Excellent usage of multiple narrators and breaking of the fourth wall. ( )

I didn't expect to like this. I picked it up because books that are not the standard size appeal to me, and this one had a fun pop-art cover. The blurb on the back seemed a little... cliché, but had promise. I expected a kind of sci-fi mystery, about humanity and emotions and twins and connection.

What I got was a kind of vignette about Annah, an emotionally manipulative and stunted young women who might or might not be crazy, told through the eyes of those who love her and those who barely know her. And I loved it.

The art is standard; no complaints. I liked the black-and-white and gingerbread palate, and the fact that there are no easy answers. Chili's little concluding speech, where she recounts some of Annah's likes and dislikes, and that she's a good kisser (and totally glosses over the fact that she might or might not have a twin who was extracted from her brain when she was a child) and says that that's "All she knows about Annah" is sublime. ( )

A quirky and colorful graphic novel about a young woman named Annah who may have a sister, or not. With some terribly clever POV-hopping as a storytelling device and a main protagonist who is as refreshing as she is frustrating, Gingerbread Girl is an oddly satisfying look at family, divorce, romance, friendship, mental illness and the pursuit of breadcrumbs. Also, panties. ( )

I don't mind slightly disjointed, unresolved stories occasionally, but I was disappointed by the lack of substance here. on the other hand, the art is adoooooooooooorable. ( )

Annah is a young woman who believes that her 'mad scientist' father removed a part of her brain and created a sister out it. Specifically, this sister can feel all the sensations Annah cannot. As this supposed event happened around the same time as her parents' messy divorce, Annah's two would-be romantic partners (whom she keeps at an arm's length distance) are left wondering if Annah is simply using this as a metaphor to describe her feelings about the whole affair. Problem is, Annah seems to really believe her sister is out there...

Being a fan of other works by Tobin and Coover, I was excited to check out this graphic novel. It was well done in terms of craft, but it was a peculiar little book and I'm not quite sure I liked it. In particular, the very open-ended and sudden conclusion left me feeling sort of "huh?" when I was finished reading. However, I did really like how the narration of the story was a play on stream-of-consciousness, with the story picking up with different characters (human or otherwise) as Annah passes them by during her date night. ( )