Spoiler Free, I promise!!
Oh Scott, how I will miss thee. This is a hard one to review. I reviewed the first five books in the Scott Pilgrim series in sort of one big lump review a while back and to review this one as a stand alone would sort of blow the ending, so I won't do that. But this is the end :( When I got this book in the mail I was both filled with joy and a little saddened too, knowing that there wouldn't be anymore Scott Pilgrim books after this one. So I turned the pages as slowly as I could, sucking in every detail of O'Malley's wonderfully endearing, entertaining, zany and true to form comic. For a VERY brief explanation of what this series is about, Scott, a 20 something guy with little motivation aside from video games and the occasional band practice, falls for the mysterious and super cool Ramona Flowers. But in order to be with her, he must first defeat her seven even exes. And oh no...lest you think that this is some mech/samurai/anime type thing that you surely won't like (though I happen to enjoy those things as well :p), it is not. These battles take place in night clubs, city streets, shopping malls and libraries often right after Scott has had conversations with his gay roommate Wallace Wells or band practice with his friends Stephen and Kim for their band Sex Bombomb. Is this series the deepest most meaningful thing that I've ever read? No. Did it bring me to tears on every page and did I learn tons of life lessons from reading it? No. But there is a certain something about this series that I just can't put my hand on that I love so much. I think it captures, through Scott, that sort of in between place that a lot of twenty somethings find themselves. When Scott isn't battling Ramona's exes, he's really just trying to figure out what the hell he is doing. And I remember that period of my life clear as day. I think I'm still there sometimes. In fact, I know I am. Everyone is giving Scott advice on what to do, where he should live, what he should be, who he should be with. And it seems that everyone else has their stuff together. Knows themselves. Though we eventually learn that that's not the case. Everyone goes through this. While I can't relate EXACTLY to Scott's experience in this book and to his circle of friends, there are things I can relate to. There's a feeling I can relate to. On top of that, O'Malley just made me smile on nearly every page. He opens the book with Scott wearing a Smashing Pumpkins shirt and towards the end of the series, we see the same thing. Some things don't change. There are so many awesome video game references made throughout the whole series. The humor is just top notch. And then there are some gems of touching moments throughout the book as well. True moments of looking inward. So am I getting sappy over this humorous, light hearted series? Yes I am. Because underneath that humor, O'Malley says a lot. And he gave us characters that I'm really going to miss. A lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment