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The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor
Aug. 28th, 2021 11:38 amThe Dire Days of Willowweep Manor, by Shaenon Garrity & Christopher Baldwin, is an adorable YA-level graphic novel gently and affectionately poking fun at Gothic tropes. I really enjoyed it.
After being told by her teacher that she can't write yet another book report on Wuthering Heights, the Gothic-romance-obsessed teenage protagonist falls through a rift in reality into a place where the tropes are all true, from the gloomy castle to the brooding lord of the manor and creepy housekeeper and near-constant rain. The house is indeed hiding a dark secret, and she has to use her genre-trope savviness figure out what it is and find her way home.
What's actually going on is one of those twists that doesn't ruin the book but makes it even more fun, namely ( Twist which is spoiled in the back cover copy )
I went into it expecting it to be more critically deconstructive than it is, but I was pleasantly surprised by how sweet and fun and affectionate it is towards its subject matter. It's clear that the creators expected and welcomed readers who genuinely like this kind of books and don't want to be told that they're bad and wrong. I really liked everyone, including the characters I was expecting to be set up not to like, and it's very funny and sweet and enjoyable, with extremely cute art.
After being told by her teacher that she can't write yet another book report on Wuthering Heights, the Gothic-romance-obsessed teenage protagonist falls through a rift in reality into a place where the tropes are all true, from the gloomy castle to the brooding lord of the manor and creepy housekeeper and near-constant rain. The house is indeed hiding a dark secret, and she has to use her genre-trope savviness figure out what it is and find her way home.
What's actually going on is one of those twists that doesn't ruin the book but makes it even more fun, namely ( Twist which is spoiled in the back cover copy )
I went into it expecting it to be more critically deconstructive than it is, but I was pleasantly surprised by how sweet and fun and affectionate it is towards its subject matter. It's clear that the creators expected and welcomed readers who genuinely like this kind of books and don't want to be told that they're bad and wrong. I really liked everyone, including the characters I was expecting to be set up not to like, and it's very funny and sweet and enjoyable, with extremely cute art.