Review: Tina's Mouth
Tina's Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary by Keshni Kashyap
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am a sucker for witty graphic novels with a female protagonist that don't involve random threesomes. Even if Tina's Mouth had a threesome in it, I think would be more awesome than the rest because the writing is hilarious. Tina's family moved to California from India before she was born, and even though her parents raised her like an upper middle class white girl, some of the homeland vestiges linger e.g. saris at weekend parties, and matchmakers.
Tina's best friend, Alex, "dumps" her when she gets her first boyfriend leaving Tina to complete her existential diary for philosophy class during a time of personal disaster. For short, Tina refers to this period in her life as the "Post Alex Epoch" (PAE.)
Tina gets involved with a new group of students by joining the cast of the school play, and even has her first brush with romance.
Kashyap captures the pleasure and pain of the teen years in a way that many writers have not. The diary feels totally authentic in the way Tina thinks and the details in the squiggly drawings. I love this book!