ISBN: 1770464603 9781770464605

Category: Comics & Graphic Novels / Literary

Page count: 168

<p><b>A queer coming-of-age story, complete with secret cigarettes, gross gym teachers, and a lot of church</b><br><br>It’s the early 2000s. Lauren is fifteen, soft-spoken, and ashamed of her body. She’s a devout member of an evangelical church, but when her Bible-thumping parents forbid Lauren to bring evolution textbooks home, she opts to study at her schoolmate Mariah’s house. Mariah has dial-up internet, an absentee mom, and a Wiccan altar—the perfect setting for a study session and sleepover to remember. That evening, Mariah gives Lauren a makeover and the two melt into each other, in what becomes Lauren’s first queer encounter. Afterward, a potent blend of Christian guilt and internalized homophobia causes Lauren to question the experience.<br><br>Author Jessica Campbell (<i>XTC69</i>) uses frankness and dark humor to articulate Lauren's burgeoning crisis of faith and sexuality. She captures teenage antics and banter with astute comedic style, simultaneously skewering bullies, a culture of slut-shaming, and the devastating impact of religious zealotry. <i>Rave </i>is an instant classic, a coming-of-age story about the secret spaces young women create and the wider social structures that fail them.</p>