{"id":3927,"date":"2016-11-04T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T13:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/?p=3927"},"modified":"2020-12-08T08:18:42","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T08:18:42","slug":"review-skim-by-mariko-tamaki-and-jillian-tamaki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/2016\/11\/04\/review-skim-by-mariko-tamaki-and-jillian-tamaki\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Skim<\/i> by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki"},"content":{"rendered":"

Skim<\/em><\/a> is a graphic novel written and drawn by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, respectively. It\u2019s a slice-of-life story following Kimberley Keiko Cameron, commonly known as \u201cSkim,\u201d and her experiences with religion, friendship, romance, and school. Shortly after the story begins, the ex-boyfriend of a classmate dies by suicide, sending Skim\u2019s all-girl\u2019s high school into a frenzy. Her classmates and the guidance counselor obsess over suicide and depression, singling out Skim as a suicide risk for not being like the other girls.<\/p>\n

\"Cover<\/a>\t\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tBUY ON BOOKSHOP<\/span>\n\t\t\t\tBOOKSHOP<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t& support independent bookstores\n\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/article> \n\n\t<\/center><\/div>Skim is not diagnosed as depressed in the book, and going by my high school experience alone, I can\u2019t tell whether she is or isn\u2019t depressed. I was self-aware of my depression and demanded that I get help I thought was appropriate, while Skim\u2019s experience is far subtler. People told me that I wasn\u2019t depressed, or that I was wrong about its root cause. The people at Skim\u2019s school imply that they believe she\u2019s depressed and make gestures at helping her, while Skim resists their armchair diagnoses. Her grades slip during the book, and there are times when her mood is best described as empty or downhearted. If she has depression, it\u2019s expressed very different from mine.<\/p>\n

While my adolescent depression impacted my judgement and made concentrating difficult, I could pinpoint other people\u2019s sincerity. If someone tried to cheer me up, it was clear if their words were to make themselves look good, or if they actually cared.<\/p>\n

Skim\u2019s guidance counselor, specialists brought in to aid students, and a student-led club called Girls Celebrate Life are all reminiscent of \u201chelp\u201d I received in high school. Girls Celebrate Life believes in treating depression with cheer, adorning a bulletin board with pictures and exclamation points, hosting movie nights, and organizing a school dance. At one point the club president hugs Skim out of the blue. Instead of focusing on Skim, the artist shows the president\u2019s face, which shows no sign of concern or affection towards Skim. While my own classmates weren\u2019t the hugging type, they believed exhibiting depressive symptoms was disgusting. They preferred it when I watched movies with them, covered my self-harm bruises or otherwise drew attention away from my misery \u2014 similarly to Skim\u2019s peers.<\/p>\n

Skim\u2019s school runs gym classes on breathing techniques, and special lessons encouraging self-love. One class consists of students writing down what makes them happy. No purpose is given to this one-shot unit, nor do teachers explain how the class relates to depression or suicide prevention. My high school experience with mental health lessons were just as brief and superficial.<\/p>\n

Rather than a proper unit, we were told to research a mental illness on our own time and present our findings to the class. Our teacher\u2019s contribution was to tell us warning signs of suicide, implying it\u2019s a condition that happens to other people, and never a thing her own students would struggle with.<\/p>\n

I still have mixed feelings about suicide prevention initiatives. In my experience the focus is on discouraging the act rather than addressing why the person wants to die in the first place. The sad person may or may not be treated as a moral failure. The emphasis is on helping other people feel accomplished.<\/p>\n

In Skim<\/em>, Girls Celebrate Life hold a memorial filled with hopeful words aimed at the depressed and suicidal. The ceremony is filmed before news cameras, with club members talking to the microphones. No one in the book comments on this, but Girls Celebrate Life seem more interested in sounding good for the camera than in remembering the boy who killed himself or reaching out to classmates with more than hugs or movies.<\/p>\n

A few pages in Skim<\/em> are devoted to rumors as to why the boy took his life. Some girls speculate that he took his life over an unrequited same-sex crush. The school could have devoted energy towards promoting acceptance of queer students, explaining why compassion and understanding are important. Likewise, the school could have how important it is to support those with mental illness. What actually happens is the girls make fun of the boy\u2019s possible orientation. For all the talk of preventing death and depression, daily school life and club activities remain their priority. Skim and I didn\u2019t have identical experiences, but I still recognized the superficial, unhelpful approach to suicide in high school.<\/p>\n

Another thing Skim and I have in common are adolescent questions regarding our orientations. Skim\u2019s peers are either single, or dating guys, while Skim is in love with a woman. She never comes out as any particular orientation, nor does she angst about not being heterosexual. What bothers her is romance and whether being in love is a good thing. There is more to explore in queer adolescent characters other than unhappiness with their sexuality, which Skim<\/em> acknowledges.<\/p>\n

As a protagonist, Skim sidesteps many clich\u00e9s inflicted on teenage characters. While her love life constitutes a major part of the book, her world doesn\u2019t revolve around romance. She\u2019s not a monster, not a delinquent, not tied to the phone, and doesn\u2019t fall into any stock school clique. Skim comes across as comfortable in her own skin, without a need to stand out from the crowd. Her introverted moments and occasional reticence may make her appear shallow or moody to other characters, but we see the inside of her head and know this isn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n

Other details of note include Skim\u2019s nickname, which comes from classmates making fun of her weight. She herself doesn\u2019t obsess over her appearance. A few panels show Skim applying makeup or dressing for special occasions, but she\u2019s neither looks-driven nor apathetic. I also like that Skim is biracial, and that her ancestry does not make her miserable. She\u2019s half white, half Japanese, and portrayed as ordinary rather than a model minority.<\/p>\n

Overall, I recommend giving Skim<\/em> a read. The story is quiet, low-key, and never boring. The book is multifaceted, not just focusing on Skim\u2019s orientation, depression, or friendships. The mixture of elements in Skim\u2019s daily life add depth and interest. She and her classmates are credible as adolescents, rather than idealized or exaggerated.<\/p>\n

In terms of Skim<\/em>\u2019s portrayal of depression, I think it does a good job of showing misguided attempts to help others with the condition. Undoing depression or averting a suicide through a few thought exercises and a school dance seems like a sunny, feel-good experience, but falls very short of treating mental illness. The book seems to understand this, and lets the reader see the absurdity for themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Skim<\/em> does a good job of showing misguided attempts to help those with depression, and lets the reader see the absurdity for themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":4086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_generate-full-width-content":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[62,522],"tags":[308,148],"genre":[5,27],"age_category":[8],"disability":[28,18],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3927"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3927"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6956,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3927\/revisions\/6956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3927"},{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=3927"},{"taxonomy":"age_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/age_category?post=3927"},{"taxonomy":"disability","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disability?post=3927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}