Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
The art style used by Borja González in this surreal graphic novel is not for everyone! But I loved it. The characters don’t have facial features; they are like mannequins when it comes to their faces, and this artistic decision adds to the magical realism theme of the tale. ‘A Gift for a Ghost’ is about how Laura is intent on starting a punk-rock band with her two friends in 2016, even though they have little talent for music. Another timeline, set in 1856, follows Teresa, a young woman from a wealthy family who loves horror fiction and poetry, much to the annoyance of those around her.
There’s an interesting, unexplainable intersection between Teresa’s life and the girls from 2016. However, what’s common in both timelines of ‘A Gift for a Ghost’ is the fact that while Teresa struggles to find acceptance from those around her due to her quirky passion for gothic horror, Laura in 2016 also faces similar alienation from her friends for her eccentric choices. The most interesting and saddening thread between Laura and Teresa is the fact that while Teresa is far too modern for the 1850s, Laura often dresses in medieval costumes, longing for a simpler life that wasn’t complicated by the internet and other modern distractions.
The thing is, I had to read ‘A Gift for a Ghost’ twice to truly understand what seemed like a completely abstract, pointless story at first. However, if you start re-reading just the first few pages of the graphic novel immediately after you finish it the first time around, you’ll be able to see how Laura and Teresa’s lives collide in a dreamy, unreal encounter. While Teresa loves to escape her mundane reality by cooking up nightmarish tales to scare her younger sister, Laura runs away from reality via elaborate costumes that allow her to imagine herself as someone else. Despite living over a century apart, both young women experience a similar sense of isolation, loneliness, and rejection from the society. And thus, both their stories end with them running away from home, hoping to begin anew. Although we don’t get to see how that works out for them.
Of-course, I only had the patience to read ‘A Gift for a Ghost’ a second-time around because the artwork appealed to me, but readers who fail to resonate with Borja González’s art style will not enjoy this as much, let alone give it a second read. But if you do like the art, try reading it a second time around.
Rating: 4 on 5.
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