Book Review

Draw the Line by Laurent Linn

It takes a while for Draw the Line to hit its stride, but once it does, this book tells a great story about a closeted gay teen, the importance of community, and the power of art to communicate, to destroy, and to heal. There is a romance — although, as is somewhat appropriate for a story about teens, it’s probably a “Happy for Now” as opposed to a “Happily Ever After.”

Draw the Line is about Adrian, a gay teen who lives in a small town in Texas. Adrian is devoted to keeping a low profile, even to the point of wearing drab colors to avoid notice. He writes and draws a web comic about a superhero named Graphite, but he only posts anonymously. Adrian’s two best friends are a young Black woman named Audrey who feels self-conscious about her weight and her race, and Trent, an asexual Goth kid whose mother struggles with alcoholism and mental illness.

Adrian’s high school has only one gay student who is out (his name is Kobe). One night a few members of the football team, led by one particular bully, badly beat Kobe in front of a crowd of onlookers. Adrian is the only one who intervenes. This action gradually changes Adrian’s relationships with his friends, his fellow students, and even the bully who attacked Kobe.

The book gets off to a slow start with a lot of stereotypes. There’s a rural Texas town full of corrupt and macho good ol’ boys. There’s a Sassy Black Best Friend and a Sullen Goth Teen and bullies on the football team. The characters are written broadly.

As the story progresses, the characters and the setting open up and become much more nuanced. Yes, Adrian’s town is lacking in LGBT resources, but it’s a short drive from a thriving LGBT community in Dallas. I also liked that many adults and students are open to supporting LGBT students – but Adrian has been too afraid of bullies to reach for that kind of support. It moves from a story about a stereotypical small town full of bigots to a small town full of different people with different views. Some people are awful, some aren’t, and some are confused about where they stand.

Adrian goes through a lot of false starts in trying to figure out how to get justice for Kobe (who survives but is badly injured and deeply depressed). In the course of things, Adrian acts like a teen. He gets mad at his friends who have polar opposite ways of trying to help (Audrey compiles action plans while Trent tells Adrian to go back to keeping a low profile). He comes up with overly complicated secret plots. What’s so cool about his arc is watching him learn to accept other people as part of his life, and the decisions he makes about using his art to either help or hurt.

There’s also a very sweet romance between Adrian and another student, Lev. Lev is not out at school, but he is out at home, which seems to give him more self-confidence than Adrian. Through their romance, Adrian gets involved with the LGBT community in Dallas, and he gets to know Lev’s friends. This matters because it expands the circle of people that Adrian can trust with his sexual identity. Lev is supportive of Adrian but their relationship has realistic conflicts given that they are young and their relationship is under a great deal of stress from the beginning. Regardless of whether they stay together forever, Adrian’s relationship with Lev is a lovely and sweet way for him to enter the world of romance.

As much as I liked the romance, its main purpose was to serve as an example of a theme that runs through the book: communities can make you or break you. Part of Adrian’s romance with Lev involves blending his best friends with Lev’s best friends. Part of Adrian’s ability to gain some autonomy from his parents involves him finding work (with help from Lev and Audrey and Trent) at the LGBT Center in Dallas. Adrian helps Kobe by reminding Kobe’s friends to go see him (they think Kobe doesn’t want visitors, but Adrian, who is concerned about Kobe’s mental health, tells them to go anyway, with excellent results). The people who act the worst have the lowest level of support despite sometimes having the highest levels of popularity. We need people around us who help us become the best versions of ourselves, not the worst.

When I started this book I was afraid that it would deal in stereotypes and be an unremitting saga of angst. Instead, the book deconstructs stereotypes and, while it does have a lot of angst, it also has humor, friendship, love, and joy. I’d love it if Adrian’s comic book was published as a graphic novel – plenty of the art is included in the book and it’s wonderful, with flowing, sweeping lines and graceful movement. More Graphite, please!

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Draw the Line by Laurent Linn

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  1. Jacqueline says:

    This book isn’t really my cup of tea, BUT HOLY HELL DAT COVER IS EVERYTHANG! I want it on a tapestry on my wall dammit.

  2. Kareni says:

    This does sound good! Thanks for the review, Carrie.

  3. Kelly says:

    This book looks interesting, and thanks for reviewing the lgbt romances. Teen romances are generally not my beautiful cake,but I read one recently and the happy for now can work for me if it’s done right.

  4. SusanS says:

    I liked this a lot, but the cliched sassy black female sidekick bothered me more than it bothered you. Loved the illustrations and the sweet understated romance. The author is a puppet designer who works for Jim Henson’s Muppet Workshop, so that’s kind of cool.

  5. Des Livres says:

    Fabulous fabulous book. Love the renaissance inspiration. There is great extra stuff on the website named for the book.

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