The Peanutbutter Sisters and Other American Stories

by Rumi Hara

An immigrant weaves a new, surreal Americana, complete with bubblegum fights and bomb queens.

Rarely does a new talent arrive in the medium as unmistakably distinct as Rumi Hara. With immersive art and a clear-eyed storytelling rhythm, her uncategorizable debut, Nori, put her playful cartooning on display. Her new collection, The Peanutbutter Sisters and Other American Stories, delights with equal mischievousness.

The Peanutbutter Sisters is a glorious balance of contradictions, at once escapism and realism, science fiction and slice of life. Two students explore the urban landscape while following Newton Creek, the polluted Queens-Brooklyn border. As they do, they plan a traditional Japanese play with contemporary pop culture. Another story features an intergalactic race of all living things set in the year 2099 and is a dazzling treatise on the environment and journalism. Yet sometimes the fantastical collides with the quotidian in the same story. A man struggling with vertigo during quarantine encounters a world of sexual revelry whenever he has a dizzy spell. The Peanut Butter sisters ride a hurricane into New York City and yet aren’t able to hitch a ride back with a whale due to a heavily polluted ocean.

Hara’s magical realist tendencies and diverse cast of characters all contort the tropes of the American comics canon. Yet above all else, her innate control of the comics language—her ability to weave the absurd with the real on such a charming and commanding level—is refreshingly unrivaled.


Rights Catalog Text

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Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction, Magical Realism, Graphic Novels Comics

180 pages, Paperback

Published May 17, 2022

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short story collection of sheer nonsense and other flights of fancy.

Tree Love ~ ✰✰ ~

Two people with trees growing from their heads kiss and mingle their branches. That's it.

The Peanutbutter Sisters ~ ✰✰ ~

The three Peanutbutter sisters scavenge items from the dump on New Mississippi Island off the coast of Georgia to sell on eBay. One day they take a vacation by gliding on the winds to New York City, but when their return whale falls through, they have to hitchhike. Very minor adventures are had along the way.

The sisters, whose ages are ambiguous, also appear in two-page spreads throughout the book where they randomly expose their nether regions and have a graphic bowel movement. So there's that.

Walking With Tammy Tabata ~ ✰✰✰ ~

Steve walks with Tammy as they plan a Noh play for an extra credit project at school. They actually do a good job of tying their theme to a body of water called Newtown Creek that runs between Brooklyn and Queens in New York City. It's just two people walking and talking, but it was my favorite story in the book.

Living Things ~ ✰✰ ~

A reporter in the year 2099 is embedded in an off-road race between strange creatures and their odd motorized vehicles. Think "Wacky Races" gone wrong.

Bubblegum Fighters ~ ✰✰ ~

Two girls duel with their bubble gum bubbles. Pointless.

Verti-go-go ~ ✰✰✰ ~

Brian Tran faints whenever he sees an exposed belly button and immediately has highly sexual dreams, usually involving orgies. He's torn between treating the condition or just rolling with it. It's amusing to think what I might decide if I were in his shoes.

Bombadonna ~ ✰✰ ~

Wherever the Bomb Queen points, her minions -- naked women with bombs for heads -- run and explode. It's terrorism but also a good thing? Huh? No.


Side note: With this book, I complete my project of reading all the books on the Publishers Weekly 2022 Graphic Novel Critics Poll. It also made the list for NPR's Books We Love 2022: Favorite Comics and Graphic Novels, but I still have one more book to read before I finish that list.


FOR REFERENCE

Contents: Tree Love -- The Peanutbutter Sisters -- Walking With Tammy Tabata -- Living Things -- Bubblegum Fighters -- Verti-go-go -- Bombadonna

[Drew Canole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of bland weird tales that combine magical realism and fantasy/sci-fi, hmm I was a bit confused with what Hara was going for.

[Elizabeth A · Rating 1 out of 5]

This graphic novel is a collection of stories about the titled sisters. It was surreal, and while I liked some of the art, overall, this was just not my cuppa of tea.

[Megan Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this comics story collection! Hara's artwork is super engaging, and her style is so unique. The near-future semi-dystopias she populates are an exciting mix of grim and optimistic. At times, her storylines reminded me a little of Michael DeForge. I could have read much, much more for several of the stories in this book--including the titular Peanutbutter Sisters. Full graphic novel when?

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty bizarre- "fever dream" was a good description on the back. I enjoyed most of it- it felt very unapologetic and surreal and I didn't understand it all, but I'm okay with that.

[Kasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great illustrations and super interesting stories! Highly recommend :)

[Liv · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very very weird and surreal, but also enjoyable. It had a 90's cartoonish feel to it.

[Lisa]

This was highly inventive, interesting, and not for me. I liked but didn't particularly enjoy the artistic style. I'm intrigued enough that I'd still check out what the author has coming next.

[Amanda (bookedwithamanda) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was definitely surreal but also served us messages about the world that are uncomfortable but I think necessary. These stories reminded me of poetry where directness doesn't always reveal the intention. I enjoyed this style of storytelling but I can definitely see how it wouldn't be for everyone.

[Méli]

very fun!

[Shoshanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange and funny short comic stories. Definitely get ready for weirdness. There is nudity too, so if you wanna avoid that, you may have to skip the final stories.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want an encyclopedia set of Peanutbutter Sister stories!

[Squirrel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was weird.
But not unlike living in NY, to be honest.

[Josie Kandich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the coolest and weirdest graphic novel I have ever read 🤯

[Elna · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging, interesting collection: some of the stories are a little long, and a few were more my style than others, but every story is full of energy and life. Quick summaries and individual rating below the spoiler:


"Tree Love" - 3/5
Two people with tree on their heads kiss. Cute, inconsequential.

"The Peanutbutter Sisters" - 3/5
The eponymous sisters live on an island, sustaining themselves off eBay sales of old junk. They hitch a joyride on a hurricane, as they've done before, but this time land too far north and can't find a whale to take them home, thanks to the pollution. They instead hitchhike, fending off villains and making friends.
It was fine. A little long.

"Walking with Tammy Tabata" - 4/5
Two college students walk around the city one afternoon, seeking inspiration for a traditional Japanese play they must write for class.
Very well done; sweet, interesting, surprisingly educational. There was a little bit of a bait-and-switch; I kept waiting for one of them to get hit by a car, which seemed to be what was being foreshadowed, and then the big reveal would be that the survivor wrote the play about their afternoon (but I suppose that would be cliché).

"Living Things" - 5/5
The Intergalactic Race of Living Things!!! It's exactly what it sounds.
Thrilling, fun, an interesting and exciting variety of living things and transportation methods, the emphasis is on cooperation and finishing rather than racing and winning... I want to race.

"Bubble Gum Fighters" - 3/5
A never-ending series of young women fight through bubblegum: blowing opposing bubbles at each other and trying to pop their opponent's.
Too slight.

"Verti-Go-Go" - 4/5
A young man suffers from vertigo, but not the normal kind: rather than getting dizzy, he experiences intense sexual fantasies when he sees bellybuttons.
It was definitely a surprise, first coming across the builder getting intimate with a rabbit and then the crazy sexual fantasies of this story!

"Bombadonna" - 3/5
Somewhere, a mysterious giant woman points. And when she points, the bombadonnas (naked women with live bombs for heads) go running and congregate somewhere where they all go off at once.
A little too mysterious. I wish it had all been in the gorgeous watercolor it started out in.
3.6 rounded up.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am always looking for something fresh, original, a unique voice, and one seems to be emerging here. Surreal sensibilities, or call it whimsical, or magical realism or just playful, these exhibit a range of tales from sci fi to one about The Peanutbutter Sisters (though I want a whole book about them), and some just plan weirdness. For instance, one is about a guy who has sexual hallucinations whenever he gets vertigo during quarantine. So there's that, if you like that kinda thing. A story called "Bombadonna," where a bunch of naked women run all over the place, with a touch of absurdist horror, finally. I thought it was funny.

Maybe I'll rate this 3.5, as it sometimes takes me a little time to get into the vibe of something I think is really new, which is a good thing, expected. Lots of potential here.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This graphic story collection is pretty weird, so of course I loved it! The artwork is odd and fantastic, and I love that most of the weirdness is not explained, just presented as if you don't need any explanation (just like real life!). And you don't need any explanation, you can just appreciate it for what it is, which is brilliant, if you ask me. The last story in the book was too creepy for me, but it was so surreal I managed to enjoy it as an artwork even while finding it disturbing. All in all, definitely glad I read this, and now I'm going to check to see if this author's first book is in the library, too.

P.S. Thanks to Rachel for alerting me to this book!
P.P.S. Also thanks to for Rachel for reminding me to note that this is not a book for the kiddies. Don't be fooled by the charmingly-innocent-sounding title.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A whimsical series of graphic short-shorts. The title invites you to think of them as a new kind of American folklore and to consider their plots and characters as myth. There were common elements of industrial pollution and commercial scavenging (both for things to resell and stories). This was a quick read, maybe 45 minutes, with great art and layouts. It was fun, and ultimately not super memorable for me. My favorite was "Verti-Go-Go," in which the main character is transported to an orgy every time he sees a bare belly button, and a fun detail is that his name is Brian and in the orgy someone is usually cheering him on with "Go, Brian, go!" The title story is fun, too, in which three identical sisters find and resell scrap, and travel by hitchhiking either with humans or whales.

[Summer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This definitely defies categorization. I really enjoy Hara's artwork and her quirky storytelling. The Peanutbutter Sisters stories are charming and clever, and there are a couple of additional stories that are (mostly) straightforward but a few veer way out into unexpected territory, resulting in a collection that feels somewhat disjointed. Fans of Lisa Hanawalt will find much to like here, as will graphic novel readers drawn to the surreal.

[Nicolas ChampRoux · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled with this book. The gritty black and white illustrations called to me at first, and the world-building was compelling, but then it seemed to hesitate between far-fetched and realistic, and I lost interest. It felt like some of the characters evolved in a bizarre post-climate-change world while others were contemporary. The story-telling was just too loose.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I somehow thought this book was going to be folksy and heartwarming or something like that. And it almost started out that way. But then the sisters started flying, and talking about hitching a ride on a whale. And that was the most conventional story! Yeah, it's weird. I enjoyed it. Very much not for kids.

[Joey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super whimsical and audacious while still being a heartfelt and sincere expression of the immigrant experience in America. Bonus points for the wondrous, meticulous (and sometimes kinda cringe) two-page layouts that act as interludes between the stories.

[Elyse Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories featured interesting characters and charming illustrations.
Each focuses on a short moment in time - an afternoon to a couple of days, but provides a look into the inner world of each character.

[Robert Hudder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an odd experience; like watching a foreign film with few words and a quiet, almost non existent soundtrack. The experience made normal stuff appear weird in a good way. It is almost as if every line is a non sequitur.

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot more than Nori, but I still wish there was... more. It felt like it was missing something. The stories are all really fun though, and I loved reading them in the context of the title referring to them as "American Stories." They're freewheeling, gorgeously illustrated, whimsical and magical. And despite being quite contemporary—or even futuristic—they all somehow read like American folk tales that belong in the mythos of such a multifaceted country.

However, the interludes of the carpenters building a cabin were... really... freaking weird. I wish I could have gotten some author's notes on that, because I'm not sure if I'm too serious, too simple, or... not...?

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories are incredibly weird but I enjoyed the absurdism, all except the last two, really short stories, which included an excessive amount of nudity. Um. No thank you. I'm thankful that these stories did not come until the very end.

[Deb Chapman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Haha! Funny and unexpected. Risqué. Very imaginative. Really enjoyed The story lines and the drawings. A great collection and very enjoyable read. Can feel my brain growing and stretching to accommodate it x

[Diego Dotta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've just become a big fan of Rumi Hara. It was a wonderful surprise to see scenes that are rarely, if ever, depicted in graphic novels. I would love to see these stories adapted into an animated series.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[H.L.H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique and surreal, really loved the range of stories.