Graphic Novel Review – Spinning by Tillie Walden (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Memoir/Non-Fiction/Graphic Novel
Length: 400 pages
Publisher: First Second
Release Date: September 12, 2017
ISBN-13 : 978-1626729407
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Gift
Rating: 5/5 stars
“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. Skating was a central piece of her identity, her safe haven from the stress of school, bullies, and family. But 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 team, were nowhere close to Olympic hopefuls. The more Tillie thought about it, the more Tillie realized she’d outgrown her passion―and she finally needed to find her own voice.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got a copy of this book as a Christmas gift.
Thoughts: I enjoyed this a lot, not quite as much as “On a Sunbeam” but it was an excellent memoir of Tillie’s time growing up as a figure skater. The illustration is beautifully done and watching Tillie push through middle school and high school trying to figure out what she wants to do was relatable.
Tillie is dealing with what a lot of teens deal with; bullies, friends, school, family. She just has the additional burden of choosing to leave something she’s excellent at because she doesn’t like how that activity fits in with her personality and the rest of her life. It was an engaging and incredibly easy to relate to story that I really enjoyed.
This brought back a lot of memories of taking my son to ice rinks for hockey all the time and of when he made the decision to stop hockey doing so intensely and focus on other things. It also reminded me of growing up and my decision to stop playing music so intensely and focus on a science career. I feel like most people have this point in their lives where they need to step back and decide what their ability really is in an area and what would make them happy.
My Summary (5/5): Overall I really loved this. The illustration is beautiful and the story is engaging and well done. I think this is a graphic novel a lot of people will read and relate to in some way. It’s both a memoir of Walden’s time in middle school/high school and a coming of age story. I will continue to read Walden’s graphic novels as they are released; I really enjoy both her illustration and writing style.
