Mirror by Suzy Lee
My rating: 4/5 cats
my word…
when did picture books become so bleak??
i mean, i’m all for it, but sheeeeeesh this is one beautiful little soul-killer.
for your children.
and don’t believe what it says up there, that Lee’s unforgettable story provides a gentle reminder that our actions have consequences. i mean, this book doesn’t have any words in it, but words still exist, right? and “gentle” means “soft,” “tender,” “gradual?” and not “you will never sleep again because of the implications this book will breed in your child’s still-growing skull?”
i love this book, but i think it would have broken my brain if i’d read it as a young’un, when this was enough to give me nightmares and a hero complex (spoiler tagged because it was giving me seizures, NOT because i was concerned about spoiling the ending of an a-ha video):
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this is a well-designed book; it’s a taller, thinner rectangle than usual, making it more mirror-like in shape, and the (really stunning) artwork takes place along the bottom half of the page which opens with a young girl alone and with a posture that implies sorrow and vulnerability:
until she discovers her mirror-twin and they begin a dance that ranges from shy and coquettish
to more joyful and exuberant, frequently suggestive of a rorschach test
until they merge in the center of the book
and then this happens:
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and if you call that “gentle,” i would like to check your crawlspace for bodies, ma’am.
it’s a fantastic book whose use of empty space and ability to convey powerful emotions without the use of words is astonishing, but i feel like it might be super-traumatizing, right? just me?? am i the delicate flower in the room here? either way, i’m still going to read more from her. because i am grown and can handle it.
