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osprey_archer) wrote2019-11-29 11:17 am
osprey_archer) wrote2019-11-29 11:17 am
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F/F Friday: Kiss Number 8
I read Colleen A. F. Venable’s Kiss Number 8 before I went on my trip, set it aside to post about on F/F Friday… and then forgot, as one is wont to do after taking a trip, trips having the tendency to make everything that came before seem infinitely distant.
However, I really enjoyed this graphic novel, so I figured that I would just post about it now. Our heroine, Mads, is a high school student at a Catholic school in 2004 - which makes it a real blast from my high school days; the characters message each other on AIM, even!
Anyway. Mads has begun to suspect that she’s not straight, and not only that she’s not straight in the general sense, but she specifically wants to kiss her friend Cat.
I really liked Mads and Cat’s friendship, not in the sense that I thought they were particularly good friends for each other, but because it’s a vivid and complicated portrait of a friendship that doesn’t quite work in a way that a lot of high school friendships often don’t quite work. You can see why Mads likes Cat so much: not only is she gorgeous, she’s also gregarious and charming and tons of fun, the friend who drags you along on adventures that you’d never go on alone but nonetheless love.
She’s extremely likable, but at the same time, not very good at friendship. If Cat’s in a good mood, she’s the best friend you ever had; if she’s in a bad one, she can be truly cruel. (And she’s in a bad mood rarely enough that it takes Mads and their third friend, Laura, by surprise every time she strikes.) She’s there with bells on for the fun parts of friendship, but gets impatient with anything difficult or time-consuming.
Laura, by contrast, is far less charming and fun, in fact occasionally something of a stick in the mud; but for most of the book, she’s dependable, loyal, and kind, and willing to go the extra mile to help Mads out. It took me a long time in life to realize that likability and actual friendship skills were two separate qualities (although obviously they can coexist), so it was interesting to see this represented here: Mads likes Cat more, but for most of the book, Laura is actually the better friend.
It occurs to me that the book does something similar with Mads’ parents: Mads gets along better with her dad, who is easy-going to the point of people-pleasing, but Mads’ mom is the one who supports Mads when rumors about Mads’ sexuality go dramatically public. She’s not 100% comfortable with it, but she’s willing to grapple with that discomfort to support her daughter, unlike Mads’ father, who can’t cope with the discomfort and just withdraws.
This may sound like plenty for one book, but in fact these are only two strands of the braided plot: there’s also a band at a local club, Laura’s brother who has a crush on Mads, and a mysterious phone call that leads Mads to believe that her father is having an affair, although in fact the phone call turns out to be the first clue that leads her to investigate an entirely different family secret.
However, I really enjoyed this graphic novel, so I figured that I would just post about it now. Our heroine, Mads, is a high school student at a Catholic school in 2004 - which makes it a real blast from my high school days; the characters message each other on AIM, even!
Anyway. Mads has begun to suspect that she’s not straight, and not only that she’s not straight in the general sense, but she specifically wants to kiss her friend Cat.
I really liked Mads and Cat’s friendship, not in the sense that I thought they were particularly good friends for each other, but because it’s a vivid and complicated portrait of a friendship that doesn’t quite work in a way that a lot of high school friendships often don’t quite work. You can see why Mads likes Cat so much: not only is she gorgeous, she’s also gregarious and charming and tons of fun, the friend who drags you along on adventures that you’d never go on alone but nonetheless love.
She’s extremely likable, but at the same time, not very good at friendship. If Cat’s in a good mood, she’s the best friend you ever had; if she’s in a bad one, she can be truly cruel. (And she’s in a bad mood rarely enough that it takes Mads and their third friend, Laura, by surprise every time she strikes.) She’s there with bells on for the fun parts of friendship, but gets impatient with anything difficult or time-consuming.
Laura, by contrast, is far less charming and fun, in fact occasionally something of a stick in the mud; but for most of the book, she’s dependable, loyal, and kind, and willing to go the extra mile to help Mads out. It took me a long time in life to realize that likability and actual friendship skills were two separate qualities (although obviously they can coexist), so it was interesting to see this represented here: Mads likes Cat more, but for most of the book, Laura is actually the better friend.
It occurs to me that the book does something similar with Mads’ parents: Mads gets along better with her dad, who is easy-going to the point of people-pleasing, but Mads’ mom is the one who supports Mads when rumors about Mads’ sexuality go dramatically public. She’s not 100% comfortable with it, but she’s willing to grapple with that discomfort to support her daughter, unlike Mads’ father, who can’t cope with the discomfort and just withdraws.
This may sound like plenty for one book, but in fact these are only two strands of the braided plot: there’s also a band at a local club, Laura’s brother who has a crush on Mads, and a mysterious phone call that leads Mads to believe that her father is having an affair, although in fact the phone call turns out to be the first clue that leads her to investigate an entirely different family secret.