Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A + E 4ever



A + E 4ever by ilike merey
  • Paperback: 214 pages
  • Publisher: Lethe Press (September 25, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1590213904
  • ISBN-13: 978-1590213902
Asher Machnik is a teenage boy cursed with a beautiful androgynous face. Guys punch him, girls slag him and by high school he's developed an intense fear of being touched. Art remains his only escape from an otherwise emotionally empty life. 

Eulalie Mason is the lonely, tough-talking dyke from school who befriends Ash. The only one to see and accept all of his sides as a loner, a fellow artist and a best friend, she's starting to wonder if ash is ever going to see all of her.... 

a + e 4EVER is a graphic novel set in that ambiguous crossroads where love and friendship, boy and girl, straight and gay meet. It goes where few books have ventured, into genderqueer life, where affections aren't black and white.

This is the first graphic novel well, except for mangas..:)… but I find myself thoroughly in love with this book…

First and foremost, I finally understand why it’s a+e 4EVER, it stands for the 2 protagonist, Asher and Eulalie.

The fonts are cool and it made it easy for readers to internalize what the characters felt, and amazingly, it even seemed easy to picture out how they say it, or how loud just by reading..:)…. Merey combined manga, sketches, graphic art, etc, and it is wonderful.

The characters are complicated in a good way, it talks about stereotyping. A+e 4EVER has a beautiful plot in which 2 people labeled outcast by the world find strength and friendship in each other. They're both outsiders, Jewish, artist, music lovers, but most of all, they're both in desperate need of a best friend. They need each other.

This book perfectly presents us to a chaos-that is high school, how someone may find this, a place of torture instead of learning, and this is the truth in some cases. There are a lot of bullies out there who does nothing but pushed each person they encounter done. Merey weaves an enchanting novel that brought us the roller-coaster of the emotions and daily battles a teen goes.

.. I admired the author for taking the risk of presenting this kind of issues (stereotyping, bullying, sex, self-identity)… it’s not many who dive into this one without making the readers disgusted, but this book is exceptional and I think recommended for teens or people over the age of 15, or maybe 18,..but this surely a teen book. Merey is another author to watch out for!

In short, a+e 4EVER is a heartbreakingly-beautiful novel that would surely tug anyone’s heart, about the realities in life, a person could experience just by being different. Very highly recommended!




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1 comment:

  1. First of all, I like the cover. Not expecting this to be a graphic novel. I haven't read any yet, except manga, of course. I think this is an appropriate book on what's happening now in most schools in the Philippines. Sad but true.

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