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A review by saidtheraina
Prison Island: A Graphic Memoir by Colleen Frakes
4.0
McNeil Island is the former location of the last prison in amerika accessible only by air and sea.
Colleen Frakes was one of the kids who grew up there.
The island is in the southern Puget Sound - the ferry to the island leaves from Steilacoom, a small waterfront town a short drive from my library. Frakes went to The Evergreen State College, which is in my town, and apparently works in a library in Seattle at the moment. One of my mom's friends grew up on the McNeil Island, too.
So there's a local connection. Since I'm also a lover of memoir GNs, I knew I had to own this.
Frakes structures her memoir using a framing mechanism - a last visit with her family of origin which occurred when the prison closed, in 2011. As they toured the island one last time, she flashes back to her memories of each place - the different houses they lived in, the beach where she had her birthday party, the community center. She talks about the challenges of living on an island - taking the ferry to school early each morning, not being able to have friends over very easily, ordering a pizza... Having spent some time (including a semester of college) in isolated locations, I can identify with both the pluses and minuses of this very unusual way to grow up.
And it makes me reflect a bit on the notion of "normalcy." I believe in the adaptive abilities of kids. In not treating one way of living as the "normal" way. But for Frakes, she lived years both before and after off the island, and went to school with mainland kids. Perhaps there is a personality element.... These are ill-formed thoughts. But anyway...
Frakes doesn't do a tonne of reflecting, herself. The telling is pretty straightforward, and relatively vague. We never go into the prison itself. We don't get attached to the characters in the story (her friends, or even her family). There isn't a big climactic plot moment. The illustrations are black and white, and use a variety of panel layouts. You get maybe one or two scenes of OITNB juiciness (mostly revolving around escape attempts).
It's true. Which kinda means it's boring. Which is probably a good thing, really.
Colleen Frakes was one of the kids who grew up there.
The island is in the southern Puget Sound - the ferry to the island leaves from Steilacoom, a small waterfront town a short drive from my library. Frakes went to The Evergreen State College, which is in my town, and apparently works in a library in Seattle at the moment. One of my mom's friends grew up on the McNeil Island, too.
So there's a local connection. Since I'm also a lover of memoir GNs, I knew I had to own this.
Frakes structures her memoir using a framing mechanism - a last visit with her family of origin which occurred when the prison closed, in 2011. As they toured the island one last time, she flashes back to her memories of each place - the different houses they lived in, the beach where she had her birthday party, the community center. She talks about the challenges of living on an island - taking the ferry to school early each morning, not being able to have friends over very easily, ordering a pizza... Having spent some time (including a semester of college) in isolated locations, I can identify with both the pluses and minuses of this very unusual way to grow up.
And it makes me reflect a bit on the notion of "normalcy." I believe in the adaptive abilities of kids. In not treating one way of living as the "normal" way. But for Frakes, she lived years both before and after off the island, and went to school with mainland kids. Perhaps there is a personality element.... These are ill-formed thoughts. But anyway...
Frakes doesn't do a tonne of reflecting, herself. The telling is pretty straightforward, and relatively vague. We never go into the prison itself. We don't get attached to the characters in the story (her friends, or even her family). There isn't a big climactic plot moment. The illustrations are black and white, and use a variety of panel layouts. You get maybe one or two scenes of OITNB juiciness (mostly revolving around escape attempts).
It's true. Which kinda means it's boring. Which is probably a good thing, really.