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Ivy
Ivy, a teenager from a small town, longs to leave and pursue her dream of becoming a painter. But life isn't easy when you never know the right thing to say. After beginning a long-distance relationship with a kindred spirit, Ivy gets a glimpse of freedom too good to pass up. Only while trying to escape her troubles does she start to understand that while she can leave hom...more
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published
February 2nd 2011
by Oni Press
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This reminded me of Anya's Ghost, so if you liked that book, or in turn didn't like that book, then Ivy might/might not be for you. It had the same sort of angst-filled angry at the world I hate my friends and every person who has ever been nice to me feel that Anya had as well, though there is nothing paranormal about Ivy.
The artwork is nice, just like with Anya, but I didn't like the story or any of the characters. There's lots of domestic violence, mean girl antics, dumb guys who can only thi...more
The artwork is nice, just like with Anya, but I didn't like the story or any of the characters. There's lots of domestic violence, mean girl antics, dumb guys who can only thi...more
Ivy is a troubled teen in her last year of high school. Her friends don't understand her and neither do her teachers or her mom. Ivy finally gets a break when she goes to an art school portfolio day that is sponsored by a local college/university for multiple colleges and universities around the country that have art programs. At this protfolio day Ivy meets Josh and the two somehow fall in love. They start to by sending each other letters, then calling each other. They seem to realize that they...more
Ivy is an artist and growing up in a tiny Maine suburb. Ivy wants to go to art school, but her mother wants her to do something practical and reliable, like business. Ivy thinks she's finally met someone who really understands what she's about at an art college fair, and after a terrible fight with her mom they run away together. But life on the road is not what she expected, and neither is her kindred spirit.
Ivy was so angry. It was startling to see it. She had an incredible amount of anger ins...more
Ivy was so angry. It was startling to see it. She had an incredible amount of anger ins...more
I've been wanting to read this book for so long it almost felt like I actually had. But now it's nominated for 2 Eisners and I had no excuse. What I really liked is that it was so different from your typical high school/coming of age story. Ivy is real. She is insecure, angry, defensive, she fights with her mom. Her dreams are in conflict with her mother's which puts the two of them in conflict. She is no cheerleader, rather an almost androgenous outcast with whom even her closest friends can no...more
Ivy’s kind of a bitch. She swears in class, she spits in people’s faces, and she seems to be angry about everything. But she’s got some good reasons for being such a bitch. Her bitter, single mom is trying to force Ivy, a high school senior, into business school. Ivy dreams of art school.
Ivy’s friends are the types that do stuff without her, purposely not include her because she’s always so angry and yet can’t see that she’s so angry because they’re always making her feel unwanted. She has probl...more
Ivy’s friends are the types that do stuff without her, purposely not include her because she’s always so angry and yet can’t see that she’s so angry because they’re always making her feel unwanted. She has probl...more
[3.5]
"Ivy" was a nice, lushly illustrated, if not quite groundbreaking, "coming of age" graphic novel. Following the senior year of Ivy, stuck in a small Maine town and railing against the adults in her life and driving her friends away through her anger and self-centered attitude, she nonetheless looks forward to art school and dreams of gaining acceptance through her painting. Set sometime in the early nineties, judging from the lack of cell phones and the Internet, Ivy meets an equally troubl...more
"Ivy" was a nice, lushly illustrated, if not quite groundbreaking, "coming of age" graphic novel. Following the senior year of Ivy, stuck in a small Maine town and railing against the adults in her life and driving her friends away through her anger and self-centered attitude, she nonetheless looks forward to art school and dreams of gaining acceptance through her painting. Set sometime in the early nineties, judging from the lack of cell phones and the Internet, Ivy meets an equally troubl...more
Ivy is a teenage girl with anger issues and an unfortunate habit of alienating her friends, but longs to be accepted and loved. So when she starts corresponding with Josh, who she meets at an arts college open day she finally thinks she's found someone who understands her.
Ivy isn't always a very likeable character, but we still sympathise with her as she embodies the confusion, anger, passion and selfishness often associated with teenagers. Her life isn't a bed of roses growing up in a small tow...more
Ivy isn't always a very likeable character, but we still sympathise with her as she embodies the confusion, anger, passion and selfishness often associated with teenagers. Her life isn't a bed of roses growing up in a small tow...more
At first when I first flipped through IVY, I was going to put it down. I wasn't too attracted to the art work in this graphic novel. However I finally decided too pick it up and I'm really glad I did so. The story tells of Ivy, a high school student who is really angry. Her dream is to be an artist, but her mother won't let her. Ivy feels her friends are starting to abandon her, and to top it off, she meets a boy who she meet at an art college trip.
The story is packed full of strong themes. My...more
The story is packed full of strong themes. My...more
The first book from Portland OR's Sarah Oleksyk. Ivy follows the namesake character through the trials associated with finishing high school and deciding what's next. Ivy is a talented artist with stormy emotions that her friends and single mother find hard to deal with at times. She meets a boy and starts a long distance relationship while planning the rest of her life. Some cursing and nudity, but it's a great look at how hard life can be to navigate for a young girl in a nowhere town.
I had t...more
I had t...more
Uh meh. Mediocre early morning airplane reading. Yes, teenagers lives are complicated and not cookie-cutter, but at the same time you really have to make the characters less flat. Her mom's character didn't make sense, the motivation to run was almost but not quite there, the intangible rage of just Being A Teenager which can make you pretty unpleasant, I got that. But making stupid stupid choices because of it that she took a long time to realize were so stupid (when she was clearly a smart gir...more
Since it contains no monsters and very little blood, "Ivy" is not my usual funny book fare. But after reading some favorable reviews on the web and briefly meeting the author at Emerald City Comicon, I decided to pick up this book and take it with me on a sunny vacation. I often hear the word "charming" used to describe indie character dramas in the comic book world, but I'll refrain from doing so because the eponymous character is anything but. She's rude, sometimes cruel and often petty. But s...more
Ivy is so ready to be done with high school. She longs for escape and hopes to get accepted into an art school, far away from her small town in Maine. She's been raised by her single mom, and lately it seems everyone is against her. Her friends don't want to hang out as much, her teachers are giving her detention, and her nemesis in art class is driving her insane. But when Ivy meets a cute guy at an art school convention, things look like they're picking up, until they fall apart again. Quirky...more
This zine to graphic novel kept me reading, despite Ivy being a pretty unlikeable character. I appreciated the portrait of a smart, capable girl who is a simmering mass of anger barely below the surface. Going into her senior year of high school, her friends desert her and her mom pressures her to go to business school, rather than the art school Ivy has the talent to attend. She can no longer contain her rage and she makes some incredibly poor choices, including running away with a boy she bare...more
First of all, the design and cover of this book is SO pretty in person. Saturated color, hardbound, and the motif of leaves (of change) run through the whole book in a really gorgeous way.
The story is one I hear way too often. In a real (and therefore good) way. Ivy has big dreams and big talent, and the very real short-sighted perspective shared by every teenager. She's a skilled painter, and her mom refuses to consider Ivy going to art school. Along the way she meets a boy, struggles in her f...more
The story is one I hear way too often. In a real (and therefore good) way. Ivy has big dreams and big talent, and the very real short-sighted perspective shared by every teenager. She's a skilled painter, and her mom refuses to consider Ivy going to art school. Along the way she meets a boy, struggles in her f...more
OK, so what I really liked about the book. I liked the voice. I felt that Ivy was the authentic story of a troubled young girl, having a difficult time fitting in and making some really bad choices. She wasn't easy to like, but she was believable. What I didn't like. The abrupt ending. I felt like I was missing the end of the book. No, I wasn't expecting sunshine and roses, but I was expecting a conclusion. Of SOME sort. Not just an ending. I wanted something more and I felt like Ivy deserved mo...more
Apr 09, 2012
Hol
added it
I sympathized with Ivy, the teenage protagonist of this graphic novel, while worrying terribly about her lack of judgment. I appreciated how well the author captured Ivy’s anger, as well as the uncomfortable condition of having a more or less adult body yet not much more life experience or self-knowledge than a child. This was originally published as series of zines, so the fact that it is now a hardcover book seems like a happy triumph.
Being so removed from teen-ness and unable to relate to a tumultuous teenhood are the main reasons why I couldn't give this more stars. The drawings are nicely done, but I wished there was more character development, especially among Ivy's mom and Ivy's friends. As the story wasn't told from Ivy's perspective, there's no reason why we shouldn't be privy to more information about those characters (even if she doesn't see/know some things).
This was a beautiful, heartbreaking graphic novel about coming to age, following your dream, friends, love and family. A real drama. I usually read these kinds of graphic novels real fast and tend to forget the story short time afterwards, but I think this story will stick with me. I would recommend it to teens and young adults, perhaps to those who's currently deciding what to do with their life.
Oh man, I didn't like this one. Ivy is a one-dimensional high schooler...who hates everything and everyone. And I mean EVERYTHING. There are one or two moments when something good happens to her and brief glimmer of joy crosses her face...but just wait a frame or two, because she'll figure out a way to hate it. She doesn't really grow or change over the course of the book, and there's no real ending.
I can't identify with poor parenting, drug use, running away, growing up female, and many of the other things that Ivy's story concerns. That being said, it still managed to be engaging and I read it in one sitting (the 200ish pages go pretty quick). Well-drawn and well-paced, but at times a little cliched and by-the-book. Looking forward to Oleksyk's next work.
This was good, but not great. I think I might've liked it a lot more if I'd read it while in my teens. As an adult, I got kind of frustrated with Ivy's "woe is me" attitude. On the other hand, I also got frustrated with her mom's behavior, too. The whole story is kind of cliche and it wrapped up a little too easily, but it was still a worthwhile read.
I loved this. It's so good to see/read a teenager who's as angry as I know at least I felt at times, held back by the life that wasn't what I wanted. Oleksyk's art is beautiful and conveys emotion in such a pitch-perfect way. I also really loved the recurring theme of people not always being who you see them as, for the good and the bad.
(read: 33)
(read: 33)
A graphic novel about an almost-eighteen year old named Ivy, in her last year of high school, a time of transitions and uncertainty. She wants to go to art school, her mom wants her to go to a regular college and major in business. The story covers a downward spiral of feeling left out, being angry, hating school, and focusing on escape via a long-distance love connection.
I didn't connect with the main character, because of the amount of outward anger she has toward everything in her life. Her a...more
I didn't connect with the main character, because of the amount of outward anger she has toward everything in her life. Her a...more
A beautifully drawn graphic novel about a girl, her art, and the pain of mistakes that make you who you were meant to be. Ivy messes up in this. A LOT. But she comes out the other side with a positive look towards the future. I read this and remembered how freaking awful high school was. Yeah, good times.
A decent book about the life of a teenage girl, full of moodiness and aggression. Perhaps a bit TOO accurate a portrait at times, because it made the main character a bit unlikeable in places. In fact, pretty much every character in this book is rather unlikeable, but again that's high school for you sometimes.
Jul 18, 2012
Bibliolicious
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Shelves:
free-e-books-or-library-books,
graphic-novel
My first graphic novel. Wow, really liked so many of the quiet moments Sarah created throughout the novel, as well as the marvelous characters--her friends, the old hag teacher. I felt like I'd read that story before, though. The plot was something I might have watched on Lifetime.
I really liked this one, Ivy was spot on with how complex life can be as a teen. This one was more sexually graphic than others I've read, but it was appropriate to the storyline. The arc was sad & sweet and it didn't get all tied up in a neat bow at the end.
brief notes to make longer or something review later: I really wanted to like this book. The description was interesting and it sounded like a good coming of age tale. Instead it was a book that left me feeling uncomfortable, in part because I recognized aspects of Ivy in myself, but mostly because Ivy is such an angry person. It was hard to relate to her as a character and want to see what happened to her. She lashed out at everyone, often for no reason and her friends felt like cardboard cutou...more
Don't take my review as definitive: I have tried, but I really can't get into manga. I tried this one, because the art work, especially the cover DID appeal to me, but pictures aren't enough story for me. I am sorry, to all of you who love manga.
Absorbing high school memoir-style graphic novel, lovingly drawn; believable. Not just for teens, but anyone who likes a good story will enjoy it.
You can read chapter one here.
You can read chapter one here.
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“I just imagined all the best parts of you... wish I could do that for myself.”
—
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29 mai 10:34