Anya's Ghost

Product Information

Anya has posters of various alternative/indie groups like Weezer, Belle and Sebastian, Metric, and Camera Obscura in her room. What Happened to the Mouse?: Sean and Elizabeth aren't seen again after the party and Dima isn't seen again after helping Anya research Emily's past. This was fun and really cute, like a darker and more horror-oriented version of Séance Tea Party. Brosgol has a lovely artistic style that creates a perfect eerie mood and comes alive in the minimal colors. This does have some adult themes so use discretion if giving this to a child, but it is just as much fun for adults too. The themes of immigration add such a wonderful texture to this creepy tale.

Woman Scorned: Emily, after the boy she likes calls her ugly and goes off with another woman, burns their house down with both of them inside.

Q&A Asked about Anya’s Ghost

But what I really loved about Vera Brosgol’s writing is the mystery and the horror elements in this story. I loved the fact that instead of having your everyday story about a teenage boy or girl trying to make it through high school; you have a ghost story that strongly wraps with Anya’s struggles in fitting in school while Anya herself is trying to solve the mystery of the ghost girl Emily Reilly and her “mysterious” murder many years ago. I loved the idea that Anya actually has a ghost for a friend and it was interesting seeing Anya interact with the ghost girl without being scared. I also loved the way that Vera Brosgol provided so much mystery surrounding the ghost girl as you have to wonder to yourself about why she is with Anya in the first place and what her purpose is for being with Anya? Fog Feet: Emily's feet either are fully formed or just part of a tail connected to her bones depending on what she's doing. Love Makes You Crazy: Emily's excuse for burning a couple alive because she was in love with the boy and he'd rejected her, saying outright that love can make you do crazy things. Who Dunnit To Me: How the story seems to initially go, as Emily claims to have been killed by a traveler who stayed at their house and she never found out what happened to him. Subverted however, as Emily's death was caused by her own accident. And even then, she was the villain.

The main character is a teenage girl named Anya Borzakovskaya, a Russian immigrant living in the United States. Anya feels like an outcast at her private high school. She is self-conscious about her appearance and her family’s Russian heritage, both of which make her hesitant to do anything that will make her stand out. Anya has a close friend named Siobhan with whom she regularly cuts class. She also has a crush on a popular athlete named Sean, but Sean is dating the beautiful Elizabeth and seems to have no idea that Anya exists. Everyone has problems. Even the person or couple you envy for being "perfect", could in reality have bigger issues than you have. The entire novel could be summed up as " careful what you wish for", with the typical dash of " too good to be true", " don't be slut", " family is for life", yadda, yadda, yadda... Emily was interesting, I grant you that (especially when she started to show her real colours), but the rest of the cast was rather... meh.Be Careful What You Wish For: Anya is immensely jealous of Elizabeth for seeming so perfect all the time, and wishes for proof that Elizabeth isn’t as flawless as she presents herself as. But when she finally finds out that Elizabeth is so insecure that she would rather help Sean cheat on her to keep him around than lose him, Anya is less than thrilled at the revelation. This graphic style paired up with the one creepy scene/plot twist is the only reason I rated this as high as I did. Brosgol, Vera (December 31, 2011). "Frequently Asked Questions". verabee. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016 . Retrieved December 21, 2021. Broken Pedestal: Anya is deeply infatuated with Sean and envies his girlfriend, until she finds out that Sean takes advantage of his girlfriend’s insecurities to get her find girls for him to cheat on her with. You Can Barely Stand: Almost said word-for-word when Emily crawls out of the well, bones and all, to try and drag Anya down with her. Her obvious weakness and anguish make this scene a bit of a Tear Jerker.

She Cleans Up Nicely: Emily convinces Anya to dress up and go to Matt's party. This is the result, although Anya wonders if she doesn't look a little "loose-womany". As it turns out her outfit did make her look more attractive, but not in the way she wanted. Sean outright says that Anya looks "really good" on that night in particular as he offers for her to take part in a threesome. Bitch Alert: Alot of what Emily says when her real personality starts appearing, the biggest indicator probably being her overall expression when she says "See you, hun." But then things change, and I won't tell you the exact nature of the change to avoid a spoiler, but the book gets better, more interesting, because it gets surprising and . . . creepier. I identify it as "horror" above because it actually does make it from Casper-the-friendly-ghost territory through R. L. Stine territory to something at least approaching Stephen King, for this age group, at least. It's not just Scooby scares, it's a little scary. How did Emily die? What is Emily's stake in Anya's popularity? There's a mystery to solve. And some identity issues to face for both of them, ala YA, generally. Most of the identity issues don't resolve themselves all that surprisingly, but there are some satisfying aspects of the resolution. It's a good read! Its revealed that Emily also played this trope straight. She burnt down the house of the boy she liked while he and his girlfriend, were inside. All because he rejected her feelings for him. Weight Woe: Despite not being particularly overweight and even considered pretty by some characters, Anya sees herself as fat and refuses to eat her mother's homemade cheese dumplings because they're too greasy, even though she loved them when she was a little girl. Some of her dialogue implies that this is the result of being bullied as a child, as well as the elders at her church telling her she's too fat "while their ankles are spilling over their orthopedic shoes."

CRITICS HAVE SAID

Anya's Ghost is a single-issue graphic novel by Vera Brosgol. It features Anya: an insecure, dowdy teenager, a Russian immigrant (although she's lost the accent), who finds herself struggling with the day-to-day trials of highschool life, like her crush Sean and mouthy friend Siobhan. One day, she falls down an abandoned well and discovers the bones of a young girl who fell down there before her... As well as the ghost of said girl, still haunting the well she died in ninety years prior. The ghost, Emily, turns out to be pretty friendly, and the two eventually become good friends, as well as partners in crime. (Anya uses her invisible buddy to cheat on tests, keep watch while she's smoking and spy on classmates.) Of course, these sort of things rarely end well, and soon Emily proves more of a problem than a friend. The really, really short review: I started this book last night. I was happy to get up this morning because I knew I'd get to finish it over breakfast. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2015-09-21 13:54:38.537796 Bookplateleaf 0006 Boxid IA1154814 City New York Donor Ceceri, Kathy. Review of Anya's Ghost, by Vera Brosgol. Wired, 31 May 2011, www.wired.com/2011/05/review-anyas-ghost/. Accessed 7 Mar. 2018.