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High School Comic Chronicles
Awkward and Definition: The High School Comic Chronicles of Ariel Schrag
Ariel Schrag captures the American high school experience in all its awkward, questioning glory in Awkward and Definition, the first of three amazingly honest autobiographical graphic novels about her teenage years.
During the summer following each year at Berkeley High School in California, Ariel wrote a comic book about her experiences, which she would then photocopy and sell around school. Some friends thrilled to see themselves in the comic, others not so much, but everyone was interested.
Awkward chronicles Ariel's freshman year, and Definition, her sophomore year. With anxiety in excess and frustration to the fullest, Ariel dives in -- meeting new people, going to concerts, crushing out, loving chemistry, drawing comics, and obsessing over everything from glitter-laden girls to ionic charges and the constant pursuit of the number-one score.
Totally true and achingly honest, with every cringe-inducing encounter and exhilarating first moment documented -- Awkward and Definition is an unflinching look at what it's like being a teenage girl in America.
During the summer following each year at Berkeley High School in California, Ariel wrote a comic book about her experiences, which she would then photocopy and sell around school. Some friends thrilled to see themselves in the comic, others not so much, but everyone was interested.
Awkward chronicles Ariel's freshman year, and Definition, her sophomore year. With anxiety in excess and frustration to the fullest, Ariel dives in -- meeting new people, going to concerts, crushing out, loving chemistry, drawing comics, and obsessing over everything from glitter-laden girls to ionic charges and the constant pursuit of the number-one score.
Totally true and achingly honest, with every cringe-inducing encounter and exhilarating first moment documented -- Awkward and Definition is an unflinching look at what it's like being a teenage girl in America.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
7 people are currently reading
1449 people want to read
About the author
Ariel Schrag
25 books237 followersAriel Schrag was born in Berkeley, California. She is the author of the novel Adam, and the graphic memoirs Awkward, Definition, Potential, Likewise, and Part of It. Potential was nominated for an Eisner Award and Likewise was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award.
Adam was made into a feature film directed by Rhys Ernst and produced by James Schamus’s Symbolic Exchange. Schrag wrote the screenplay. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize at the Mezipatra Queer Film Festival, a Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Directing at Los Angeles Outfest, and was nominated for a GLAAD award for Outstanding Film -- Limited Release.
Schrag was a writer for the USA series Dare Me, based on the Megan Abbott novel, the HBO series Vinyl and How To Make It In America, and for the Showtime series The L Word.
She has written comics and articles for The New York Times Book Review, Cosmopolitan, New York Magazine, USA Today, and more. Her original art has showed in galleries across North America and Europe.
Schrag graduated from Columbia University with a degree in English Literature. She teaches the course Graphic Novel Workshop in the writing department at The New School and has also taught classes at Brown University, New York University, Butler University, and Williams College.
She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Adam was made into a feature film directed by Rhys Ernst and produced by James Schamus’s Symbolic Exchange. Schrag wrote the screenplay. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize at the Mezipatra Queer Film Festival, a Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Directing at Los Angeles Outfest, and was nominated for a GLAAD award for Outstanding Film -- Limited Release.
Schrag was a writer for the USA series Dare Me, based on the Megan Abbott novel, the HBO series Vinyl and How To Make It In America, and for the Showtime series The L Word.
She has written comics and articles for The New York Times Book Review, Cosmopolitan, New York Magazine, USA Today, and more. Her original art has showed in galleries across North America and Europe.
Schrag graduated from Columbia University with a degree in English Literature. She teaches the course Graphic Novel Workshop in the writing department at The New School and has also taught classes at Brown University, New York University, Butler University, and Williams College.
She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
August 6, 2009
Comes a time when authoring a completely objective book review becomes all-but-impossible. Awkward and Definition came to me as a gift to myself; having picked up Ariel Schrag's Likewise recently (but not yet having read it), my breath caught in my throat when I spotted this collection of her earlier work - work which I had not previously known to exist until I saw it lying in the wrong place at a local bookstore. So then, why does writing an honest, unbiased review of this particular book become so infinitely challenging?
It is simply because I love Ariel Schrag.
No, it clearly isn't the "Let's romance and get married and settle in with a 30-year mortgage with three kids and a barky little dog" kind of love. More like the love borne of a breed of fanaticism for the image or feeling a person represents or instills within one's own life view. "What it really came down to was being attracted to your own mind," says the iconic Ariel in reference to her teenage crush. And she's absolutely correct. And yes, it is reassuring.
This in and of itself is not entirely unique. In fact, the large basis of Awkward and Definition (the respective titles of the two Ariel Schrag independent comics reprinted herein) dwells within a variety of obsessions, crushes, and "loves" of one style or another. Ariel depends heavily on her lust for music, wonderful friends, cult films, and even (to some degree) those who would contend against her. Awkward and Definition is quite Definition Awkward and Definition Definition.
Ariel Schrag literally made me feel something within these pages. Reading this beautiful, beautiful book, I literally felt something stirring deep inside. I choked up with her own heartbreaks as if they were my own (because, in a style, they are - just as anybody else in this world feels pain and loneliness and isolationism ...and the ecstasy of the unexpected pleasures of life). The music of Ariel's life was, at one point, the soundtrack of my own high school experience. The development of pubescent post-punk purity, if you will, extended from Ariel's Californian coast to the rocky banks of my own Newfoundland. Her deeply-held secrets of obsession unfolded, and I had never known just how acceptable this was within my peer group during the very same era that Ariel herself came of age.
So in this particular sense, Awkward and Definition is a powerful, moving illustration of my own generation. Though practically half a world apart, the teenage traumas and dramas ring true time and again - except Ariel found her outlet, and made something incredible and rare from it all.
Not one to bestow unwarranted praise upon a weak, flawed book, I've been so blown away by this work that any perceived "imperfections" have become a part of its intrinsic beauty and honesty. Sure, the text is a little cramped and small at times - but that's not detrimental to such a personal, passionate piece of personal expression. Au contraire, it defines the work, and changes the rules around to make them something more fitting, and more personal, more inviting and warm, than any stilted Rule of Comics Thumb.
Ariel Schrag made me feel. She made me relive the best parts of my teenaged life. And I loathed being a teenager ...or, rather, so I thought at the time. If only I had been born into better circumstances, if only my society had been more accepting, less ignorant of perceived differences between one human being and another... None of that matters anymore. I survived it, after all.
And though I never had a friend as awesome as Ariel Schrag in my life, I can still say that her life has managed to touch my own. And this is because Ariel has shared her own experiences with the world - the entire world, of those who are willing to share in it with her. That's bravery of its own formulation. That takes a certain inner strength, to throw one's own creation out there the way she has.
And the reverberations undoubtedly have impacted many, many more than this sad soul.
And it is in this manner that I can say that I love Ariel Schrag. And as such, I cannot give my usual manner of objective view upon this work. But that doesn't matter either, does it? I fell upon a stirring, moving graphic novel - and every once in a while, that equates an enormity far greater than anything purely intellectual property.
Awkward and Definition has a crazy beat, the funky dying brain cell...
It is simply because I love Ariel Schrag.
No, it clearly isn't the "Let's romance and get married and settle in with a 30-year mortgage with three kids and a barky little dog" kind of love. More like the love borne of a breed of fanaticism for the image or feeling a person represents or instills within one's own life view. "What it really came down to was being attracted to your own mind," says the iconic Ariel in reference to her teenage crush. And she's absolutely correct. And yes, it is reassuring.
This in and of itself is not entirely unique. In fact, the large basis of Awkward and Definition (the respective titles of the two Ariel Schrag independent comics reprinted herein) dwells within a variety of obsessions, crushes, and "loves" of one style or another. Ariel depends heavily on her lust for music, wonderful friends, cult films, and even (to some degree) those who would contend against her. Awkward and Definition is quite Definition Awkward and Definition Definition.
Ariel Schrag literally made me feel something within these pages. Reading this beautiful, beautiful book, I literally felt something stirring deep inside. I choked up with her own heartbreaks as if they were my own (because, in a style, they are - just as anybody else in this world feels pain and loneliness and isolationism ...and the ecstasy of the unexpected pleasures of life). The music of Ariel's life was, at one point, the soundtrack of my own high school experience. The development of pubescent post-punk purity, if you will, extended from Ariel's Californian coast to the rocky banks of my own Newfoundland. Her deeply-held secrets of obsession unfolded, and I had never known just how acceptable this was within my peer group during the very same era that Ariel herself came of age.
So in this particular sense, Awkward and Definition is a powerful, moving illustration of my own generation. Though practically half a world apart, the teenage traumas and dramas ring true time and again - except Ariel found her outlet, and made something incredible and rare from it all.
Not one to bestow unwarranted praise upon a weak, flawed book, I've been so blown away by this work that any perceived "imperfections" have become a part of its intrinsic beauty and honesty. Sure, the text is a little cramped and small at times - but that's not detrimental to such a personal, passionate piece of personal expression. Au contraire, it defines the work, and changes the rules around to make them something more fitting, and more personal, more inviting and warm, than any stilted Rule of Comics Thumb.
Ariel Schrag made me feel. She made me relive the best parts of my teenaged life. And I loathed being a teenager ...or, rather, so I thought at the time. If only I had been born into better circumstances, if only my society had been more accepting, less ignorant of perceived differences between one human being and another... None of that matters anymore. I survived it, after all.
And though I never had a friend as awesome as Ariel Schrag in my life, I can still say that her life has managed to touch my own. And this is because Ariel has shared her own experiences with the world - the entire world, of those who are willing to share in it with her. That's bravery of its own formulation. That takes a certain inner strength, to throw one's own creation out there the way she has.
And the reverberations undoubtedly have impacted many, many more than this sad soul.
And it is in this manner that I can say that I love Ariel Schrag. And as such, I cannot give my usual manner of objective view upon this work. But that doesn't matter either, does it? I fell upon a stirring, moving graphic novel - and every once in a while, that equates an enormity far greater than anything purely intellectual property.
Awkward and Definition has a crazy beat, the funky dying brain cell...
August 3, 2013
Ariel Schrag may have had more booze, weed, and sexual encounters by age 16 than I did by the end of college, but not much actually *happens* in these books. This picturesque picaresque is literally "High School Girl's Illustrated Diary, good parts version", and there's precious little by way of through line. But Schrag tells even the most debauched tale with such charming unselfconsciousness (the benefit of being a high schooler writing about high school, rather than an adult looking back on it), and her stories are deeply emotionally relatable, even if your experience of adolescence in no way resembled hers. The lifelong friendships that fizzled in a month. The celebrity obsessions that seemed like the most important things in the entire world. The hormonal powder keg of a rapidly changing body that might betray you at any second. If you went to high school in America, especially in the mid '90s, you'll recognize yourself in Schrag's work--in ways that are always honest, even if not always pleasant.
The real gift of this two-book collection is watching the growth of Schrag's artistic talent. Going from the end of "Awkward" to the beginning of "Definition" is like jumping to a completely different artist, and subtle improvements continue to appear throughout "Definition". Peeking ahead a bit, I see the trend continues in "Potential" and "Likewise". It makes these books not only a story of a girl surviving high school but a metastory about the evolution of an artist.
The real gift of this two-book collection is watching the growth of Schrag's artistic talent. Going from the end of "Awkward" to the beginning of "Definition" is like jumping to a completely different artist, and subtle improvements continue to appear throughout "Definition". Peeking ahead a bit, I see the trend continues in "Potential" and "Likewise". It makes these books not only a story of a girl surviving high school but a metastory about the evolution of an artist.
September 7, 2010
Ariel Schrag wrote diary comics of her experiences during high school. The first two books are combined in this volume. Awkward is when she was in 9th grade and Definition when she was in 10th grade.
I had heard of Ariel and her work previously. I was inspired to read this book, when Ariel appeared in a Gabrielle Bell comic on Gabrielle's blog.
I have to say I was quite impressed with Ariel's comics, especially for such a young person. Her writing is clear and engaging. Her drawings are fun and expressive. You can see an improvement and also a slight change in her style from 9th to 10th grade.
Many of her comics deal with her struggling with relationships, her obsessions with different people and bands and her explorations into sexuality as a bisexual female.
There are two more books covering 11th and 12th grade that I'll have to track down.
Ariel went on to write for "The L-Word" and is currently writing for HBO on "How To Make It In America". She also still is cartooning on her blog.
Well worth reading.
I had heard of Ariel and her work previously. I was inspired to read this book, when Ariel appeared in a Gabrielle Bell comic on Gabrielle's blog.
I have to say I was quite impressed with Ariel's comics, especially for such a young person. Her writing is clear and engaging. Her drawings are fun and expressive. You can see an improvement and also a slight change in her style from 9th to 10th grade.
Many of her comics deal with her struggling with relationships, her obsessions with different people and bands and her explorations into sexuality as a bisexual female.
There are two more books covering 11th and 12th grade that I'll have to track down.
Ariel went on to write for "The L-Word" and is currently writing for HBO on "How To Make It In America". She also still is cartooning on her blog.
Well worth reading.
May 1, 2009
Spectacular. I can't believe she wrote so honestly about her life in her comic and then distributed copies of it to her classmates. That is bold. I'm also supremely jealous of her parents, all letting her stay out late and go to shows at 14 and 15. My parents got stricter and stricter and it so frustrated me all the time. I imagine one would have a lot more time to channel one's creativity into projects like an autobiographical comic book if one were not spending most of one's time fighting with one's parents about curfews and "appropriate" friends. Obviously my lack of an Eisner Award is all my parents' fault (like everything else that is wrong with me, duh).
These are both great, really. I'm glad I'm reading them 12 years after ninth grade, though, if only because knowing myself at the time I would not have been able to handle the mind-blowing they would've given me at the time.
These are both great, really. I'm glad I'm reading them 12 years after ninth grade, though, if only because knowing myself at the time I would not have been able to handle the mind-blowing they would've given me at the time.
August 31, 2009
Man I did not enjoy this at all. It's basically the diary of a 15 year old girl going to high school in Berkeley, CA. Perhaps if you've been a 15 year old girl or you went to high school in Berkeley, CA, this might be more appealing. But to me it came off as utterly banal. She's into L7, she crushes out on boys, she goes to gym class. There's nothing revelatory or particularly insightful-- it reads like what it is, a teenage diary. (Think "teenage girl squad" from Homestarrunner -- "I have a crush on EVERY BOY".)
It seems like every other comic memoir I see is about someone living a completely ordinary middle class U.S. existence. I need to find comic memoirs written by people who've lived more interesting lives than this!
Perhaps if Schrag's art style were particularly good it could have redeemed the boring content. But I don't like the way she draws at all. She draws people with big heads and humongous eyes, manga-esque eyes. All the text is penned in imprecise juvenile handwriting, and she uses thick lines and shading in a way that makes everything look cutsy/messy/indistinct. Ugh. Thumbs down.
It seems like every other comic memoir I see is about someone living a completely ordinary middle class U.S. existence. I need to find comic memoirs written by people who've lived more interesting lives than this!
Perhaps if Schrag's art style were particularly good it could have redeemed the boring content. But I don't like the way she draws at all. She draws people with big heads and humongous eyes, manga-esque eyes. All the text is penned in imprecise juvenile handwriting, and she uses thick lines and shading in a way that makes everything look cutsy/messy/indistinct. Ugh. Thumbs down.
January 21, 2010
ARIEL SCHRAG.
So I'd already read Definition, checked this out mostly for Awkward and was like - I won't read Definition again, will I? But then, I just couldn't stop. Schrag captures perfectly how wonderful and awful and adventurous and joyful high school is. How meaningful and messy friendships can be. How music runs your life. How even when nothing much happens, so much is happening. Awkward leads into Definition so well, I'm going to be forced to purchase her 11th and 12th grade years.
Also, how through it all, all those messy friendships, it's so freaking great to have a real best friend who loves you no matter what and is there for you on the other end of the mess. (For me)Definition AURORA.
So I'd already read Definition, checked this out mostly for Awkward and was like - I won't read Definition again, will I? But then, I just couldn't stop. Schrag captures perfectly how wonderful and awful and adventurous and joyful high school is. How meaningful and messy friendships can be. How music runs your life. How even when nothing much happens, so much is happening. Awkward leads into Definition so well, I'm going to be forced to purchase her 11th and 12th grade years.
Also, how through it all, all those messy friendships, it's so freaking great to have a real best friend who loves you no matter what and is there for you on the other end of the mess. (For me)Definition AURORA.
February 25, 2015
Enthusiasm bursts from the pages of Ariel Schrage's comics. We may be reading about the mundane, day to day events of a 15-16 year old girl's life, but she perfectly captures the importance of these events to the one living through it.
What's most striking is how honest it feels. It's impressive that she was writing these over the summer following each school year, as most teens would hesitate to portray themselves this awkwardly through so many booze and drug laden escapades. Because of this openness, the friendships, crushes and often hilarious self analysis of her sexuality have a sense of urgency unlike other works of this type.
It may look like just a funny high school comic but there's a lot of substance living in these pages.
What's most striking is how honest it feels. It's impressive that she was writing these over the summer following each school year, as most teens would hesitate to portray themselves this awkwardly through so many booze and drug laden escapades. Because of this openness, the friendships, crushes and often hilarious self analysis of her sexuality have a sense of urgency unlike other works of this type.
It may look like just a funny high school comic but there's a lot of substance living in these pages.
May 6, 2011
If you're a post-punk 90's-early 2000's era kid like I was you're going to gravitate with this graphic novel. Especially if you're a feminist with bisexual tendencies. The band and comic dropping throughout is an added bonus! (Jhonen Vasquez, Hole,L7, Marilyn Manson, NIN, No Doubt, Bush.)
Ariel Schragg has the balls to tell the truth about her young teenage life with brutal,unflattering honesty. Not many people can write in such a lighthearted way about their teenage years and failed threesomes quite like her.
Ariel Schragg has the balls to tell the truth about her young teenage life with brutal,unflattering honesty. Not many people can write in such a lighthearted way about their teenage years and failed threesomes quite like her.
May 21, 2011
Its official: everyone had more fun in high school then I.
July 16, 2019
I've always liked what I've seen from Ariel Schrag, but I had a hard time tracking down back issues of her works. Thankfully they've finally collected Awkward & Definition, and Potential. This collection covers her early high school years and is just an honest look into what being a teenage girl is like at that age. Ariel is a hardcore music fan and has several serious crushes/obsessions, and I could definitely relate to that. Her relationship trials and struggles with school definitely brought me right back to that time in my life as well. Overall, I appreciated the rawness and honesty of her work and found it very true to life. The artwork is not very polished, but her style fits well with the subject matter. I enjoy Ariel's work!
June 16, 2025
I enjoy Ariel’s graphic novel memoirs of some of the most awkward years of our lives. They’re funny, honest, and endearing reads.
These two early ones are mostly her adventures with friends to concerts and drama at school but one of the more special chapters depicts her going to a convention for the first time and selling copies of Awkward. I enjoyed a peek into this aspect of her life and really wish I’d had these as a teen when I was still writing heavily. I’ll be handing off my copies to my niece.
These two early ones are mostly her adventures with friends to concerts and drama at school but one of the more special chapters depicts her going to a convention for the first time and selling copies of Awkward. I enjoyed a peek into this aspect of her life and really wish I’d had these as a teen when I was still writing heavily. I’ll be handing off my copies to my niece.
March 29, 2018
This is such an impressive and honest work. As someone with distant memories of high school, it feels true to life, and as a parent with small kids, it makes me shudder. It's great to have high school documented so well. But it's also difficult to read - literally- due to the squashed text and graphics, and there's a lot of obsessions that seem heartfelt but not interesting. The author seems to evolve a lot just during this collection, so I look forward to the next.
July 16, 2019
I would give Awkward 4 stars and Definition 2, but since they're combined I averaged it. Definition would've been as good as Awkward, except for Schrag's annoying insistence on shoving the word "definition" into every page. Still, both were pretty fun and I'm looking forward to reading about her final two years of high school.
July 17, 2019
Where was this book when I was in high school, despite the fact that Ariel is older than I am? 10 years later, reading about how awkward it was for a queer punk girl going through high school still amuses me. Most notable is the visible progression in her drawings, but Ariel's raw narrative also shows readers how carving out our own unique niches allows definition: glimmer of hope
dnf
October 17, 2023I am like 2 years older and it's too much from so long ago. way too much teen dumb drama. quit mid-thru where "definition" starts...maybe I'll just read the last one and try to go backwards?
September 30, 2012
Nothing amps the saturation levels of my vanilla teen years like a coming-of-age collection of comics by someone similarly aged who knew what strawberry bidis were as a ninth grader. Me, age 37, Googling. A: Something to smoke.
Ariel Schrag’s collection “Awkward and Definition” is the story of her ninth and tenth grade years at Berkeley High School in California. Themes include music, her crushes -- both male and female, a rotating cast of friends and makeout partners and the sort of dramatics that occur with teenagers on the loose. This collection is just so cool and her life is this wide-open independent world, light on the fun-suck of supervision. In fact, every time a parent enters a panel I had this “Oh no you’re going to get busted for smoking pot!” panic, obviously some sort of residual fear of authority from my own life, which never came to fruition.
In “Awkward,” she’s just started at a new school and her current obsessions include the band L7, the actor Juliette Lewis and her short-lived boyfriend Michael, who voluntarily drinks from a vial of spit in her Juliette Lewis shrine. Her interests are broader sophomore year. “Definition” she is quietly identifying as bisexual, she’s obsessed with getting an A in Chemistry. She’s become a huge fan of No Doubt and this guy Leonard is totally into her, she only likes him as a friend with benefits, but when he gets cute after a decent haircut, she isn’t willing to let one of her best friends take him for a spin. She tries on the preppy scene for a single party. She meets Gwen Stefani.
And, sort of meta, she buys her way into a comic book convention where she shows off her work from “Awkward” and gets some good attention.
I love this collection. Just love it. It’s like bizarro fan fiction of what I would have wanted my teen years to look like if I’d known anything about the world outside of the high school gym.
Ariel Schrag’s collection “Awkward and Definition” is the story of her ninth and tenth grade years at Berkeley High School in California. Themes include music, her crushes -- both male and female, a rotating cast of friends and makeout partners and the sort of dramatics that occur with teenagers on the loose. This collection is just so cool and her life is this wide-open independent world, light on the fun-suck of supervision. In fact, every time a parent enters a panel I had this “Oh no you’re going to get busted for smoking pot!” panic, obviously some sort of residual fear of authority from my own life, which never came to fruition.
In “Awkward,” she’s just started at a new school and her current obsessions include the band L7, the actor Juliette Lewis and her short-lived boyfriend Michael, who voluntarily drinks from a vial of spit in her Juliette Lewis shrine. Her interests are broader sophomore year. “Definition” she is quietly identifying as bisexual, she’s obsessed with getting an A in Chemistry. She’s become a huge fan of No Doubt and this guy Leonard is totally into her, she only likes him as a friend with benefits, but when he gets cute after a decent haircut, she isn’t willing to let one of her best friends take him for a spin. She tries on the preppy scene for a single party. She meets Gwen Stefani.
And, sort of meta, she buys her way into a comic book convention where she shows off her work from “Awkward” and gets some good attention.
I love this collection. Just love it. It’s like bizarro fan fiction of what I would have wanted my teen years to look like if I’d known anything about the world outside of the high school gym.
March 1, 2010
I approached Ariel Schrag’s Awkward and Definition with a little bit of trepidation. Earlier this year I made the proclamation that I was going to read one graphic novel a week, and since I’m an equally-opportunity reader I went in search of female authors. Since, I’ve already read Persepolis and Fun Home I had to do a little digging. It seems that whenever people mention female graphic novelists, those are the two that get mentioned the most.
In my research I stumbled upon Ariel Schrag’s high school chronicles, the first of which is Awkward and Definition which are sort of a visual journal of Schrag’s freshman and sophomore years in high school. I approached the first book with a bit of trepidation. I’ve read Jeffrey Brown’s autobiographical stuff and found it kind of a drag. I’m happy to report Schrag’s book is not draggy at all. In fact, it’s a lot of fun and kind of charming in the way winsome teenage girls can be when you least expect it.
Read more
In my research I stumbled upon Ariel Schrag’s high school chronicles, the first of which is Awkward and Definition which are sort of a visual journal of Schrag’s freshman and sophomore years in high school. I approached the first book with a bit of trepidation. I’ve read Jeffrey Brown’s autobiographical stuff and found it kind of a drag. I’m happy to report Schrag’s book is not draggy at all. In fact, it’s a lot of fun and kind of charming in the way winsome teenage girls can be when you least expect it.
Read more
August 10, 2016
I wasn't aware until I started reading this that it was not a memoir looking back at high school but actually an account of high school written in the thick of it by a high schooler. As such, it lacks the "what I learned" ponderousness that people might expect in something called a "memoir."
Fifteen- and sixteen-year old Ariel—who is both the author and subject here—is simultaneously surprisingly mature (as the author and artists) and exactly as immature (as the characters) as we're all secretly afraid we were as high school freshmen and sophomores. I'm two years younger than she is and ran with a similar albeit probably a bit tamer crowd in high school, and I found sections of this story excruciating in how viscerally they connected me to a time in my life I'm not proud of, don't remember fondly, and would rather not think about.
Fifteen- and sixteen-year old Ariel—who is both the author and subject here—is simultaneously surprisingly mature (as the author and artists) and exactly as immature (as the characters) as we're all secretly afraid we were as high school freshmen and sophomores. I'm two years younger than she is and ran with a similar albeit probably a bit tamer crowd in high school, and I found sections of this story excruciating in how viscerally they connected me to a time in my life I'm not proud of, don't remember fondly, and would rather not think about.
April 15, 2008
I've always liked what I've seen from Ariel Schrag, but I had a hard time tracking down back issues of her works. Thankfully they've finally collected Awkward & Definition, and Potential. This collection covers her early high school years and is just an honest look into what being a teenage girl is like at that age. Ariel is a hardcore music fan and has several serious crushes/obsessions, and I could definitely relate to that. Her relationship trials and struggles with school definitely brought me right back to that time in my life as well. Overall, I appreciated the rawness and honesty of her work and found it very true to life. The artwork is not very polished, but her style fits well with the subject matter. I enjoy Ariel's work!
June 4, 2015
I can't imagine being this open and honest as a teenager. or really at any age. not only is it impressive that Schrag produced a full length comic as a freshman, she made a comic that developed its pacing well and clearly has been thought out as a comic. Teenagers are often capable of this stuff, but are highly distractable (like adults, but their brains are still forming and hormones, etc). The obsessions with pop culture becoming part of identity and social activities are so familiar and treated with the seriousness they took up in schrag's life. I'd also forgotten how important talking on the phone was. It seems alien to me now.
January 5, 2013
although Schrag's command of the line does not approach the Superflat perfection of Tomine, and her total quantity of story may not yet reach Watterson or Johnston, this rising young star somehow manages to hit the sweet-spot of high academic high school, girl-on-girl love self-discovery teenage angst, advanced college-level biology, No Doubt-before-they-were-famous, and SF Bay area ennui that somehow is the perfect portrait of smart kids circa 1999 in an upper-middle class suburb.
this is a work for a limited demographic, but for that demographic right on the dot.
and with the passage of time, of course Schrag will only continue to develop her 'POTENTIAL'
this is a work for a limited demographic, but for that demographic right on the dot.
and with the passage of time, of course Schrag will only continue to develop her 'POTENTIAL'
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May 27, 2013I find these books particularly interesting for a few reasons. I also kept a diary throughout middle- and high-school, though I never drew comics, so I can relate to Ariel's need to maintain records. Her obsessions with people and music and everything are so painfully reminiscent of the teenage years of myself and my friends. What I find interesting in a kind of outside-in way is all of the casual alcohol and drug use. I didn't do any of that in high school, so it's almost like reading the diary of one of the popular kids. It's fun getting to see her style change, even when she draws certain characters or has certain experiences.
June 11, 2009
These 2 graphic novels are the story of the author's first 2 years in high school. In them she goes to one rock concert or another, gets stoned at one person or another's house, has crushes on indie rock boys and goth girls and Juliette Lewis, and other such things. Though I find most of the stories a little boring, I really think her drawings are cute. They keep me coming back. And she's still young- I feel like when her authorial voice matures she'll be my favorite autobiographical graphic novelist.
September 2, 2013
Meh. I wasn't a fan of HS, I wasn't like this girl in HS at all, I simply don't relate. There are redeeming qualities such as being set in Berkeley and the greater SF Bay Area (my transplanted home for now and for many years) which add to the fun of 'oh hey! I know that place!' Also, being written while IN high school definitely allows the reader to see the author/illustrator grow up both in terms of the story/experiences and the quality of art. It's a definite read for the tween librarian, just a maybe for anyone else.
January 10, 2016
Very impressive, given the author's age at the time and how willing she was to put herself out there with the potentially it'd be read by her peers. It shows she definitely had guts and that's quite admirable. I mean, sure, I can't really relate too much to this -- I certainly wasn't into any grunge or doubting my sexuality or taking copious amounts of drugs -- but I did have teenage angst, just like most everyone else. Overall, fairly good, but a little bit too tiresome towards the end. I look forward to reading more by Schrag.
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May 30, 2008I've only read a couple of graphic novels- there have been so few by women, but after reading these books, I'm going to pay a lot more attention to them. These are the memoirs of a high school student- she wrote them during the summers after each school year. She's really talented as a story-teller, making the typical ups and downs and stresses of a Berkeley High kid into a page-turner . I read it in two sittings.
September 18, 2008
Though the author and I are about the same age, her high school experience seems almost entirely foreign, but truly fascinating. I find the evolution of her illustration and writing interesting as well. It's rare to get such an honest snapshot of adolescence in progress. I've heard this is going to be turned into a live action film in the near future, I'll be curious to see what Hollywood does with this story.
October 10, 2008
I think this was her first book (its been a while since I read these). Ariel Schrag wrote and drew a comic book every year in high school. It was completely autobiographical, just talking about things that were happening to her. The first couple of books, I quite liked - she is very honest and open. A little too open sometimes (you feel like she's whining, which she is), but overall a great read.
October 24, 2009
I keep swearing off graphic novels, and then finding something that piques my interest. This series chronicles the author's four years of high school, and evokes nicely some of the angst and confusion and general cluelessness of teenage life. A pretty precocious work. My one question, is where were the parents when all this was happening to their daughter. They are invariably depicted in argyle and with vacant smiles, and as utterly clueless and disconnected.
November 29, 2014
This is the (almost) real time comic journal of a 9th and 10th grade girl (I think each summer after school ended she wrote up her previous year's story). I started and quit this once before because some of the text is small and often physically hard to read, but this time I plowed through and was so glad. Her report of 14 and 15 year old-ness is tender and precociously aware and all told, lovely. Definition awesome.
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