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"A funny, poignant, memorable drama of navigating adolescence." Quill & Quire * "An auspicious graphic novel debut." Publishers Weekly * "Writer Mariko and artist Jillian stunningly intertwine their acute dialogues and visual riches in brush, soft pencil and grey tones, illuminating this adolescent romance in all its conflicted depths. The most sophisticated and sensitive North American graphic novel debut of the year." Paul Gravett * "With honesty and compassion, this innovative narrative communicates a life just beginning, open and full of possibility." Horn Book Magazine" --Paul Gravett
Book Description
"A funny, poignant, memorable drama of navigating adolescence." Quill & Quire
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this for my American granddaughter (11) and she loves it. Her English boy cousins, 10 and 12, thought it pretty cool, too. Their parents, my daughters, thoroughly approved and loved the artwork. One was afraid it would turn out to be a wican sort of tale but really appreciated the witty and subtle way that element was turned on its head. So - an international, intergenerational, inter-gender success! Oh - and I (78) liked it, too.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
16 reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
gorgeous, sophisticated, and deeply truthful
1 Sep 2009
Format:Paperback
SKIM is gorgeous. Canadian cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki are to be praised for such smart, sensitive, sophisticated treatment of unyielding material. Coaxing a suspenseful, surprising, hopeful narrative out of the anti-narrative horror of high school is no easy feat, but coaxing one out that remains true to the recursive slowness of the experience, the smothering isolation of it-- AND leaves you cheering for the heroine in the end-- is all the more impressive.
The Tamakis explore the complex experience of their heroine, Kim Keiko Cameron, by tapping the full potential of graphic novels to offer the reader multiple channels through which to take in information. The verbal line of the novel, with two magnificent exceptions, is the reader's primary guide through the lesbian strand of Kim's experience, while the visual line, with one heartbreaking flashback, is the primary medium through which Kim's Japanese-Canadian heritage is given witness: her mother breaking noodles, her father's thing for Asian women.
Most arresting, visually, is Jillian Tamaki's choice to give Kim the face of a traditional Japanese beauty. Short eyebrow-smudges high on the forehead and long loose hair, along with a small mouth, very rounded cheeks, and a low-placed nose are all markers used to indicate Heian-era female beauty from Tosa's TALE OF GENJI illustrations to Noh Ko-omote masks to traditional Otafuku and Benten imagery. What's canny, and oh-so-true to the tenth grade experience, is that Tamaki takes this marked-as-beautiful face and places it in a context-- an almost entirely white Canadian girls' private high school-- that completely invalidates its beauty.
Among the many riches SKIM has to offer is the chance to witness Kim's coming-of-age as a critic, which is inextricably bound up with her coming into her own as a lesbian. When Kim discovers for herself (and a lame date) precisely what strikes her as inadequate about ROMEO AND JULIET, in a way that both emerges organically from and radically illuminates the whole story we've been reading, it's a moment of breathtaking mastery on Mariko Tamaki's part.
Brava to Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, and here's looking forward to more from each and both of them.
The Tamakis explore the complex experience of their heroine, Kim Keiko Cameron, by tapping the full potential of graphic novels to offer the reader multiple channels through which to take in information. The verbal line of the novel, with two magnificent exceptions, is the reader's primary guide through the lesbian strand of Kim's experience, while the visual line, with one heartbreaking flashback, is the primary medium through which Kim's Japanese-Canadian heritage is given witness: her mother breaking noodles, her father's thing for Asian women.
Most arresting, visually, is Jillian Tamaki's choice to give Kim the face of a traditional Japanese beauty. Short eyebrow-smudges high on the forehead and long loose hair, along with a small mouth, very rounded cheeks, and a low-placed nose are all markers used to indicate Heian-era female beauty from Tosa's TALE OF GENJI illustrations to Noh Ko-omote masks to traditional Otafuku and Benten imagery. What's canny, and oh-so-true to the tenth grade experience, is that Tamaki takes this marked-as-beautiful face and places it in a context-- an almost entirely white Canadian girls' private high school-- that completely invalidates its beauty.
Among the many riches SKIM has to offer is the chance to witness Kim's coming-of-age as a critic, which is inextricably bound up with her coming into her own as a lesbian. When Kim discovers for herself (and a lame date) precisely what strikes her as inadequate about ROMEO AND JULIET, in a way that both emerges organically from and radically illuminates the whole story we've been reading, it's a moment of breathtaking mastery on Mariko Tamaki's part.
Brava to Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, and here's looking forward to more from each and both of them.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
a beautiful , honest and stirring story of youth and transition
25 Oct 2009
Format:Paperback
this book is so good at what it sets out to say and show that i hesitate to describe it for fear of underselling it's attributes . the editorial reviews found above as well as some of the excellent customer reviews here might prompt you to aquire this outstanding "graphic novel" . that's the goal . for mature teens and adults .
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Skim: Perfection in Storytelling and Art
20 May 2010
Format:Paperback
Skim is a graphic novel that centers around the main character whose nickname is Skim. Skim is an overweight, Japanese-Canadian, gothic, Wiccan, and high school social outcast. However, none of these descriptions are actually truthgul. As the reader becomes familiar with Skim, he/she soon discovers that she is just another misunderstood high school student who is trying to find her niche will still retaining some of her identity. The plot begins to roll when the boyfriend of the most popular girl at school commits suicide and the other popular girls decide to create various vigils and clubs in honor of this boy that none of them actually knew. Skim sees through the popular girls' false sorrow and realizes that this boy's death is just an excuse for the popular girls to alienate others and draw attention to themselves. However, this death eventually created tension and forever changes Skim's relationship with her best friend. In hopes of finding help and guidance, Skim reaches out to her English teacher with whom she falls in love. Instead of finding solace in this relationship, she only becomes more confused about herself. Companionship and understanding comes in the most surprising of places: the girlfriend of the boy who committed suicide. Skim notices that the girl is actually suffering and yet her popular friends are doing nothing to come to her aid. An unspoken kinship is fostered between the two girls as they both struggle with trying to fit into their own skin.
The art in this graphic novel is exceptional. The detail is incredibly intricate and should be examined with as much interest as the text. Many of the drawings are not contained in boxes as other graphic novels and comics have used. Instead, pictures flow over the pages and blend into one another. It is possibly some of the most beautiful art that has ever been published in a graphic novel. Jillian Tamaki, the cousin of the author, is able to create unbelievable tones and depth to the gray sketches that remind the reader of Japanese watercolors.
This is an exceptional book. Lover's of graphic novels and traditional novels alike will find something beautiful and touching in this story. Skim is a wonderful character who is incredibly insightful while also being humorous and honest. Though the plot is simplistic and revolves around an event that most people have experienced while in high school, it is its everyday-ness that is so charming and at times compelling.
The art in this graphic novel is exceptional. The detail is incredibly intricate and should be examined with as much interest as the text. Many of the drawings are not contained in boxes as other graphic novels and comics have used. Instead, pictures flow over the pages and blend into one another. It is possibly some of the most beautiful art that has ever been published in a graphic novel. Jillian Tamaki, the cousin of the author, is able to create unbelievable tones and depth to the gray sketches that remind the reader of Japanese watercolors.
This is an exceptional book. Lover's of graphic novels and traditional novels alike will find something beautiful and touching in this story. Skim is a wonderful character who is incredibly insightful while also being humorous and honest. Though the plot is simplistic and revolves around an event that most people have experienced while in high school, it is its everyday-ness that is so charming and at times compelling.
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