Blankets

Blankets was a very interesting novel. Longer than I was expecting, I was anticipating the novel to be a chore to read. I could not have expected to be pulled in so greatly by this novel. The first 20 pages or so were rather hard to read; to story of Thomson's early life is not an easy one to digest. I found this, instead of a deterrent, a motivator to read on. I wanted this little kid's life to improve, I wanted to see him get away from his abusive household, and most importantly I wanted him to meet the girl he is seen with on the cover.
This novel seems to very accurately capture not just human experiences and emotions, but specifically events and their significance to people at a certain age. Thomson's descriptions of his characters and what they went through at particular ages struck a cord with me. They didn't just describe those events; they described what it felt like at that age, and in that particular part in time. During the first chapter I recalled my own childhood, and realized how accurately Thomson described hardship for youths. Similarly, Thomson's descriptions of the awkward experience of puberty and first love felt particularly familiar to my own experiences. This really pleased me, I can't recall at this very moment any films or books that so accurately synthesized some of these experiences. Maybe this is just because some aspects of Thomson's life in particular really correlated to my own life, maybe its just do to skillful storytelling.
On the technical side, I found Thomson's use of line rather effective. The line quality sharply varies based on how it is perceived by the protagonist. Frightening portions of the story, such as when Thomson's brother is shoved into the crawl space, are drawn with a harsh, messy, jagged line quality to reflect the narrator's mental state at the time. Conversely, when Thomson first notices his female friend at the church camp, she is drawn in a beautiful, crisp line that had not been seen in the novel till that point. The result is felt, not necessarily immediately noticed. In this way, Thomson more effectively communicates his story, by not just telling up events, but making us feel them as he had felt them.