Publisher's Weekly Review
Dungo's elegiac debut memoir recalls growing up, falling in love, and facing profound loss at a young age. Set in Southern California, the artist, as a teenager, gets into skateboarding and falls for surfer schoolmate Kristen. Their romance is interrupted when Kristen is diagnosed with bone cancer; even after losing a leg, she continues to surf. When she's too weak to get out on the water herself, she accompanies Dungo and her brother to the beach and watches from the shore. Dungo intersperses memories of Kristen with a history of surfing, from its Hawaiian origins to the ascendancy of Olympic champion Duke Kahanamoku, to the innovations of surfboard designer Tom Blake. The muted color scheme alternates aquamarine with seashell peach. Through sweeping two-page spreads showing the texture of waves in decorative, woodlike patterns and through quiet interludes following Kristen's ultimately tragic story, Dungo presents an evocative tone poem that celebrates the spirit of a young woman who clings to experience as tenaciously as a surfer riding high. Although the plot is slight, readers who appreciate the work's meditative style will be moved by how Dungo fulfills Kristen's dying wish: to live on through his art. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Debuting comics artist Dungo weaves a beautiful memoir of love, loss, and surfing, in which a young couple is torn apart by aggressive cancer. Dungo was in high school when he first saw Kristin, and for him, it was love at first sight. For her, not so much. But in chapters that skip back and forth through the 11 years they had together, Dungo recalls their relationship, from the beginning to Kristin's final days, with the lifetime they lived in between. Interspersed with his own story is the modern history of surfing and two of its heroes who changed the course of the sport forever, Duke Kahanamoku and Tom Blake. Dungo tells these stories with a sure hand, weaving time lines and seemingly disparate elements into a rich, cohesive tale. The simply drawn illustrations are elegant and economical but deeply powerful. Sepia-toned panels illustrate the historical elements, which are nicely distinct from the deep blue-green ocean hues of the author's own story. A beautiful tribute to first love and living life to its absolute fullest.--Summer Hayes Copyright 2019 Booklist
