Book Review: Drinking at the Movies (4 Star Rating)

It has been a few weeks since I last blogged! Being that I was away for some time, I didn't have much time to do some extensive reading, but I did finish at least one book. Recently, as a Christmas gift, I got a graphic novel. The graphic novel, which is called Drinking at the Movies by Julia Wertz, is an actual memoir of the author's journey to familiarizing herself in the unfamiliar streets of New York. You may think it's just another sappy and "coming of age" tale of a girl moving to a new town, not knowing anything, and trying to figure herself out--well yes, that it is partly true--but it's very unique, because the memoir is not just telling the story through just words only, but through comic strips.

I am positively sure that there are many memoirs out there that are conveyed through picture or comic strips, but this is my first graphic novel that I have ever read, so I am quite impressed. My goal is to try and diversify my reading, by reading other kinds of cool and different book genres. Since this is my first graphic novel, I thoroughly enjoyed this read, and I found myself finishing it in an entire day. 

The book was published seven years ago and is a follow up of Wertz’s previous graphic novels: The Fart Party Vol. 1 and 2 (which I plan on reading eventually). According to the author, the book is about how she was a “f***** moron” when she first moved to New York City. 

Originally, Wertz is from San Francisco and impulsively decided to move to Brooklyn when life at her hometown began going downhill—career wise and with her personal life. It chronicles her life from 2007-2008, best described as her “adjustment period.” Basically, it is about a poor, whiskey-addict, lost, naïve, confused, irresponsible, and a desperate female who consistently makes whimsical and poor decisions. It’s about one’s ability to grow up, in which the author evidently failed at doing so until the end of the novel. 

There’s a lot of satire, which mostly centers on self-deprecating humor, and basically pokes fun of her drinking problems and poor choices, thus leading to a ton of fun and realistic anecdotes. Her amusing tales of her many attempts at keeping a steady job, in which she ultimately and triumphantly failed at doing so, and her inability to grow-up and be an adult, is best described as like a big carnival ride that we all hope to never go on. Wertz’s humor is obscene and she has no shame in sharing her failures at adulting and conforming in society; I truly admire her ability to not use a filter—she has no shame in exposing every part of her mistakes, no matter how bad it looks. Her memoir is real, raw and is certainly relatable to a wide mass of young and lost 20-something-year-olds who are still trying to figure out how to cope with the daunting “real world.” 

Additionally, the author’s art is fantastic! Readers will find themselves not only in love with the story and Wertz’s dark humor, but will also be in awe of her art and beautiful talent. 

Comic books have never been my kind of thing, but this graphic novel is a superb read! I definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone—especially those who have never read graphic novels before. Wertz definitely knows how to entertain and captivate readers. 

x, Kayla