Word: thompson
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...Craig Thompson's "Blankets...
...Blankets" has officially arrived, debuting to significant buzz at the MOCCA Art Festival (see TIME.comix coverage). Anticipation was high thanks to Thompson's previous (and first) book, 1999's "Good Bye Chunky Rice." An allegorical fantasy about lost friendships that featured cute talking animals and oddball characters, fans of "Chunky Rice" will be surprised at the change in Thompson's approach. No longer allegorical, "Blankets" is grounded in autobiographical reality. Yet "Blankets" has the thematic sophistication, emotional sweep and beauty of (visual) language that mark the best novels of any kind...
...snowy woods of central Wisconsin, "Blankets" tells the story of Craig Thompson's coming of age in the austere world of a fundamentalist Christian family. Blankets of various kinds become the book's motif, starting with the opening scene. As a boy Craig must share his bed with his younger brother Phil, causing an argument over the blankets. Their stern father thumps up the stairs and looms over them like a giant, forcing Phil to spend the night in the dreaded "cubby hole" under the stairs. The guilt that Craig feels over not protecting his brother becomes even more acute...
...After camp Craig corresponds with Raina, who lives in Michigan, and eventually coaxes his parents to let him visit her. The entire middle section of the book details this brief visit. Thompson puts a tremendous amount of work into depicting Raina's family life. Her parents are in the midst of a divorce at her mother's behest. Exhausted and possibly addicted to pills, she leaves the care of her two adopted, mentally disabled adult children mostly in Raina's hands. It's a testament to Thompson's intelligence as a storyteller that this sub-portrait becomes as fascinating...
...real drama lies in whether Craig and Raina will have sex. Self-conscious, filled with associations of sex with abuse and punishment - hellish flames lick the background as he puts on his pajamas - Craig feels deeply conflicted. Thompson does a wonderful job of recreating the chemistry between the nurturing Raina and the lonely Craig. You can feel that special, adolescent magnetism that comes from two alienated teenagers. In a key moment, Raina gives Craig a crazy-quilt blanket that she made. In return she asks him to paint a mural on her bedroom wall. In Raina, Craig finds his muse...