This is a graphic memoir recounting Maggie Thrash’s time at a Christian girls’ summer camp in Kentucky. She was fifteen and had never suspected she might be a lesbian. Then an encounter with a camp counselor that summer causes infatuation to bloom.

My experience with Honor Girl was mostly positive. I enjoyed the writing, art, and storytelling. At times, the sheer number of girls proved confusing. A name would pop up and I wouldn’t remember if I’d met that person before. After awhile, however, I just rolled with it, and it was easy to keep the main players straight. I loved the very real look at what had to be confusing emotions for the author, and the balanced way she presented others’ reactions. Additionally, for this being a conservative Christian camp, I was surprised (in a positive way) at the non-hysterical way that various people handled Thrash’s emotions/actions. Not saying they were all accepting, but I was expected a lot more rot-in-hell kinds of rants.

My only real dissatisfaction with the book actually has more to do with the genre. I generally avoid memoirs because so many of them feel open-ended and incomplete. These are real lives, and of course many stories are open-ended and incomplete. It’s nonfiction. I don’t expect the real world to act like fiction. Still, in book format, this tends to make me feel like there’s a cliff-hanger that will never be resolved.

I don’t regret this one, though, despite that small (expected) dissatisfaction. Honor Girl was excellent.