Walk Me to the Corner

Anyone who has been in a decades-long relationship can attest that the love is different. It's safe, warm, comfortable, if not sometimes stale. This is a book about someone who steps outside of that routine. Who gives everything up in hopes to have the impossible. Elise and Dagmar, the two women that slowly fall into each other, are terrible people. This story follows their train wreck of bad decisions, as they stumble into an affair, violate their vows, destroy relationships, and break repeated promises to those they love the most in their desperate attempt to feel more than think. They repeatedly ignore reality, even banning its discussion, so they can have immediate carnal fulfillment. With child-like wonder their relationship is born in a world without responsibilities, lived in hotels and museums, spoke to in pockets from bus to home, avoiding the grounding of their real lives. Yet, on some deep level, we understand. This understanding is almost wholly carried by the visuals, which illustrate a world that comes alive with color and warmth with the very thought of another. To want that wanting more than everything you've worked so hard to have. Of seeing and feeling and loving in a way that is worth anything. 'Walk Me to the Corner' also depicts the agony of loss. While Elise does the "pick me dance", having her affair and waiting for her partner to leave her spouse, their marriage crumbles. In a few vignettes, we watch a happy marriage turn sour. The pain of separating after decades is raw, as is the rage behind the fact he would begin to explore his options, which continues to highlight what a piece of work Elise is. She wants to force an open marriage for her, but has a tantrum when he has the same. As they divorce she find her footing, but one can't but believe she's lying to herself to make herself feel well over the consequences of her actions. This was a hard book to read. As someone who faced this situation and lived in Henrik's shoes, I cheered when he stood up for himself. When he drew proper boundaries. When he put the past behind him. When he realized the one he'd loved was lost, dead and buried. It is in seeing ourselves in this desperate feeling to be seen that the book achieves its goal. We may not like Elise, but we understand her. We see her in self-imposed agony, a villain in all stories but her own, hoping she won't answer the phone, but we know before we started what the answer would be. She is stuck in an endless loop of chasing passion, wishing her way from the present moment to the next in hopes the problems will just go away.

So how many times have you read a graphic novel about two women in their fifties, having a passionate affair? Like me, probably zero times. That alone is worth the read. I liked how the creator refused to shy away from the strong feelings that the women had for one another; especially lust (but it is not a "graphic" graphic novel). It seems that even the main character's friends found it difficult to believe she was experiencing such an affair. This doesn't have a tidy wrap up and you may find yourself frustrated by the main character's disbelief that her actions had consequences, but it's an honest and true portrayal. I liked the artwork as well, but I read it on my phone so I can't say too much about it. #NetGalley

A rare insight into desire and loss in your 50s. I read it once quite quickly for the story and then turned straight back to the start to read again more slowly and appreciate the artwork. Furmark uses her illustrations very beautifully to give a sense of emotion and the unsaid.

Sensitively told story, with attractive graphics. Directed more at a female readership.