The pull of the circle
Graphic novels revolving around the contemporary Jewish experience are not exactly rare, but as always, quantity does not necessarily imply quality. Cue in Vanessa Davis’ hefty-sized Make Me A Woman, a book that is frequently insightful, but at other times rather indolent.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of reason to love this volume. Davis is at her best when capturing the peculiarities of being ensconced within a tightly-knit Jewish community from an early age, finding herself unable to escape the pull of the circle regardless of where she goes. Starting with a story on her own bat mitzvah, Davis portrays what it was like to come of age within such a restrictive environment—going to Hebrew school and being surrounded by family members who were insistent on forcing her roots on her—she believes it has impacted her adult life in more ways than one. “Sometimes I think that this overexposure to developing Jewish boys has contributed to a lifelong romantic aversion to them.” The description of an ideological drifting away from her heritage and her religious affiliations over time is especially powerful, where her initial attempts of rebellion against what she calls the “super Jewish mindset” come undone through involuntary spurts of long-ingrained notions about the world, like, say, her ambiguities regarding the Israel-Palestine debate.
There is a distinct focus here on Davis’ adolescence, a tumultuous time for her, and one that represents a transition from the submissive Jewish schoolgirl she was to the confident worldly woman she has become today. She is deliciously candid about her past, right down to the most embarrassing details, whether to do with her weight issues (resulting in a strange affinity for Fat Camp), her curiousity about boys, petty rivalries, volatile best friends…
culminating in a vivid summary of her formative years. Davis has a knack for locating the emotional nut in given situations, as awkward and cringeworthy as these might be; her humour is borne of an ability to pinpoint the most universal of human weaknesses rather than relying on straight out jokes. And what is most apparent throughout, even in her condemnation of the “neurotic Jews” depicted in the popular media, or her failure to connect with her own Judaism, is a strong undercurrent of familial ties, especially in vignettes that feature her mother, someone who had a great (although not always appreciated) influence in her life.
The illustrations in Make Me A Woman are gorgeous, particularly those in watercolour, possessing a dreamlike quality thanks to the fact that this isn’t your regular paneled graphic novel. I’m particularly fond of the full-page self-portraits that show Davis in a variety of poses and outfits in all her rotund glory. Besides these, images mostly weave around the page of their own accord, undeterred by lines or boxes, which, while making for an arresting visual, can sometimes get a bit tedious to follow, almost like trying to find chronology in a collage. The mid-section of the book is covered with shorter pencil sketches of the diary comic variety, a concept that has been executed much more interestingly by other cartoonists in their compilations. Here, it just feels self-indulgent because many of these shorts don’t necessarily have anything to do with the larger narrative, and although Davis has said that they were made to look unfinished on purpose, that just makes them more difficult to take seriously.
There are little details in the artwork that you might miss the first time around and appreciate on a second look; Davis is apt at offering up little nuances in expressions and ambience that capture given circumstances, but insofar as her storytelling is concerned, she doesn’t appear all that sure-footed. The narration is written in squiggly calligraphy that looks cluttered—had it been tidier, it would’ve made for a much more aesthetically-pleasing contrast against the already squiggly visuals.
I can’t help but wish that Davis had done away with the superfluous stories about parties and times spent with her boyfriend or many of the other unnecessary ‘filler’ anecdotes that she’s chosen to include here. Instead, I would’ve loved it if she’d expanded more on her struggles with her Jewish identity over the years, something that Make Me A Woman certainly promises, but doesn’t dive fully into. This is, after all, where her perspective would have provided the most unique insights.
Posted on: 2012-02-04 10:25
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