'Northranger' - I wanted to give it a go after loving Rey Terciero's other works, 'Swan Lake: Quest for the Kingdoms' and 'Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy: A Modern Graphic Novel Retelling of Little Women', and because 'Northanger Abbey', of which this is a loose retelling, is the only Jane Austen novel I can say I like. It took a while - for it to be delivered to my house, and for me to finish it - and I'm glad to have finally read it. I'm glad it scared me--no, I wasn't scared of its horror movie references, themes and analyses, but it further opened my eyes, and it shocked me to see and understand how life - the world - can be limitlessly, senselessly cruel and dangerous to LBGTQ+ people, especially the youth, even in contemporary times.
When will the world learn to just accept humanity as it is? Accept how wonderfully diverse we all are? We are not all the same. We can't be. It's impossible. When will the old, outdated, out of touch, irrelevant (and let's tell it as we see it: mostly horrible, abusive, evil and desperate) privileged class/power in society learn to just grow up and face reality already?'Northranger' can be sweet, but it is mostly heartbreaking. I can absolutely tell that Rey Terciero had drawn from some personal experiences in writing it. Similar to 'Flamer' by Mike Curato, it is so raw and real it hurts.
Every character is unforgettable, substantial, complex, and a force to be reckoned with, and certainly not all of them are likeable. The creepy, intense, mystery-driven, brown and black and white graphic novel (I love the art, and the characters' expressions) is a true coming-of-age teen LBGTQ story; no plot, just a messy, up-and-down, hot-and-cold, beautiful and scary life experience.
For horror films, and haunted houses, are nothing compared to how scary the real world is.
And how complicated and secretive families can be.
'Northranger' - I'm keeping my review on it short, as I shan't dare reveal anything spoiler-y, in the hope that others will want to read it and experience it blind, creeped out, shocked, saddened, and intrigued by its mysteries themselves. It could have had more in its romance element - I'll be honest, I wasn't quite feeling it between the two leads - plus not everything is resolved by the end (but hey, that is real life, right? What end?), and I can't stand how awful, ignorant, thoughtless and selfish some of the adults are, to children, and to their children, even the adults who don't really mean to be bigoted. They could have been held accountable further, with deeper realising, I believe. Content warning for domestic violence and abuse, as well as homophobia and racism.
Dementia is another theme in the story that is handled well. Also toxic masculinity. Then there's depression, mental and emotional health.
I don't like most of the films and TV shows that are praised uncritically by the young characters in 'Northranger' (I mean seriously - 'Buffy'? Coppola's 'Bram Stoker's Dracula'? 'Sixteen Candles'!?, in a book like this!?). But once in a blue moon it shares my tastes, in accolading 'Interview with a Vampire', 'Jennifer's Body', 'A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night', and 'Love, Simon' (though how has the main character never heard of that film until he is shown it on DVD? And dude: read books as well as watch movies).
I still don't like horror movies - not usually, not the conventional kind. I may not understand some people's love for them, but that doesn't mean I don't want to listen and try to understand should they explain why they love them, and why they would mean so much to them, in their lives. I won't dismiss them, just because they're not for me. I won't dismiss an entire genre of film - one of the oldest, and one of the oldest forms of storytelling in humankind's story-loving history - like too many people remain determined to dismiss an entire community, groups of people, for existing.
Hate crime is hate crime.
Bigots, I will say it again: grow up, listen, look around you, stop being stubborn (9 times out of 10 you're not afraid of change, you're being arseholes for the sake of it), get out of your little bubble (and your head out of you arse), and get your act together already.
You are killing children - the youth, future generations - with your ignorance and fearmongering. Stop it now.
Final Score: 3.5/5
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