Boundless

Starred review from March 13, 2017
Tamaki (This One Summer, SuperMutant Magic Academy) presents the adult, oblique side of her work in this revelatory collection of short stories. These strips are playful yet pensive; in the introductory story, the narrator asks, “Do I want to look at art at 2 AM or eat a donut in the park?” Many, including “Bed Bug” and “Half-Life,” track the formation and dissolution of romantic relationships. In “Body Pods,” a young woman goes through her history of romantic partners, all fans of the titular invented sci-fi movie. A surreal, dreamlike sense of dread and sadness pervades many of these stories, but wry sympathy for the often lost characters takes Tamaki’s already formidable cartooning skills to a new level. Artistically, obsessive-looking rendering juts up against spontaneous, sparse line work, mirroring the disorientation the narrators experience. Tamaki has delivered an essential collection of truly modern fiction in comics form.

Starred review from June 1, 2017

In a collection of stories that range from ruminations on fantastical cities and the way a cult film influences the lives of a variety of young men to a Hollywood producer reflecting on the legacy of a pornographic sitcom he produced in the 1990s to the tale of a mysterious piece of music that appears on the Internet and inspires almost mystical devotion in its fans, Tamaki (SuperMutant Magic Academy) showcases her incredible skills as both illustrator and storyteller. Whether otherworldly or realistic, Tamaki's stories are filled with humor, pathos, and empathy for characters who struggle to transcend their circumstances, histories, and limitations. Tamaki seems capable of drawing in almost any style, and at times it seems that the confines of the page are unable to contain the energy and inventiveness she brings to every moment of this volume. VERDICT The stories here could easily stand alongside those in any short-story collection released in any genre this year. Adult readers who might not already know Tamaki's award-winning YA titles (This One Summer; Skim) will discover what they've been missing. [See author Q&A, p. 87.]--TB

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2018

Could you shrink to become nothing but an idea in the air: alive, but with no body or voice? Could bedbugs ruin your life while simultaneously strengthening your marriage? What do fans of Radiohead and the author's earlier Sex Coven have in common? The answers are not supplied in these fleeting yet haunting stories told through art and spare text. Tamaki allows readers to interpret this book for themselves while slipping under the skin to scratch the icky spots many of us don't wish to see. In "1.Jenny," for instance, a woman questions the alternative and more interesting version of her life when it appears on the mirror site of Facebook. She grows uncomfortable with the dichotomy of the life she is living vs. the one 1.Jenny is posting about. Beneath each character's plight, readers can witness vulnerable versions of themselves. Tamaki's characters grapple with adult issues that demand time for reflection. VERDICT A thoughtful choice for older teens and college students who question the idea of a single linear path.-Pamela Schembri, Horace Greeley High School, Chappaqua, NY

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2017
Coming off the whirlwind success of her YA graphic novel, This One Summer (2014) and her wryly funny SuperMutant Magic Academy (2016), Tamaki now offers a selection of short comics for adults that are just as captivating. Tamaki gives readers intimate, warts-and-all glimpses into the lives of her characters, some of whom occupy a world almostbut not quitelike our own. In 1.Jenny, a woman becomes preoccupied with a Facebook profile of herself, which reveals a slightly different life than the one she's living. Half Life, meanwhile, follows a woman trying to carry on with her daily existence as she shrinks to a subatomic level. In every story, Tamaki's artwork is a treat. Her confident line work alternates between bold, thick outlines and finer, jittery pen strokes, and she often expands scenes to fill whole pages. In The Clairfree System, for instance, sales-pitch voiceover appears atop strikingly shadowy, finely cross-hatched artful images of women, and the contrast is stunning. In these marvelously odd, sf-tinged packages, Tamaki captures deep truths about the human experience. Even animal characters, as in the titular story, have the petty, hypocritical, overanalyzing tendencies of her human characters. And yet, nothing ever seems grim: despite the disappointments, there are moments of satisfaction in breaking free of the expectations that weigh down her characters. It's a profoundly honest, bittersweet picture of human nature, made all the more haunting by her enchanting artwork.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)