She is at this point well into her creative endeavours, with easter eggs to Lynda Barry comics showing where her tastes lay. It is also fascinating, as with Smile, to see the evolution of Raina as a young artist. The talented Telgemeier has done and mastered this kind of storytelling before, but for some reason, maybe because of the parental issues explored, it feels more like it has more gravitas here. The long simmering snake subplot is an example of both combining so that we can experience a trauma to young Raina which is really not a trauma. Telgemeier tells her tale with a completeness of emotion, covering the funniest little portions and smallest drops of pain with careful measure. It seems like Raina has very much given up at this point in her early teen life on ever having a connection to Amara.Īlong the way clues are dropped in the present and past that their parents are slowly also not getting along, with the travails of lack of enough living space, job loss, and absence of discipline over the children becoming simmering issues. Happiness over the years at Amara’s arrival and growing up dampens simply because the two do not get along very well. As we see in numerous flashbacks, Raina was desperate at a young age for a little sister.

They are heading to a family reunion, off in another state, but with their father coming along separately.īut Raina does not really register this development, and instead is focused on surviving the trip with Amara. Sisters tells of Raina, her younger sister Amara, even younger brother, and mom embarking on a long road trip in a packed minivan back in the mythical land of the 1980’s. Telgemeier gives us another semi-autobiographical tale, just like she did in Smile, and makes this story live comfortably in the midst of that journey.

The award winning creator has already done this in Smile and Drama, her previous graphic novels.Īnd now she is grappling with the edges of parental estrangement, possibly leading to divorce, in her latest work Sisters. Raina uses her signature humor and charm in both present-day narrative and perfectly placed flashbacks to tell the story of her relationship with her sister, which unfolds during the course of a road trip from their home in San Francisco to a family reunion in Colorado.Tackling serious subject matters from a young persons point of view is not new for Raina Telgemeier. Their relationship doesn't improve much over the years, but when a baby brother enters the picture and later, something doesn't seem right between their parents, they realize they must figure out how to get along. Amara is cute, but she's also a cranky, grouchy baby, and mostly prefers to play by herself. But once Amara is born, things aren't quite how she expected them to be. The companion to Raina Telgemeier's #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling and Eisner Award-winning graphic memoir, SMILE.

Amara telgemeier