How does fear affect how we perceive and think about the world? How do the stories we tell affect our perceptions? Why do people experience morbid curiosity? What are we most afraid to lose?
Everything is Teeth is a fascinating graphic memoir that centers around the author recalling the summers she spent with her family in Australia. The entire story is told through the lens of a morbidly imaginative girl, and the illustrator highlights the strength of her imagination by bringing her darkest thoughts to life. As the story progresses, her most distinct qualities--fear, fascination, and even identification with sharks--emerge. Her perception and those held by the adults in her life come into stark contrast as she attempts to negotiate a world where many things are left unspoken and unquestioned.
As events unfold in the book, readers begin to discern how her fear/fascination with sharks is a parallel to her fear/fascination with the reality of family unhappiness, irrationality, cruelty, and death. These themes are reflected in the events, interactions, and media sources that the author pastiches together in her memoir.
Everything is Teeth is a wonderful, visually stunning book that explores the interior depth of children and the way perception becomes reality not just for youths or adults, but for whole nations and cultures. I highly recommend it.
Pros: The novel is written in very accessible language and the illustrations are compellingly beautiful. The protagonist’s relationship to sharks is complex and fluctuates throughout the piece. There are moments of wry humor, but the text is overarchingly serious.
Cons: There is so much to love about this book.The language is deceptively simple. Readers will have to pay attention to how the artwork is interacting with the words to create meaning. Anyone with a phobia of sharks should probably not read this as their are frequent illustrations of realistic sharks.
Links:
The protagonist’s fascination and simultaneous terror of sharks could be evidence of the Shark being a Sublime character. Edmund Burke defines the sublime as a quality of art or experience which "excites the ideas of pain and danger" that produces "the strongest emotion that the mind is capable of feeling". This website link covers the concept of the sublime as defined by Edmund Burke. This would be an interesting text to explore with Everything is Teeth. https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/sublime-poets-glossary
This is an Interesting, yet inflammatory article that portrays flawed thinking on shark culling. It can work as a parallel to the work of the shark conservationists, which I have also included: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/when-sharks-are-eating-people-its-time-to-cull/news-story/551f8bdf16fd15cac41ca778452e50a9
This links gives context for the shark culling scene that happens in the novel. The information from Australian Marine Conservation that talks about negative effects of shark culling and alternatives to these actions. https://www.marineconservation.org.au/pages/shark-culling.html
One of the character’s primary characteristics is morbid curiosity. Students would benefit from weighing in on this “controversial” human feeling. This is a video from Vsauce that explores why we are morbidly curious. It would serve as a an excellent jumping off point for conversation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbdMMI6ty0o
I enjoy the introduction it was very catchy and it made me read more about your love. I found the novel to be interesting and it makes me want to read it, I like sharks I find them fascinating. I also like that you include many webpages to learn more about sharks.
ReplyDelete