Ghost Stories by Whit Taylor
Release: January 10th, 2018
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Rosarium Publishing
Source: NetGalley
Ghost Stories Synopsis:
Ghost Stories is a graphic novel collection offering three haunting explorations. Granted the chance to meet three of her dead idols in “Ghost,” the author’s cartoon-self embarks on a journey to remote and unanticipated landscapes, in a story of self-discovery and healing. In “Wallpaper,” a child tells the story of a household move, remodel, and loss through the lens of flashbulb memory. And in “Makers,” two girls with an unorthodox friendship make a rocky transition into adulthood. Throughout each tale, ghosts exist as past selves and remnants of past relationships that are met with inquiry, resolution, and personal rebirth.
Review:
A BIG Thank You to NetGalley and Rosarium Publishing for providing me a copy of “Ghost Stories” by Whit Taylor in exchange for my review. This book was a big disappointment! I had to force myself to finish reading this book repeatedly.
To begin with, the title is misleading and hardly has anything to do with ghosts. When I picked up the book, I expected to read some spooky tales about haunting and apparitions. I guess the “ghosts” interpret the traces of our personalities and who we used to be before we changed over time with experiences.
The first story started off slightly interesting in which the author talks about evolution and gets philosophical in human behavior. However, it quickly lost my interest when it got too preachy about Darwin’s theory and suddenly shifted focus to the protagonist’s mental illness. The pacing was just all over the place and I didn’t understand what was going on. The only part I enjoyed was the short story in between about the old woman waiting for her ‘Sweet William’.
The second story about wallpapers was just confusing. I didn’t understand the plot or the point of this tale. On a side note, the illustrations are better in this one because they have a consistent theme and are mostly symmetrical.
The third story was decent because it held my interest over Tessa and Hope. It’s a story that almost anyone can relate to because we have experienced being phased out by a friend. Unfortunately, this story ended in a very abrupt manner leaving me frustrated.
In addition to all this, the illustrations are drawn in a very crude manner that didn’t really appeal to me. While I appreciate the author for attempting this project single handed, I wish she had spent more time on details. It is clear that she has not given attention to details in the artwork of the first and third story (where there is content) but has given a lot of detail in the second story that hardly has any content. Although it had potential, the story execution was poor due to the artistic style. Perhaps if the author had released it as three separate books with better illustrations, I would have enjoyed it.
Overall, I felt this was a very ‘artsy’ book with simple illustrations that wasn’t my cup of tea. I give it 2/5 stars for the effort and the concept over the book.
