dialogue in them was often a bit too brief to my liking. Especially because we got to know (through the life journals) how good of a writer Ramsey can be. She sometimes had these sentences that really touched home for me. But that wasn’t there in the dialogues. And I understand that people don’t speak like that in real life, no one is that pensive at 18 (or at least I wasn’t). But I don’t have the feeling that most conversations were that basic in real life.
Going of to college is a big step in anyone’s life, and even more so if it’s to a college far away from home. The story that was being told was a very interesting and personal one. It definitely showed us the journey which Ramsey had during this first year away from home. But I guess that sometimes it’s hard to write a memoir about a year like this. Sometimes there are things that were so very important to you, but they can be so very hard to convey as well. And that’s something that I felt while reading this book. And I’m not saying this to be rude in any way, but not everyone has that kind of life in which many things happen (action wise). I think this format would have done better if it were about a year which had been a bit more action packed and less focused on the emotional stuff. The lists were a great way for the reader to meet the writer, but as for telling the story it felt a bit lacking as well. It gave us insight, but only into a very limited topic. But it was nice to read about this year which changed a lot in Ramsey’s life.
I feel like I’ve been blundering my way through this review! If I didn’t feel like I was nearly insulting the author’s life it definitely felt as if the words struggling to come out of my head. So for the record, I did like the story and I did like the format, I just think the combo might have been a bit off. This format didn’t go well with such an emotional journey in my opinion.
barbarianlibarian's review against another edition
2.0
meh, didn't like the format, all the lists were repetitive, I wish there was more more drawings