ARC provided by Netgalley

Amazing and oft-disturbing look at the lives of two young women animators whose personal dramas become their cartoons without becoming cartoonish. ( )

So. Damn. Good. ( )

Impressive debut. A compelling exploration of the creative pursuit and art: who it's for, why and how it's made, how it hurts and heals and changes, where it comes from, and who it belongs to. ( )

I picked up this book on the strength of the reviews I read for it. Given the high praise everywhere I turned, I was expecting a heartwarming novel about female friendship. What I got instead was a novel full of melodrama and disfunction. So much disfunction. And that, above all else, is what soured me on this novel. The writing is decent (though the author overestimates how often people throw up; in this novel the characters are constantly hurling into trash bins), and the characters fairly interesting (even though Mel came across as more of a caricature herself at times). But I quickly grew tired of the fact that just about every relationship in this novel was incredibly disfunctional. Relationships between women, between men and women, between mothers and daughters… all broken in some way and so sad to watch. There was nothing redeeming or uplifting here, and I turned the last page grateful it was over - and sorry I’d wasted so much of my time sticking it out. (It should have ended at least 50 pages earlier!) ( )

I read about this book on Litsy. One of the people I follow started raving about how great this book was. Then another person started stating this is one to look out for in January. Then another and then another. So, will I join up in the rave reviews?

This is the story about two college friends- Sharon and Mel- who bond over weird animation and older (to them) cartoons from MTV. They set out and make an animated film based on Adelle's life which gains a bit of fame in the indy scene.

Mel starts to spiral and act out, while Sharon starts to get enticed by another studio. Then something happens so out of left field that even if you began to think you know what it is, it more than likely isn't it.

This book is so well written and it draws the reader in. The story of the two women is so intriguing and the characters are so well developed. It is hard to critique those aspects of this book.

Where it was difficult is this book takes so many sharp left turns that I kind of wondered what exactly I just read. The turns were not weird, but reality based; that is not the critique. What happens and the topics that are covered are all over the place. It became a bit distracting and I enjoyed the book!

I gave this one 3.5 stars. It is good, but too many turns. I would be interested in hearing why others loved it and how they moved around the strange turns.

I wish to thank NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this book. I received it for free in exchange for an honest review. ( )