Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘The Girl Who Draws on Whales’ by Ariela Kristantina features beautifully dreamy artwork, but even that couldn’t keep me interested in its formulaic story.
The plot follows a girl called Wangi, part of an isolated island community, who draws on whales and can communicate with the majestic creatures. One day, when a wounded calf arrives at their village, Wangi decides to investigate what happened, going on a dangerous adventure with her brother, Banyu. The siblings set out on a boat, get lost in a storm, and then entangled with evil pirates looking to disrupt their way of life. It’s the usual ‘nature versus corrupt humans’ theme.
Interestingly, ‘The Girl Who Draws on Whales’ is narrated by a different character, who introduces himself after a few pages as Citra, the ‘legendary map guy’. Citra is on a ship with a bunch of men who’re looking to discover hidden islands and buried treasures. Their strategy? Follow the whales. So when the men rescue the siblings, they hope to get the whereabouts of their mysterious village out of them, but Wangi rightly distrusts them, landing her into trouble.
Despite the stunning, colored illustrations in this graphic novel, I quickly lost interest in the story. Nothing about anybody is exciting, and not even hidden fantastical structures in the sea and beautiful mythical creatures could pique my curiosity. Many story developments were just way too random, or convenient.
It’s the poor character development and the forced “oh we are so special” narrative that made The Girl Who Draws on Whales’ very boring. Also, after a few pages, my mind started drifting in a weird direction, and I began to wonder how the whole “drawing on whales” thing could count as animal cruelty. Wangi essentially treats a whale’s body like a public wall and mars it with graffiti. Yes, her drawings are beautiful, but why am I supposed to believe that the whales truly don’t mind being used as doodle pads by a kid?
This was just not for me.
Rating: 2 on 5. The Girl Who Draws on Whales in on Kindle Unlimited.
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