2021 EDIT: I used to love this, and think it was adorable, endearing and hilarious. Sadly, upon rereading, it seems I can only see the flaws.
Its female protagonist Alba - for someone who loves comic books and superheroines - is ridiculously male-dependent. She can't live without her male best friend/Nice Guy love interest Grady constantly by her side, along with other guys who she always turns to for help and validation. It was Grady who came up with the name Cinnamon Girl for Alba's comic book heroine, how did I miss that the first time? Guys are the muses for this "independent" artist girl. *sigh*
The parasitic, beaten-to-death-and-beyond cliché I hate, which I even commented on in my old, positive review: Seriously, why can't a boy and a girl just remain friends? Especially since they grew up together and are like siblings. The boy revealing to the girl protagonist that he's been in love with her since kindergarten, and she'd been completely oblivious of course, gave me flashbacks to the crap 'Mortal Instruments' books. Big step in the opposite-sex couple's relationship or not, it's a tiresome cliché, often used to force in a happy ending. Yeah, I hate it more now. This book doesn't challenge many YA tropes as strongly as it should.
Some, no, most of the characters are more irritating and obnoxious than charming, even for self-absorbed teens.
Then there's the slight homophobia (exacerbated by the fact that there isn't a single queer character present in the entire book), lack of POC rep (beyond tokenism), kink shaming, fatphobia (bewildering when the protagonist herself is described as fat, and she is way too nice and apologetic to people who make her feel ashamed for that), slut shaming (what does it matter how much makeup Alba wears? It's for herself, not for guys' attention), feminine shaming in males and perpetuating toxic masculinity ideas (like, all the guys love girls and breasts in their vicinity; never-below-the-chest bro hugs are an important man code apparently; a boy squealing and showing any exciting emotion is judged as "girly"; normalised small penis jokes; and an allergy to strawberries is seen as one of the most unmanly things ever - go to hell, book), and the casual use of an ableist slur which I will not overlook.
It's like reading 'Whisper' by Chrissie Keighery, another book I used to love, which is also a contemporary Australian YA novel, all over again. Why don't I remember any ableist slurs being used on the first reads?!
I'm just sick of heteronormativity, too. I expect better from my YA, thanks.
'The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl' can be a bit of a boring, plotless slog to get through, as well. The all-encompassing hetero relationship drama doesn't help it. If it were a graphic novel and not prose, it wouldn't exactly be incredible or adventurous.
But the premise is a brilliant, clever coming-of-age metaphor, and ignoring all its problematic features (easily done for its young target audience, I guess), it can be read as cute and lighthearted. I also still think it is, in a way, realistic and relatable.
So 'The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl' receives a new three star rating from me.
Final Score: 3/5
Original Review:
I've been on the fence over whether to give 'The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl' four stars or five. But to heck with the fence, I love it.
'Cinnamon Girl' by Melissa Keil is one of the most adorable, delicious, hilarious, clever, deep and colourful contemporary YA novels I've ever super-sped through in two days. A darn-near perfect summer read. It gave me faith in Australian YA again as well.
If you like Rainbow Rowell's 'Fangirl', Bryan Lee O'Malley's 'Scott Pilgrim', and/or Daniel Clowes' 'Ghost World', then you're sure to want to squeeze the fun and light and life out of 'Cinnamon Girl', as it has a similar coming-of-age narrative centered on a young adult whose world changes all around them and they don't want to deal with it because they like life as it's always been in childhood. Keil's masterwork also reminded me of slice-of-life cartoons from the nineties such as 'Hey Arnold!' and 'Doug', especially with its distinct and lovable characters belonging to the young, imaginative protagonist's group of friends. The superhero and pop culture references don't hurt it at all, and just adds to the nostalgic cinnamon strudel. I want to hug this book repeatedly.
The possibility of the world literally ending parallels the growing-up of Sarah Jane "Alba" Albany, a teen comic book nerd and artist who lives and works in a bakery with her mother. Before she can process it, her whole world suddenly turns upside down in more ways than one. Her little, nondescript hometown of Eden Valley in Australia is being toted via social media as the only safe haven from an impending apocalypse. This, combined with most of her friends wanting to leave their "boring" town as soon as they graduate high school, a childhood friend turned D-list TV actor revisiting Eden Valley as a publicity stunt (among other motives), and her coming to terms with her father's death, it is enough to make the escapist Alba curl up in her bed and never want to step out of her room. Her favourite garden gnome goes missing too, one of the many cherries on top.
She wants to stay in Eden Valley, where she was born and bred, and stick to her comfortable routines and traditions. She wants to hang out with her lifelong best friend Domenic Grady forever, but they have separate dreams and can't live in the same place when they become adults. She wants to continue drawing her own superhero creation and avatar, Cinnamon Girl, experimenting with alternate styles, but lately Cinnamon Girl's facial expressions turn negative on paper without Alba consciously meaning them to. Everyone in this story keeps asking Alba, "What do you want?" - something she finds she can't answer, for the changes happening around her as she reaches a major step in her life are more bizarre and scary than in any comic book she's ever read.
Really, I adore Alba. She's funny, not conventionally attractive with her chubbiness, and in keeping with the book's overall "It's all so strange it must be true" theme - like a graphic novel in prose form - she is totally, believably human; more so due to her quirks. It is almost scary how much I could relate to Alba: a struggling creative artist who is made to deal with real life and how it works, no matter how much she wishes to avoid confronting her issues through escapist fiction. Particularly superhero fiction, and imagining she can live like the massively beloved Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, or Batgirl.
The only reason I considered giving 'The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl' four stars is the romance. While there is a really clever twist on the YA love triangle cliché that's revealed at the very end and is foreshadowed throughout the narrative, I can't say I care for a romance still being in the story. It's unneeded, and refutes claims about the book "subverting" YA tropes (something that really isn't hard to do). Seriously, why can't a boy and a girl just remain friends? Especially since they grew up together and are like siblings. The boy revealing to the girl protagonist that he's been in love with her since kindergarten, and she'd been completely oblivious of course, gave me flashbacks to the crap 'Mortal Instruments' books. Big step in the opposite-sex couple's relationship or not, it's a tiresome cliché, often used to force in a happy ending.
However, the love interest himself is interesting (and hot, because we wouldn't want it any other way - *sarcasm* - and just because you subtly point out that you may be using a cliché doesn't make it any less cliché), plus he and Alba have great chemistry together. So I decided I didn't mind their romance much. It's certainly not enough to ruin an otherwise fantastic novel.
'The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl' - I've never read a contemporary coming-of-age book so endearing, heartfelt, laugh-out-loud funny, re-readable, unforgettable, and cute - with a race-against-the-clock shadow and adolescent anxiety hanging over everything - in a long time, certainly not from the YA market. I love the writing; while one of the main highlights has to be the witty, charming and profound dialogue, another is how the small town aspects of Eden Valley, and Alba's artwork, are described. The prose is simple and beautiful, written with an artist's touch like a fresh, colourful sky perfectly setting the mood of a situation. 'Cinnamon Girl' was carefully planned out by Keil; nothing and no one is forgotten about, and the foreshadowing is well done.
An inventive, poetic, sugary, superheroic delight. Strongly recommended.
Final Score: 4.5/5
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