I often think that, as a bibliomaniac I have read every possible iteration of the seven plots, or whatever (five, eight, doesn’t matter.) Sometimes, it is very true that a story is similar enough to another that it feels familiar and many of the beats are similar, such as Rock Is A Lady’s Modesty and, say Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games. But every once in a while, I am wholly blindsided. My favorite example of that is Fingersmith by Sarah Waters which gobbed my smack a full three times. Today I want to talk about another book that just blew my expectations away. And in such a simple way that I had to laugh.

Heaven, by Katie Skelly, is just such a book.

Dolly is a student in a small town. Although the other girls include her, she simply doesn’t feel part of their group. Is it the braces she still wears, or that she’s Asian or just different from the other girls? She doesn’t know. But when they all drive to the edge of town to the strip bar, Heaven, which has a murky reputation, Dolly is sent to try and get in to see what the place looks like. 

Instead, Dolly tries to get a job.

She’s rejected because whatever she says, the braces will make her age suspect, so Dolly goes home and cuts them off. Freed of them (and beginning to shed her old self,) Dolly goes back and does get a job at Heaven!

Now, with a job, she leaves the other girls behind, entering a particularly specific part of adult life while largely having skipped over adolescence. Heaven’s reputation seems to be justified, something weird is going on, but… When we learn the secret, I promise you it is not at all any of the things you might have suspected. ^_^ The truth about Heaven is that it is a very specific kind of hell.

The art here is very American indie comic, with framing and color work that starts with you as removed as Dolly and ends up with you very much in the middle of it all. The pacing is steady, for a climax that, as I said, made me guffaw.

This is a story about a young woman finding her way to herself, via an unusual route, and with some unexpected circumstances. Because Heaven is a strip bar, we walk through the door with expectations, but Skelly upends those with a story that does not stick to tropes.

To be clear, this is not Yuri at all. I sometimes review not-Yuri things here too! It is a story about a young woman finding herself in an unforeseen situation and just having to figure it, and herself out.

Ratings: 

Art – 7 Your mileage may vary. I found it fun and approachable
Story – 9 Bildungsdroman for the modern age, by leaning into a previous one
Characters – 8 We watch over Dolly carefully
Service – It’s a strip club, so no service, just grunge

Overall – 9

Thanks so much to Fantagraphics Books for the review copy. This a wild, well-told fable of young womanhood.

Dolly’s just a normal school girl
With a mouth full of braces, no curls
Dissociated with her life
Dolly doesn’t seek strife
She ends up at Heaven as one of the pearls