EDIT: When I wrote this review it was right after Marjane Satrapi had passed. So this has sat for a bit.
Due to the death of the author Marjane Satrapi, any story that remotely reminds me of their work gets a little extra love (I admit, I’m being sentimental and have no logic there). Therefore since Bad Kid (A Graphic Memoir): My Life as a “Troubled Teen” reminds me of Satrapi’s work, I gave it a little extra lovin’. Also, it is the the second book (Unretouchable was the first) I’ve read (and enjoyed) by Sofia Szamosi and that usually gives it more love automatically and more leeway with things I’m not completely a fan of. However, Bad Kid has one thing not going for it. Becuase of the build up, that love I have for the first graphic novel, I have high expectations for anything that comes next. If it even remotely doesn’t WOW ME…. Well, I might just not like it after all.
With that said, while I didn’t feel it was as strong as Unretouchable, this graphic novel was good. I knew that I was biased, so I had to try and forget my love of Szamosi (and Satrapi) and I had to forget that I had expectations. And I hope I did that. So we will start off with my biggest issue which is that we only see things through the eyes of Sofia. Which of course, is only logical, but I wanted more. I wanted to know what her mom, stepdad, the people at the “camps” were thinking, and what was motivating them. The second issue I had is that sometimes Sofia doesn’t “fill in the blanks” in her own story, so I felt incomplete. Yet, I just took it for what it was. A book about a girl starting at around age 13 and ending up in her late teens going through “conversion camps” to fix her “bad behavior.” I needed to accept this for a memoir that seems to take some poetic license (she doesn’t mention some of the events of the first book that would affect the end of this one, nor did she mention some of the situations in that first from this one that would have shaped her in book one).
Szamosi goes less into the “for profit” elements of these “bad kid camps” and more for the emotional elements of things, but does not hide the fact that most of these “camps” are just for profit, are not healthy, and even down right abusive. You get to see the Sofia of the story really be a “bad kid” at times, and other times being a “teen.” Depending on the personal beliefs, thoughts, and feelings of the reader, you decide when those times are. I personally feel that drugs, drinking, sneaking around, her self harm, and her attitude towards her mother is being a “bad kid.” Other times, though I would say no, just a teen finding herself. That was probably my favorite part of things as it helps shape your take aways.
There are more serious trigger situations than book one (and they had some serious ones), such as alcohol and drug use/aubse, sexual situations, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and several others, but overall, it is done tastefully and becomes a thoughtful read. Know your reader and it’s for the older young adult and adult reader.
