The Golden Hour

[cornerofmadness]

The Golden Hour by Niki Smith

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I generally don't read contemporary stuff but the cover of this graphic novel caught my eye. Manuel was a witness to gun violence in his school and understandably has PTSD and anxiety as a result. As life at school goes back to something akin to normal, he's put into a group project with two other students he doesn't really know, Sebastian and Caysha.

Manuel's therapist has given him the idea of grounding himself by finding 'anchors' whenever his anxiety/PTSD is spiking. He finds his in taking cell phone photos. As he gets to know Sebastian and Caysha he begins to open up. Like him, Caysha is a townie but she does raise fancy chickens out at her grandmother's place. Sebastian is pure Kansas cowboy material and is given a newborn calf to hand raise.

Spending more and more time with these two helps Manuel to begin to heal. Credit where credit is due, this is not some magical elixir. Manuel has his bad moments (one of which is a turning point in the story) But getting involved with them and in the ag club (a 4-H clone), he begins to find solace and friends. There is something sweet and wholesome about this friendship. Honestly though, if the blurb didn't say first love, I might have missed it. I think there's a kiss (as I sit there squinting at it) so it's subtle.

I was a tiny bit disappointed in Mom, not that she's overprotective. That's understandable. It's that she didn't listen to Manuel when he needed her to (and that is addressed in the story with this faint broken inking that was the chef's kiss). The art is great and does a wonderful job of capturing the derealization Manuel undergoes when he's having an episode. I will need to find more from both this author and the artist.



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