I Am Not Okay with This : (Netflix Series Tie-In Edition)

This is a pretty strange book… and shorter than I was expecting. I watched the Netflix show and it was quite good, and I was sad when they discontinued it. I thought the source material would give me some answers, but it feels like almost another story. The graphic novel takes a snippet of Sydney’s life, which is a fairly bleak and dark snippet. Sydney’s attitude at times felt fairly realistic to being a teenager, but at other times, it didn’t feel like there was really a point to her ruminations and it didn’t encapsulate the ‘teenage ethos’ as well as the blurb anticipates. Her struggles and the plot were understandable, and the ending was to be expected in light of those, but I’m still not sure what the takeaway here is for the reader.

The use of supernatural powers could have been interesting, but its symbolic use feels quite heavy-handed. The art style is a bit juvenile and not eye-catching; it feels more like a newspaper strip than a graphic novel. Nothing wrong with that—this style might be great for some readers—but it doesn’t add anything to the story being told in a graphic format. The characters have a hint of promise; but due to the length, we don’t get enough backstory or emotional stakes in their lives. There also hints to the themes of trauma and control, but nothing so concrete that these are actually utilized well. This is one of those rare instances where I enjoyed the TV series adaptation more than the source material.