Rebecca's Reviews > Blankets

This sweet, autobiographical coming-of-age story in graphic novel form is not quite as likable and quick-witted as Fun Home, but it has similar themes such as sexual awakening and the difficulty of understanding one’s parents. Blankets are a linking metaphor: the quilt Craig’s first love, Raina, makes for him; huddling in the same bed with his little brother Phil for warmth during freezing Wisconsin winters; and playing ‘storm at sea’ with the covers.

There’s also an interesting loss-of-faith element to the narrative. Craig is brought up in your average Midwestern fundamentalist Evangelical church and attends youth group, camp, etc. (where he meets Raina); the pastor even wants him to consider going into the ministry, but he doesn’t fit in here – even in the Christian subculture he’s forced into a fringe group of outsiders. Writing and drawing are acts of self-creation and self-preservation. He wants to find a way to use his drawing for good but no one seems to see a value in it. Thus everything, or nothing in particular, leads him to reject his faith when he gets to college.

How satisfying it is to leave a mark on a blank surface. To make a map of my movement – no matter how temporary.

The drawings are lush and bold (though even more so in Thompson’s Habibi). I appreciated how Thompson (view spoiler)[denies the satisfaction of a happy ending to Craig and Raina’s love story; it’s more realistic this way, recognizing that high school sweethearts rarely stay together. As Raina says, “everything ENDS...everything DEGENERATES, CRUMBLES – so why bother getting started in the first place?” (hide spoiler)]. And yet the beauty and power in memory of young love remains, thus Thompson’s rhapsodizing here.

(Included in my blog post “Graphic Novels for Newbies.”)