Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

Thrash (Strange Lies, 2017, etc.) returns with a graphic memoir blended with fiction.A year and a half after Honor Girl (2015) ends, Thrash is a high school junior who has come out as lesbian; she is also depressed and flunking out of her exclusive prep school. She lives a life of ease and plenty with her overbearing, henpecking mother and federal judge father in their sprawling Atlanta home. Her only real sense of responsibility is to her beloved gray cat, Tommi, recently lost. While searching her cavernous house for Tommi, she befriends a ghost—also named Tommy—who lives in stark economic contrast to her. With a bit of insightful investigation, Thrash soon learns more about Tommy's past, her father, and herself. Through an acute lens, Thrash has masterfully captured the tedium and melancholy of being a teenager: the self-doubt and preoccupation, the crushing ennui, and the sense of futility. In one scene, she recalls coming out, expecting this to be the topic of conversation at school, only to be ignored by her peers. Mixing recollections with a supernatural Hamlet-inspired theme, her watercolor-tinged illustrations add a wonderfully ethereal layer to an already nuanced offering. Defying genre boundaries, Thrash has proven herself a capable memoirist able to pinpoint her own pivotal life moments, turn them into art, and take risks with conventions. Nearly all characters present as white.A thoughtful and compelling exploration of adolescence. (Graphic memoir/fiction. 13-adult)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

Gr 8 Up-Picking up a year and a half after the events of her graphic memoir, Honor Girl , Thrash once again chronicles her adolescence, this time injecting her narrative with a dose of the supernatural. Growing up in Atlanta, 16-year-old Maggie feels invisible. She came out as a lesbian at the beginning of the school year, with barely any reaction from classmates, and though she is depressed, her stern father and her oblivious socialite mother are unaware of her anguish. Only her cat makes her smile, but her pet's disappearance sends her deeper into turmoil. Tommy, a ghost only she can see, enters the scene, and the two try to uncover his connection to Maggie and her family. Meanwhile, she bonds with her father as she witnesses the harsh realities he confronts in his work as a judge. The author/illustrator looks back on her teen years with a pitch-perfect blend of caustic humor, melancholy, and tenderness, depicting her younger self's frustration with her wealthy, ignorant cohorts and her growing understanding of her own privilege. Her linework is slightly unpolished, but her manga-esque illustrations brim with emotion; her use of color is particularly inspired. VERDICT Thrash boldly mixes memoir and fiction for a perceptive exploration of her past that will resonate profoundly with readers of Honor Girl , Laurie Halse Anderson and Emily Carroll's Speak: The Graphic Novel , and Katie Green's Lighter Than My Shadow . Mahnaz Dar , School Library Journal

ALA Booklist (Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

Thrash follows her debut, Honor Girl? (2015), with another memoir, this time chronicling a period of intense isolation and depression during her junior year of high school. Riding a wave of apathy and avoiding the demanding work of her AP classes, she aimlessly wanders the four-story house she shares with her emotionally unavailable parents. Only when her beloved cat disappears is Thrash pushed into action, but her search soon takes on a broader and more deeply felt meaning as she learns more about her family. Thrash's distinctive style, drawn with pen and watercolor pencil, is simple and straightforward. Faces are predominantly expressionless with large-eyed blank stares, but the panels are not without emotion, and the horror-tinged dream sequences are vivid and unsettling. Although the emotional weight of this memoir can feel relentless, much of the tension is resolved toward the end, and readers are left with a hopeful conclusion. This should resonate with readers looking for unusual realistic fiction that doesn't shy away from difficult themes.

Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

In this follow-up to Honor Girl, Thrash recounts details from her junior year: she's depressed and failing high school; her beloved cat disappears; her federal-judge father and blue-blood mother are oblivious; and she believes there's a teenage ghost in her Atlanta home. Illustrated with a muted palette, Thrash's graphic-novel mash-up of memoir and ghost story contemplates loss and connection with ample wit and candor.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Thrash (Strange Lies, 2017, etc.) returns with a graphic memoir blended with fiction.A year and a half after Honor Girl (2015) ends, Thrash is a high school junior who has come out as lesbian; she is also depressed and flunking out of her exclusive prep school. She lives a life of ease and plenty with her overbearing, henpecking mother and federal judge father in their sprawling Atlanta home. Her only real sense of responsibility is to her beloved gray cat, Tommi, recently lost. While searching her cavernous house for Tommi, she befriends a ghost—also named Tommy—who lives in stark economic contrast to her. With a bit of insightful investigation, Thrash soon learns more about Tommy's past, her father, and herself. Through an acute lens, Thrash has masterfully captured the tedium and melancholy of being a teenager: the self-doubt and preoccupation, the crushing ennui, and the sense of futility. In one scene, she recalls coming out, expecting this to be the topic of conversation at school, only to be ignored by her peers. Mixing recollections with a supernatural Hamlet-inspired theme, her watercolor-tinged illustrations add a wonderfully ethereal layer to an already nuanced offering. Defying genre boundaries, Thrash has proven herself a capable memoirist able to pinpoint her own pivotal life moments, turn them into art, and take risks with conventions. Nearly all characters present as white.A thoughtful and compelling exploration of adolescence. (Graphic memoir/fiction. 13-adult)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In a follow-up to her debut graphic memoir Honor Girl, Thrash chronicles her junior year at a posh Atlanta prep school, adding a magical bent. Maggie-s already wrestling with plummeting grades, depression, her lesbian identity, and her self-absorbed parents. Then her cat, Tommi, disappears and she discovers a secret hallway in her home-and within it, a thoughtful and determined boy her age named Tommy, who looks ghostly but seems real. Their conversations reveal a world Maggie has never seen. Tommy digs ditches to make money for college, and he doesn-t know what a Chinese restaurant is. Her life looks just as foreign to him: when she chooses a college by pointing to one in a guidebook, oblivious to its cost, he says, -Wow. Life is just that easy for you, isn-t it?- Thrash-s bone-dry observational humor stays provocative (-In the South... Democrats go bird hunting while Republicans go deer hunting-), and her rugged draftsmanship and solid toolbox of visual storytelling techniques can handle any emotional register with honesty: teen ennui; cold exchanges with her parents; angry jabs at the rich, bigoted white boys at her school; and the chilling dreams that haunt Maggie-s nights. Ages 14-up. Agent: Stephen Barr, Writers House. (Oct.)