'1991—Val, a teenager from a conservative family, has grown up dreaming of becoming a ballerina, but recently something has changed. She’s begun feeling pressure to conform to a specific idea of beauty, body type, and a personality that just doesn’t fit.
'Val meets Kat, a smart, witty girl that doesn’t take any crap off anyone. Kat introduces Val to punk rock. Along with Rudie, another new friend, the three form an all-girl punk band they ironically name The Proper Ladies.
'Soon Val and her friends find themselves caught up in a movement with other girls also starting bands—also finding their voice. Collectively, these “riot grrrls” discover that their songs ring out loud and powerful, and for Val, there’s no going back.'
My Riot is a coming of age story that puts female empowerment front and centre, and gives readers a lead character that you can not only identify with, but who you want to try and be. Val is a fairly average teenage girl, she's struggling to find a part time job, not wholly successful in relationships, and has a hot and cold relationship with her parents. In essence, she's a regular person.
At the beginning of the book Val seems to be going through the motions a little, just trying to carry on the way she always has and trying to find something in her life that sparks her joy. She's been doing ballet since she was a little girl, but seems to be in something of a slump with it, especially as her teacher is trying to get her to lose weight to be a 'better' dancer, even going so far as encouraging her to take up smoking to try to suppress her appetite. Her home life isn't much better, and she's been getting into arguments with her mother, especially when her mother finds condoms in Val's room, acting as if her seventeen year old daughter having safe sex is an awful thing.
It's in this slump where Val meets Kat. The two of them go to the same school, but Val hasn't really spoken to the outgoing Kat much before, but when the two of them shelter in the same ice-cream parlour together when a riot breaks out a bond quickly forms, and Kat introduces Val to the world of punk rock. The two of them decide to form a band together, and soon discover that they've got a talent for music, even convincing another friend, Rude, to join with them.
Things happen pretty quickly throughout My Riot, due to the constraints of the length of the book and not being able to show everything, as such, the progress of Val and the band does seem to happen a bit quickly. But, you can easily overlook this as just being something that's been dictated by things outside of the creators control. I've seen some reviews complain that it makes their journey seem too easy or convenient, but who knows, their band might actually be really good and deserve the early breaks they get.
But the book isn't really about the band, or the music, it's about Val and her journey to discovering herself and finding a place of happiness. At the start of the book she's an awkward teen who doesn't know who she is, but by the end she's a successful and confident young woman.
There are moments in the book where this journey makes some big leaps, where Val stands up and makes the decision not to back down or have her life dictated by others, and these are some of the best moments in the book. When her ballet teacher is encouraging her to smoke, to develop an eating disorder, and is telling her that she's failing as a dancer because of this Val stands up for herself. She tells her teacher to shove it, and quits dancing. It's a great moment of empowerment, and one that's really healthy. With eating disorders and body image being a hugely relevant thing to teenagers seeing a character breaking out of what could be a very dangerous situation is great. And it shows how strong of a person Val is.
Another moment that stands out is when her boyfriend finds out that Val had sex before they were together, as he'd just assumed they'd both been each other's first experience. He tries to make her feel guilty about this, to make her think that she's somehow the villain for having a sex life and normal desires. Rather than letting this be something that breaks her down she turns this into a moment that can inspire her music, that helps to make her a stronger person, whilst breaking out of a toxic relationship.
Val has these moments of wisdom and clarity that are needed to survive her teenage years, but never feels like she's older beyond her years, she's still clearly a teenager who says and does stupid things and makes mistakes. But that's what makes her so great. People reading this book after their teens will look at her and say 'yeah, I was a bit stupid as a teen too', whilst teenagers will be able to see themselves in her.
The artwork throughout, provided by Emmett Helen, is really nice, and fits the tone well. It's minimalist, with nice smooth line-work that doesn't go into huge detail, but still manages to convey everything. I don't want to say that the art is simplistic, because that would sound too mean, as it's not, but it's not detail heavy. It provides readers with everything you need to be able to experience the story. The fairly minimalist style means that you always focus on the characters and what they're going through, rather than having your eye drawn to other things in the panel, or searching through the background for tiny details. The book is a great example of artist and writer coming together to tell a story about people, and making that the focus.
My Riot didn't take me long to read, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved the characters and their journey, and the really positive message that the book tried to get across. Whilst I don't think we'll ever see more of Val again as her story's done, I'd love to see more from these creators working together in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment