Book Review: “Are You Listening?”

Are You Listening?

Tillie Walden

Hardcover, 320 pages

Publication Date: September 10, 2019

Publisher: First Second

Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy

I am jealous of Tillie Walden. I read her 2017 memoir, “Spinning,” earlier this summer and enjoyed it. When I finished, I read Walden’s author bio at the end of the book and realized she is only two years older than me. Still in her early 20s, Walden has written and illustrated several graphic novels, received an Eisner Award nomination and won two Ignatz Awards. When I realize people my age are accomplishing such things, I feel jealousy and awe in equal measure.

But enough about me. When I finished “Spinning” a few months ago, I checked to see if Walden had any other works. I found out “Are You Listening?” was a work of fiction and coming this fall, so I put it on hold at my library and waited for the release date.

“Are You Listening?” is about a road trip. Lou, a mechanic, has decided to take some time off work to drive around Texas. She has loose plans to go see relatives, but her wandering reflects her emotional state, which is distraught after the death of her mother. At the beginning of her trip, Lou runs into Bea, a teen from the same town as Lou. Bea has clearly run away from home, although she resists telling Lou her reasons for doing so.

As they drive through Texas, strange men show up, and they are strangely fixated on the lost cat Bea found during a pit stop. As the trip goes on and the men’s motives become sinister, Lou and Bea become friends as they try to make sense of their lives and the things going on around them. From the lost cat to the pursuing men, Lou and Bea’s road trip is much more than a simple Texas drive.

I enjoyed the emphasis Walden put on the emotions of her characters. The inner turmoil of Lou and Bea seems to be the focus of the book, and the events framing their thoughts and feelings take second place. Lou and Bea are both upset and angry at the world for different reasons, and through spending time together, each girl begins making progress with their own issues.

Many fantasy books tend to ignore the personal development of the characters in favor of highlighting the magical aspects of the plot. “Are You Listening?” does qualify as a fantasy book, and there is magic involved, but it still feels like a story about working through trauma first.

Any complaints I may have about this book are small. For the first third of the book, I kept mixing up the two main characters. Both are from the same town, both have three-letter names and both have short, dark hair. As someone who still feels new to the genre of graphic novels, this is less of a complaint and more of an admittance of confusion, but more differences between the main characters would have been welcome.

I wish it had been longer. Over 300 pages is not an extraordinary length for a graphic novel, and I would have read twice as many pages if they developed the story more. “Are You Listening?” does a good job of developing the characters and story, but with so much focus on inner growth, more pages would have fleshed this theme out even more.

For fans of graphic novels and character-driven stories, check out “Are You Listening?” And while you are at it, check out the rest of Walden’s work.

Paige Holmes is a senior journalism major from Topeka, KS. Reading is her favorite thing to do because it teaches one how to think, imagine and live. Paige believes there is no better way to learn something or be entertained than by reading a book. Her favorite genre of books is fantasy/thriller and her favorite book is ‘Opening Moves’ by Steven James.

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