Monday, April 11, 2016

Review: Octopus Pie, Volume 1 by Meredith Gran




In this first collected volume of the Octopus Pie series, we follow grumpy twenty-something Eve and her stoner roommate Hanna as they navigate post-college life. They'll take on crazed childhood rivals, troubling art scenes, the discomfort of exes, and maybe even... friendship? All this and more in the fictional, totally made-up city of Brooklyn.

Rating: 3 Stars

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

I went into Octopus Pie knowing nothing about it. The art on NetGalley caught my eye, the description sounded humorous, so I thought that I would give it a try.

The art is consistently cute and would look good, I think, with full color pages at the beginnings of the chapter. Anymore than that would take away from the narrative.

Each chapter flows into the next loosely. There doesn't seem to be an overreaching story going on, other than that of Eve, the main character, who is seriously dissatisfied with her life.

Some of the comics don't seem to make sense in the overall course of things. There is one chapter where Eve seems like things might be improving feels rushed and I thought at first that it was a dream because, up until that point, I didn't think that she had it in her to go through with any of her "plans". If I can't believe that your character is actually going to be proactive, is that really a good thing?

I wish there had been more history about Eve. The reader learns little about her other than her current situation and her ex-boyfriend. You don't really see why she is the way she is, emotionally speaking.

For its flaws, Octopus Pie has potential and while not funny 100% of the time, there were enough jokes that I liked reading more.

Music Recommendation

I can easily picture Eve's story being some kind of indie movie similar to Juno or Once. Close your eyes, listen to this song, and picture some of Eve's lower moments, you'll see what I mean.








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