summer blonde - adrian tomine

I had only read Shortcomings before Summer Blonde, and though I've always been fond of Adrian Tomine's illustrations, I don't call myself a big fan of his storytelling, unless angsty, verbose, self-reflective bordering-on-the-mundane conflict is what I'm in the mood for. But maybe I judged too soon. Summer Blonde's strength is that it's a collection of four stories and we get a better glimpse of Tomine's world and what stories he wants to tell. I had a problem with the pacing in all but one of the stories; I would say the pacing and his writing are Tomine's greatest weaknesses. He shows a remarkable empathy for his characters, however - if you were to meet Tomine for the first time he'd probably figure you out in a heartbeat, though he would probably also embellish you with extra emotional baggage/issues as well. Back to his characters, though they're usually fleshed out they also lack a certain wholeness, which could be due to the issues said characters might be facing... as you encounter them you realize you're only peeking into a small part of their lives and their outcome is ambiguous. An entertaining read, read it for the art if not for a strong dose of Adrian Tomine-y goodness...