La Perdida is a coming of age story that won the 2002 "Best New Series" Harvey Award; however, in no way is it for underage readers.

An introductory summary is: Although her father is a Mexican, Carla Olivares has never been to Mexico and neither does she know much about her father since her parents' divorce. Obstinate, selfish, and believing in her own judgment the most, she heads to Mexico to live among the locals. In the beginning, she succeeds in this quest to a degree, despite looking the other way about her Mexican boyfriend Oscar's petty crimes, but at the end, her Mexican good friends, including the boyfriend, show their true colors and Carla finds herself inside a black hole of violence, kidnapping, and high crime. Will she be able to get out of this hellhole is for the reader to find out.

Carla is the narrator of the story and the protagonist, a reckless, foolhardy protagonist who is unaware of her own shortcomings. As a matter of fact, I have never disliked any protagonist as much as I disliked her in all my reading. A criminal protagonist if somewhat lovable, I can accept and feel empathy for, but one whose stupidity rises to this degree is totally annoying. If she were a real person, she would deserve to be caged and kept under her mother's watchful eye till Kingdom come.

On the other hand, the book is well-written, and the black-and-white cartoon artwork is hauntingly insightful. Some positives for the book are: its keen perception of Mexican life, how the tourists and non-Mexicans are seen and assessed by the locals, the flow of the story, the sequence of the scenes, the pace that becomes much faster at the end, the structure of the plot.

The language of the book, mainly its sections worded in Spanish, when translated don't sound too bad, but in Spanish, they are terrible curses and a parent may choose to be more careful in letting a child see those.

This is the second manga book I have read. In no way, it is like the old-fashioned cartoon comics. The story is a serious one, and no matter how choppily and in short form it is told, the masterful drawings make up for the lack of descriptive prose.

observing the drawings and learning how to write cartoon novels.

the drawings.

the main character.

annoyed.

is Jessica Abel, who is also a cartoonist. She teaches at New York School of Visual Arts, and she has written two books on learning and mastering comics.

Some of her other books are: Life Sucks, Soundtrack and Mirror, Window, Artbabe.

Maybe I recommend it, but read it at your own risk.

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Created Jul 17, 2013 at 6:43pm • Submit your own review...