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Graphic Novel Review: Upgrade Soul by Ezra Claytan Daniels

Upgrade Soul by Ezra Claytan Daniels

Lion Forge, 2018

ISBN-13: 9781549302923

Available:  Paperback, Kindle, comiXology, iTunes app

Hank and Molly Nonnar decide to go through an experimental rejuvenation procedure to celebrate their 45th anniversary, a procedure which will allegedly revive their aging cells and restore vim and vigor. However, the results are not what they expect. Dr. Kenton Kallose, the lead scientist in this endeavor, isn’t completely honest with them about how things will, and do, pan out. As they discover the process is not so much rejuvenation as it is cloning, and they make more disastrous revelations along the way. Their clones, Henry and Manuela, who are both superior to their originals, are left physically deformed after the process. As both originals and clones navigate through their new lives, they realize that not all of them can survive.

Hank and Molly’s story is told in the present, as well as in flashbacks that give the reader the history of how they heard about the experimental procedure and the questions they faced as they made their mutual decision. The story is thought provoking and leaves readers with questions of their own about identity, facing the aging process, ethics, and more. I read it multiple times and each time discovered something I missed in previous reads.

It isn’t a story for the faint of heart.

There were a few things I did not know about the graphic novel prior to reading the physical copy I received at the 2019 American Library Association conference, signed by the creator (Ezra is super nice—if you have the chance to meet him, do it). I did not know this was developed and released by Erik Loyer as an app in 2012. I recently downloaded it and viewed the first chapter for free. It’s beautiful. The soundtrack provided by Alexis Gideon is incredible. It is available for purchase from Bandcamp as a digital download or on vinyl, including a signed copy by Ezra, here: https://fperecs.bandcamp.com/album/upgrade-soul. I found myself lingering in certain sections until the pieces played out. Navigating through the app is very smooth, and the 3D effects add so much to the story. I encourage readers to explore it. You can unlock the entire book for $7.99 here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/upgrade-soul/id549051057. See a preview of the app here: https://youtu.be/14CPAXh3NYA. Highly recommended

 

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Check out my interview with Upgrade Soul creator Ezra Claytan Daniels.

 

Posted on November 16, 2019 by , Reply

Booklist: Invisible Disabilities in Horror for YA Readers

Disability is one way that monsters are created in the horror genre. Monstrosity is usually expressed visually, though, especially in the classic texts– think The Phantom of the Opera, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mr. Hyde of Jekyll and Hyde fame. Or if we don’t actually see the disfigurement, many monsters, from the Phantom of the Opera to Michael Myers, are masked.  Physically marking a character is a way of representing that person as the “other”; abnormal in some way, which is disturbing to those who see themselves as “normal”. It is a problematic representation of disability in literature, and I think we see it more strongly in the horror genre because for so many people it is disturbing and scary to face anyone who isn’t like them. Mary Shelley’s description of Frankenstein’s monster and his friendship with the little blind girl is a perfect example of how dependent we are on sight as a cue to decide who is a monster and who is not.

 

What about the disabilities that aren’t immediately visible? Yes, those do very much exist, and shape personality. Putting aside the curse of paranormal abilities, like the”Typhoid Mary” powers Jenny Morton displays in Jenny Pox, disabilities and disorders that can’t be seen do appear in horror, especially as victims. What’s really neat to see is when a character with an invisible disability flips that trope over.  But honestly, as someone who has epilepsy, I can tell you that ANY recognition of my disability that appears in fiction, no matter how problematic, has always been welcome (even when I hate the depiction) because it means I’ve been seen. And it meant even more to me when I was a teen, because there really was absolutely nothing at all. Here are five books you could hand to a teen dealing with an invisible disability.

  A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

This is not technically a YA novel, but it is told from the point of view of a young woman, with extensive flashbacks to her childhood, and the central character is a teen dealing with… we don’t know exactly what. Teenaged Marjorie might be possessed, or she might be developing schizophrenia. It is actually possible to meet someone with schizophrenia and not know that’s the case. And as far as I remember, schizophrenia is not mentioned outright, even though Marjorie is under the care of a psychiatrist at the beginning of the story. This is actually one of the more visual depictions of an invisible disability, as Marjorie’s actions also suggest that she might be possessed, which lands her family on a reality television show.

  A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

This is the first book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy. It’s almost an trope for a British girl who grows up in India in the late 1800s to be sent to England for further education after her mother dies, usually at a boarding school, and that’s what happens to Gemma, who is also clairvoyant. She and her friends discover an entrace to magical realms where they can have their hearts’ desires– darker than it sounds. One of Gemma’s friends, Pippa, has epilepsy, and during a seizure travels to the magical realms. Pippa must keep her epilepsy a secret, so she won’t be discovered to be “damaged goods” before she can be married. Gemma follows her, but Pippa has found true love there and refuses to return to a life of illness. Pippa’s story brought tears to my eyes. I found Bray’s straightforward descriptions of Pippa’s seizures to be accurate, although you should never put a wooden spoon in anyone’s mouth.

 The Dark Between by Sonia Gensler

I’ve just finished this one, and I really recommend it. It also takes place near the turn of the 20th century, when spiritualism was in vogue. Three teenagers brought together by coincidence turn out to have more in common than they expected come across some mysterious murders that might have something to do with electrical experiments to enhance the brain with psychic powers. Kate, the youngest, is an impoverished orphan who loses her job as a “spirit guide” for a medium when the medium is exposed by a skeptic. Asher is an American teen at loose ends, traveling alone, who is considering attending Cambridge. Elsie is a dreamy, beautiful girl who has been sent away by her parents, whose mind is clouded by drugs she takes to control her epilepsy. Elsie’s seizures began after she was struck by lightning, and she can see visions of the dead during them. The attitudes Elsie has faced and expects to face after the secret of her epilepsy is exposed, and her drugged feelings, make her a more sympathetic character than you would expect, as she is not especially thoughtful or rational. Elsie is no Beth March, shy and pure; she’s drawn as a complex character, a real girl with burgeoning sexuality and intense emotions who makes bad decisions that make you want to smack her. Score one for Sonia Gensler in her development of a character with epilepsy who has more than one dimension.
 Dark Muse by David Simms

Muddy, Poe, Otis, and Corey are The Accidentals, a band of misfits. All four love music, and all four have problems they have to face. Muddy is dyslexic, Poe is legally blind and has a difficult home situation, Otis has brittle bones, and Corey has a checkered past and is a year behind in school. When Muddy’s older brother Zack, a troubled and gifted guitarist, disappears at “the crossroads”, Muddy and the rest of The Accidentals decide to cross over to an alternate reality where music has real power, and find him. Author David Simms has worked with many special education students, and draws realistic, sympathetic portraits of his characters. It’s cool to see ordinary, music-loving kids with disabilities as the heroes of the story.

 

 Cryer’s Cross by Lisa McMann

Sixteen year old Kendall has obsessive compulsive disorder. She’s been able to function in a carefully constructed world, and that begins to disintegrate when a girl disappears, and then, shortly after that, her boyfriend. Did Kendall have something to do with the disappearances? Or will her obsessiveness lead her to become a victim? Kendall is a very sympathetic character struggling with a difficult situation that is complicated by her obsessive compulsive disorder.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on July 4, 2015 by , Reply

The Compulsive Power of Reading: Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews


V.C. Andrews’  1979 novel Flowers in the Attic has been adapted into a Lifetime movie with Ellen Burstyn and Heather Graham, which will premiere later this month (see the trailer here). This movie promises to stay much closer to the book than the 1987 adaptation, which left out some important parts of the book. She also has a  new book coming out soon, The Unwelcomed Child (Andrews died in 1986, after writing just seven novels, and now has over 80 published books– making her possibly the most prolific dead writer ever).

If you were a girl growing up in the 1970s or 1980s you’ve probably at least heard of Flowers in the Attic. It’s been a long time since I read it, but I have a strong memory of reading it. You wouldn’t think that a story about four kids locked in an attic for years would be a compelling read– how much action can there really be? Maybe as a 12 year old the plot didn’t feel as telegraphed to me as it does now. The language feels like it comes straight from “old-skool” romance,  but the setting is gothic and the tone is disturbing. I wasn’t a critical reader at that age, I was just caught up in the story, as told by a grown Cathy Dollanganger about her 12 year old self.  Flowers in the Attic was a compulsive read and I read it cover to cover, and the other books in the Dollanganger saga, although my favorite Andrews book is the stand alone My Sweet Audrina.

At the same time that I am tempted to go back to it, though, I haven’t quite been able to bring myself to do it. It’s like being a moth attracted to bright light– I’m not sure I want to get close enough to go back to the awfulness of the grandmother, the monstrosity of the mother, the incest, rape, physical abuse, and abandonment. It probably doesn’t bother an uncritical teenage reader dealing with unfamiliar (or maybe familiar, but under the surface) emotions and physical changes, but do I want to go there again? Andrews’ books have been compared to the Twilight books because they’re such compulsive reads, across generations–once you start, resistance is futile. Do I really want to lose my weekend to the Dollangangers?

What makes Flowers in the Attic so compelling? Lots of people have tried to come up with an answer to why girls and women would read a story this full of crazysauce (a term I picked up from Sarah Wendell that fits this book so very well) and I’m not sure any of them got it quite right. And unlike Twilight, it doesn’t seem like there will be an entire shelf of knockoff crossover YA creepy family horror stories  in the bookstore anytime soon. Her books, with their distinctive covers, still seem to me like the kind you read under the covers.

In researching V.C. Andrews I discovered that people who asked about books similar to Flowers in the Attic were mostly given lists of Andrews’ books, and more than once someone said that her books are their own genre. In an article on Andrews, Sara Gran and Megan Abbott note:

Though there’s an obvious debt to the Brontë sisters, nineteenth-century sensation novels like Lady Audley’s Secret, and Daphne du Maurier’s Gothic fiction, at heart Andrews’s novels have little in common with the genres where they ought to fit. They’re too offbeat for romance, too slow to qualify as thrillers, too explicit for Gothic, and far too dark and complex for young adult.

Young adult books have gotten pretty dark and complex, if you ask me, but with an audience including 12 year olds and 60 year olds, it does make it difficult to know where to shelve the book.

Curiously, for someone who makes a living duplicating Andrews’ style, Andrew Neiderman, who ghostwrites her books, said in an interview:

The wonder of V.C. Andrews, which makes it hard for people to duplicate, is that it’s not just one genre. It’s not just horror stories or love stories—it’s a recipe, a mixture of these genres in the books that makes it work, that people have not been able to emulate, because a lot of people have tried.

I’d love to know what authors or books he’s referring to, because even if they’re not totally successful, it would be interesting to see what other people have come up with in their attempts to emulate her work. Do people graduate from her books? What do they read next?

Will I go back and read Flowers in the Attic in honor of the new movie? I haven’t decided. But just learning more about Andrews and her books (an interesting challenge) was compelling enough on its own to make me really, really tempted.

 

For some perspectives on the books (and occasionally, some drinking games) here are some links you might check out.

 

“”I May Look Like Her, But Inside I Am Honorable”! Flowers in the Attic, Daughters, and Moms”  by Tammy Oler at Slate.com

 

The Complete V.C. Andrews. This unofficial website links to a variety of articles on V.C. Andrews, her books, and related topics.

 

“Interview with Ann Patty, Editor of Flowers in the Attic“ by Robin Wasserman at The Toast.net

 

“V.C. Andrews and Disability Horror” by Madeleine Lloyd-Davies at The Toast.net. I loved this. I have been thinking about disability horror a lot lately.

 

“Dark Family: V.C. Andrews and the Secret Life of Girls” by Sara Gran and Megan Abbott, in the September 2009 issue of Believer Magazine. This is as close to serious analysis as I found, and I think the authors did a pretty good job of nailing why the books appeal to girls. Although I’m middle-aged, so you would probably be wise to check it against the experience of teen girls of your acquaintance.

 

“Twilight vs. Flowers in the Attic: Sick Sex Smackdown, Eighties Style” by Alyx Dellamonica at Tor.com. Another informal look, this one with some more critical thought put into it. I like Dellamonica’s idea that the book falls into a stretch of development between  “unreal” childhood fears like the monster under the bed and the ability to deal with realistic threats in the wider world. I wasn’t a fan of her conclusion, though.

 

“Lurid: Flowers in the Attic” by Karina Wilson at LitReactor.com. A rather gleeful look back and critical once-over of the author’s personal favorite “Bad Book”.

 

“Flowers in the Attic: Ain’t Sexy, He’s My Brother”. Lizzie Skurnick’s  original column at Jezebel on Flowers in the Attic, which appears in a more polished form in her book Shelf Discovery.

 

“Flower Scowler” by Erin Callahan at Forever  Young Adult. The first post in a series where Callahan reads and dissects each chapter in Flowers in the Attic, which includes the Flowers in the Attic drinking game. This is a very informal, funny examination of the book.

 

“Revisiting My Sixth Grade Bookshelf: Flowers in the Attic” by Ashley Perks at xoJane.com. An informal look back at the book.

 

“In The Attic: Whips, Witches, and a Peculiar Princess” by Gillian Flynn at NPR.org.  The author of Gone Girl writes about her infatuation with the book as a teen and how it inspired her interest in “wicked women”.

 

“Flowers (And Family Dysfunction) in the Attic” by Heidi W. Durrow at NPR.org. Durrow writes about her personal love of the book, no analysis involved.

 

 

 

Posted on January 14, 2014 by , Reply