After (and during) reading The Many Deaths of Laila Starr I thought, “I do not know what I am reading/read.” This is a jumbled-up messy, chaotic graphic novel story that was fracking amazing. It dives into the concept of death, life and the things that move both. There is love, hate and something in between. There is an understanding of the fragility and strength humans possessed. Ram V. is an odd writer but knows what they are saying. I think. Maybe they are just crazier than an outhouse rat, stoned off their butt, hitting outer space and making it all up as they go along.
With illustrations and images by Filipe Andrade, that are raw, giving them ugly beauty or beautiful ugliness, this is not a graphic novel to read if you are unable to give it attention. The images are hard featured (a phrase I have never used, and might not again, but will know it when I see it, as know I have seen it). This book is a kick you in the gut, laugher inducing, tear creating not a casual read. Re-reads are recommended. The alternative cover images scattered within the story are an interesting, and telling, touch. The story is not just told via the text but the art as well. Not just supporting the text, they are a character of their own. And one that is not always understandable, readable, or able to be really viewed without thinking they look abstract.
Now the story that caused all that ramble above: Set in India, the Gods learn that a mortal is destined to discover immortality, so they downsize Death, sending her to live on Earth as a human. She cons an assistant to allow her to be sent near the spot the child who will invent immortality will be born. Literally entering the body of Laila Starr, the night that she falls to her death, Death/Laila wakes in the hospital morgue (causing more than a little ruckus), finds the child and cannot kill him. The rest of the story is her many deaths: Laila is hit by a truck, dies in fires, crushed by Chinese temples and more. She is there when our hero grows, meeting him when death is near. Literally (when friends and loved ones die, or leave him) and well, literally (as Death stands beside him). Death and ultimately, love are the themes that haunts our character, Darius, and even Laila (as her experiences as a mortal are not limited to just Darius).
With a slightly rushed open, and closed, ending, I was not sure I liked this book, but know that it was a powerful, thoughtful, and thought provoking read. While ages 14 and up could do, I recommend it more for mature and/or adult readers.
