Note: I wrote this review back at the end of last year after just having read this graphic novel and realized I never posted it! You may be getting some older reviews I never posted in the coming months, because I still want to talk about these stories!
Stories Reviewed Today:
Sheets by Brenna Thummler
Beware of spoilers ahead! If you are planning to read this book, go and read it first! I discuss major plot points and the ending here. Please come back and read my thoughts after you’ve read and formed your own thoughts about the book so we can compare notes! :)
A Review of Sheets
The Pros
I was super hype about this book, because it looked adorable and moving and other readers who like things I typically like really seemed to enjoy it. Plus, the color palette was just *chef’s kiss.*
The art is this very nice retro, vaguely ‘90s style in gorgeous pastel hues. The art is really fantastic! The adorable, wholesome vibes are absolutely there in the artwork itself.
Unfortunately, the pretty art and color palette was about all I liked about this book.
The Cons
I’m sorry, pull quote from Brian Selznick on the cover of this book, I was not “captivated.” (I loved The Invention of Hugo Cabret as a kid, so I wanted to believe him.)
The first 200 pages of Sheets are surprisingly depressing, which they’re clearly meant to be to show the life the that our poor 13-year-old protagonist, Marjorie, is now shouldering as she must run the family laundry business.
Seriously, she takes the brunt of everything *very* unfairly in a way that feels far-fetched to me.
The way the kids in town act towards her makes enough sense. Kids don’t really have filters and can be really mean. The middle schoolers are very believable, but the adults? Not so much.
The way the adults act towards her in this very middle-school-ish way just astounds me. It is quite unbelievable to me that every adult in this town just sees Marjorie as the face of her family’s laundry store in the wake of her mother’s death and her father’s subsequent shutting off from the world.
Yes, I understand shutting down after the loss of a spouse, but leaving your barely teenage daughter in charge of an entire family business on her own? Having this incredibly creepy older “businessman” sneaking into their place of business and house with a key he has been *stealing* just to make creepy “business” propositions to said girl instead of trying to speak with the dad who is supposed to be in charge of the shop?!
All the ADULT customers entering the laundromat and getting snippy with this girl who has lost her mother (and her father in a way), a girl who runs the house and business on her own? All these adults not reading any kind of social cues from this girl, or like, thinking it kinda odd that she’s the only person working this shop, so maybe they should take it easy on her at least a bit?
I understand that Mrs. Waffleton and her daughter Tessie are supposed to be unsympathetic bullies. But basically every other customer fulfilling a slightly less bully-ish role, save for one nice family in the convenience store?
Basically, I was pretty flabbergasted at the portrayal of the town throughout this whole book.
One of the other big qualms I had with this book was the climax and falling action.
The climax begins right after page 200, as the ghosts come to rescue Marjorie from the creepy Mr. Saubertuck and like, the whole town being upset over their laundry (which also confused me?). And the next 38 pages, right up until the end of the book, feel… unearned. The tying up of loose ends feels too rushed.
Essentially, the ghosts suddenly fix all Marjorie’s problems because they feel bad for her and want the land of the living to be kind to them. Mr. Saubertuck gets run out of town, which is great and the closest to believable there is, as the ghosts just chase him out because ooooohhhh, spooooooky. Which, like, is fine and great! Good riddance!
But then we skip forward into the future, where the laundry shop is booming because of this “special cleaning solution” for ghosts. And the customers are suddenly behaving like actual adults. Her father is finally being present and working the counter. The ghosts have a laundry spa. Marjorie and Wendell the ghost are suddenly friends.
The only set-up that actually makes sense and feels natural is Colton and Marjorie ending up together. This is actually foreshadowed, so I was totally good with it! Just give me foreshadowing that makes enough sense and I will be happy!
I expected to be sad throughout some of the book, but to feel that payoff of our protagonist pulling through at the end. Instead, I just felt sad through page 1 to 207 and then kind of annoyed until the last page.
I was quite frustrated on the page where Marjorie suddenly deemed Wendell her friend on page 215, literally 15 pages after she told him he would never be her friend and that he had ruined her life. The about-face she makes when Wendell and the other ghosts chase Saubertuck away is such an “oh, you’re my hero now” moment, I just couldn’t.
In the case of Wendell in BOTH the land of ghosts and the land of the living, we get a very quick turnaround reminiscent of the Ugly Duckling or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. These characters, who either hated or made fun of Wendell previously, just make an abrupt about-face and call him their friend instantly the moment he does one thing right and is suddenly deemed a hero.
“Then how the reindeer loved him” and all that from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer always bothered me, so this kind of story beat is a pet peeve of mine!
I’m someone who cares very much about people genuinely caring, so this was an issue to me. You don’t go from hating or bullying someone to loving them that quickly.
Yes, enemies to friends is totally fine, but that’s typically a gradual process that is shown. This was not particularly gradual, nor was it really shown very clearly. (If it was, I missed it, but I went back and reread this section to confirm for myself several times while reading the book.) One action occurred that made all the ghosts and Marjorie act like Wendell was the biggest hero in the world. And by the end of the book, they all love him for that and seem to be getting along splendidly.
It’s a sweet ending, in all cases, but it felt too sped up for me.
We had a whole 200 pages of Marjorie slogging through her pretty crappy life, all for everything to essentially get resolved in about twenty pages (I’m classifying the “fixing action” between pages 204 and 224). The last pages (225 to 238) deal with the falling action of the shop booming, her father being visible again, Colton more officially asking her out, her actually being friends with the ghosts and Wendell, and then the final page of quick shots depicting where the characters are now.
Rating for Sheets
So… all in all, I’d rank this one a 2/5 for me. (It’d be a 2.5 at most for me!)
I didn’t absolutely hate it (that’s a 1 for me), but I didn’t like it.
I know some people adore this book for being cozy and wholesome, and that’s wonderful! I’m so glad if you love this book!
But the pacing and overall message just didn’t sit well with me personally.
The art is pretty cozy (the building and book shots are my favorite), but I didn’t find the story itself wholesome.
I think if the pacing towards the end of the book was a bit slower and we got a not-so drastic turnaround for Marjorie suddenly seeing Wendell as a friend and the ghosts suddenly being so impressed with him, it could seem sweet to me. It’s literally the quick pacing and unrealistic character dynamics that make the change feel flat and unearned in my eyes.
As always, don’t just take my word for it! Go read the book and see what you think! Some reviewers on Goodreads cite this as their favorite graphic novel, so it’s definitely the book for some people, just not me.
Also, even if you also don’t like the book, make sure to be nice about it still! Disliking something is no reason to bully an author, an artist, a fan, or anybody!
I didn’t vibe with this book, but I spent this review discussing my issues with it and providing ways that would have made it better to me from a storytelling perspective.
If it’s constructive and not tearing someone down, it’s fine to talk about your negative impressions of a book. You don’t have to like every book you read!
Thanks for reading!
Happy reading,
Quote of the Week:
“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.”
Works Cited (MLA 9th Ed.)
“A Quote by Mason Cooley.” Goodreads, Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/quotes/13298-reading-gives-us-someplace-to-go-when-we-have-to. Accessed 27 Nov. 2023.