Walden, Tillie – Spinning

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Spinning

If you’re anything like me, you scan the “best of” lists at the end of the year more to check to see if you missed something rather than looking for a reason to get outraged if your favorite didn’t make the list. Unless you’re an internet troll, I guess. Anyway, I hadn’t heard of this book before seeing it on a list (Onion AV Club maybe?), and wow am I glad that I didn’t miss it. This is Tillie’s graphic memoir (and at least her third book) and, as of this writing, she’s 21. Maybe you’re thinking that 21 is too young to put out a memoir, that a person that young wouldn’t have the perspective or insight to have much to say. Yeah, I might have guessed that too, and you and me both were very, very wrong. This is the story of Tillie’s life as she navigated being in constant training for competitive ice skating, starting at a very young age. She had to get up ridiculously early, was forced to socialize with people that she otherwise didn’t like (mostly), had her skating literally judged constantly, and otherwise tried to navigate growing up with all of that hanging over her. Oh, and she knew from a very young age that she was gay, but wasn’t sure when/how to tell anybody. She also had parents with wildly differing enthusiasm levels for what she was doing, along with all the problems that come with that. I feel like the laziest reviewer in the world when I constantly say that I don’t want to ruin a book by talking about it, that it should be experienced by the reader with as few preconceived notions as possible. And hey, here I go again, doing that exact same thing! But this time I’m reviewing a book that is legitimately one of the best things I’ve read all year, and it’s not just me saying it! She’s a graduate of the Center for Cartoon Studies and it shows; she has some serious skills, especially when you consider the fact that most of her life was devoted to an entirely different field. In here she shows no fear, letting quiet moments become awkward when necessary, speeding through some of the parts that needed it, and just generally knowing when to go for an emotional gut punch and when to back away. I’m still stunned that she’s so young! It’s clear that the next generation of cartoonists is going to have a lot more training in the field before putting their books out. I guess purists/cranks might say that books lose a bit of their charm when they’re so expertly done (getting away from the punk aesthetic), but screw that. Mini comics by people who are making it up as they go are one of my favorite things in the world, but another favorite thing is seeing somebody put it all together and producing a masterpiece. Tillie managed that here, and everybody reading this who’s wondering what to splurge on with that holiday money should look no further than this book. $22.99