Summary from Goodreads:
Poignant and captivating, Ignatz Award winner Tillie
Walden's powerful graphic memoir, Spinning,
captures what it's like to come of age, come out, and come to terms with
leaving behind everything you used to know.
It was the same every morning. Wake up, grab the ice skates, and head to the rink while the world was still dark.
Weekends were spent in glitter and tights at competitions. Perform. Smile. And do it again.
She was good. She won. And she hated it.
For ten years, figure skating was Tillie Walden's life. She woke before dawn for morning lessons, went straight to group practice after school, and spent weekends competing at ice rinks across the state. It was a central piece of her identity, her safe haven from the stress of school, bullies, and family. But over time, as she switched schools, got into art, and fell in love with her first girlfriend, she began to question how the close-minded world of figure skating fit in with the rest of her life, and whether all the work was worth it given the reality: that she, and her friends on the figure skating team, were nowhere close to Olympic hopefuls. It all led to one question: What was the point?The more Tillie thought about it, the more Tillie realized she'd outgrown her passion--and she finally needed to find her own voice.
It was the same every morning. Wake up, grab the ice skates, and head to the rink while the world was still dark.
Weekends were spent in glitter and tights at competitions. Perform. Smile. And do it again.
She was good. She won. And she hated it.
For ten years, figure skating was Tillie Walden's life. She woke before dawn for morning lessons, went straight to group practice after school, and spent weekends competing at ice rinks across the state. It was a central piece of her identity, her safe haven from the stress of school, bullies, and family. But over time, as she switched schools, got into art, and fell in love with her first girlfriend, she began to question how the close-minded world of figure skating fit in with the rest of her life, and whether all the work was worth it given the reality: that she, and her friends on the figure skating team, were nowhere close to Olympic hopefuls. It all led to one question: What was the point?The more Tillie thought about it, the more Tillie realized she'd outgrown her passion--and she finally needed to find her own voice.
Review:
This wasn’t what I was expecting. I’m not sure exactly what
I thought I was getting into. I guess I thought it would be a sarcastic take on
synchronized ice-skating, and one girl’s story surviving the craziness. This
was definitely one girl’s story surviving the craziness. There just wasn’t any
sarcasm or much humor at all. And it was a lot darker and complex than I
thought it would be.
This book tackles a lot of tough stuff. There’s the main
character working her little butt off every day for her sport. There’s
bullying. There’s car accidents. There’s abandonment. There’s coming out of the
closet to non-supportive family. There’s heart-break. And there’s even sexual assault. And while I appreciate a
good graphic novel that tackles the tough stuff (frankly, there’s not enough of
them), I’m not sure this one really tackled the topics that well.
About 95% of the bullying that takes place is mentioned but
not shown. At one point, Tillie does mention one thing that happened to her
girlfriend, but even then it was very abrupt. The coming out part was minimal.
So, was the heartbreak. The assault scene was actually drawn out a bit more. It
was tough to read. But, also the way it was illustrated and mentioned was kind
of powerful. It was handled in a unique way I haven’t seen before. And I
remember thinking, I wish the author did this with other big moments too. I
needed to see this for this bullying and other things to feel more real.
What takes up most of the book’s story and illustrations are
the skating practices, tests, and moments with other skaters. It still moved
along quickly. And it was interesting learning and seeing this much detail
about the skating world. But weirdly, I felt like the book was supposed to be
something else. It was supposed to be about growing up and figuring out what
works and doesn’t work for you. I just wish more time was spent on visualizing
that, and less on fancy footwork and early morning wakeups.
Also, I don’ think this was supposed to be the takeaway
here, but I totally took away the fact that Tillie’s parents were pretty much
scum. She was the only one without either parent at any of the practices,
shows, and important competitions. Where were they? When they were shown, it
was to complain about money or to not be supportive of their daughter coming
out. For the most part, it felt like Tillie was abandoned by them completely.
The poor girl couldn’t speak up about any of the bad stuff that happened to
her. And I didn’t really blame her. There was no support for her. At all.
All in all, this was a unique book with excellent art. I
wish some of the major things that happened to Tillie (things that defined her
and helped her to eventually make her final decision about skating) were
actually fleshed out and shown in more detail. I didn’t need so much detail
about the actual skating. And I’d like to slap some sense into her parents. I
give this one a 7/10.
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