Angelica is an overachiever. She can’t help herself. She loves to be counted as someone people can rely on. But she’s not relying on her body failing her, and after burnout leaves her too numb to do much else besides lie in bed, she gets into therapy and decides to choose one project to focus on instead of ALL the projects! She lands an internship at a local theatre which is celebrating its anniversary by mounting its very first show, an adaptation of East of the Sun, West of the Moon. The production was such a success, that the theatre’s mascot is Per the Bear, the bear prince from that very production. In a moment of vulnerability, Angelica DMs the Per the Bear account, confiding to the mysterious person behind the bear mask. The two strike up an internet friendship, and Angelica begins crushing on Per. But Per is nervous to reveal their true identity, because they and Angelica have a past that ended awkwardly.
If you aren’t familiar with East of the Sun, West of the Moon, you may not recognize that this story is its own twist on the tale, using the actual fairy tale as a backdrop for the modern story. The approach will be familiar to readers of “Trungles”‘s first book The Magic Fish, which weaves three fairy tales into a story of a Vietnamese refugee and her queer son who love fairy tales. “East” is the perfect fairy tale to explore burnout: this type of animal groom fairy tale often requires its princess to put aside her own needs, desires, and even put her life on the line to end the enchantment of the prince in question. Angelica not only takes on too many projects, she can only operate in her relationships as a “fixer,” sometimes when those relationships could just benefit from listening and being. The fairy tale also has a twist on the rom com setup: Girl Meets Bear, Girl Loses Bear, Girl Must Win Back Bear, which unrolls sweetly in Angelica’s romance too.
Throughout the story, characters also navigate different forms of grief, the main theme the author hoped to unpack with the work. Several characters are dealing with the loss of someone, and subtler forms of grief (break-ups, friends separating, loss of one’s self) are also explored. Despite this, the book is a joy to read. It features a large cast of characters, who all sport rich inner lives even in this brief graphic novel. A colorist (Popoalu) was brought in for this project, and the palette is droolworthy. It’s gotten stars and raves from people far more important than me, so it is absolutely a must-read for fans of YA graphic novels, queer romance, and fairy tales.