Heartwarming time-adventure fantasy

books:

	• Good as Lily (Minx) Derek Kirk Kim Minx, 2007 - 176 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Amerimanga at its best

I have always had very mixed feelings about Amerimanga. Most of the art is either directly copying the Japanese style with no influencing of the artist or is poorly done or the art is lovely but the story is very flawed. Good as Lily is an exception. The art is fine and the story is simple, although I have to admit that I found one particular point to be confusing.

The story is of a girl who meets three different versions of herself - a child, an adult, and an old woman who help her through different trials and tribulations of high school. The story is very reminescent of a one of those old live action Disney movie from the 60s. It flows very nicely. Theres nothing very special about it, but its a nice watch for your mother or that annoying kid you're currently babysitting.

A few things fall into question from the story though. Its never clearly explained how this space-time continuum hiccup happened - it just did. Another thing is that at the end (no spoilers here but) the grandmother appears to still be around and she mentions having grandchildren or children of some sort...so, where ARE they exactly? Are they in the future or floating in the ether somewhere?

And there's another thing - the girl dislikes her adult self wanting to date her teacher but I fail to understand the motive behind this. I mean, its not really YOU - its your future self. And she's an adult, so its not like it would be illegal. So, the logic there is also floating in the ether.

Plot: B The story is nice if you ignore the tiny things that need to be tweaked. And I don't really understand that whole dialogue about the dead-sister. She was mentioned a few times in the beginning and then -POOF!- never heard from again.
Characters: B- The grandmother and adult self are probably the most rounded characters you can get but the main charactern herself seems to fall flat sometimes.
Art: B The art is definitely manga-influenced with a comic book feel. There's no special effects or anything. Its very simplistic and thats just fine.
Readability: A The dialogue reads as it would for people of their age.
In short: B+ Its a good story. Get from your local library.

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Fantastic Book

I enjoyed the way the author captured the rhythms and thought processes of adolescents. It reminded me of my own days of confusion, but in a positive and wistful way.

The story is creative and the artwork excellent. There are not many things in life that leave you wondering, "How the heck did they think of that?" I always feel blessed when I'm able to experience that in art. Good as Lily brings that quality.

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The Four Stages of Woman

Good as Lily is a graphic novel written by Derek Kirk Kim and illustrated by Jesse Hamm. It is a fantasy where the protagonist Grace meets herself in various stages of development. At each stage there is a particular problem to be worked out.

The "Grace" we see this all though is an older teenager and this is the age group (from 13 to 25) that will enjoy the book the most. I am a great fan of Jesse Hamm but I would have liked to see Kim illustrate the book (he does illustrate the cover).

Over all, a very readable and enjoyable book.

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Heartwarming time-adventure fantasy

A neat fantasy story wherein our heroine finds herself accompanied by versions of herself from different times in her life.

Everyone (that is, each aspect of Lily) winds up benefiting from this encounter, so the time-travel paradox question did come up in my speculative-fiction-loving mind... (ok, so if the 6-year-old's psychological trauma got *healed*, wouldn't the current Lily come out no longer the same? or are we now on a parallel-universe track?) These nuances aren't explored, but Good As Lily is entertaining and heartwarming nevertheless.

For adults, this book could be used to catalyze a depth psychology exercise: readers may be inspired to do their own internal lifeline-check ins. For example, "What would my old-lady self think about the choice I just made and am a bit embarrassed about? "Go get 'em, tigress!"

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"Good as Lily" is surprsingly good

The manga that I normally read are Japanese manga, and from my experience, the American mangas are not that good. I had previously came across a copy of Megatokyo and to my disappointment, the art was poorly drawn and the story was a bit confusing, so I really was skeptical about "Good as Lily." But a friend recommended to me, and I must say that it is really good, surprisingly good.

It tells of a girl's coming of age story, and without giving too much away, basically, she learns important life lessons through meeting herself from three different stages in her life. It's really touching, and really reminds me of the time when I was her age, not knowing much and wishing to know. I highly recommend it!

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reviews: page 1, 2

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