Shuzo Oshimi’s second volume of The Flowers of Evil is just as disappointing as the first, although even more frustrating. Readers may find themselves starting to have certain characters grow on them, but as soon as this feeling realizes itself, an event in the manga occurs which will topple it completely.

Readers will cheer for Kasuga when he takes the girl he likes out, Saeki, out on a successful date, despite Nakamura trying to get in the way. While talking with Saeki, Kasuga does the one thing that will make Nakamura furious. The fleeting idea that Kasuga has stood up for himself and may not be a complete pushover is  dashed by later events. Nakamura proves that she is not an easy girl to handle, and always seems to win out in the end.

If readers want a series that is goes from strange to frustrating, then this is definitely the series to pick up. Readers looking for a new series, who were not drawn by the first volume, may want to read the second. If they still do not find it appealing then put down the series for good.

A few good points about the series is that it caters to a very niche market, even though it may not have been intentionally written for that purpose. For those not a part of that fandom, the series is an anomaly that may either confuse or intrigue them. Flowers of Evil is a key example of one of those manga series that readers will either love or hate as a story, but cannot criticize the art as lacking.

The second installment allows readers to see that although Oshimi may not be able to cater to every reader he is still able to write well. His characters are gradually developing and have finally started to drag emotions out of readers, which was not seen in the first volume. Also, Oshimi has done well in keeping the storyline going with the constant drama that is created by tricking readers into thinking the plot will go one way and then twisting it against their expectations.

If anything, readers may continue reading the series out of sheer stubbornness, or because they want to try to understand how Oshimi works. What is it that The Flowers of Evil is trying to accomplish? This is the question they will want answers to, and it is up to Oshimi to deliver them.

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Victor LaValle’s novella, Lucretia and the Kroons, provides evidence of the impossibility to protect youth from the world’s horrors. Twelve-year-old Lucretia, who goes by the childish nickname of Loochie, is faced with doubt, illness, death, and drugs before she can even step into her days as a teen. With her friend Sunny suffering from cancer treatments, and a group of girls already showing potential of becoming the school’s mean girls, Loochie finds herself regretting that her mother seems to be her best friend.

Loochie pushes her mother into convincing Sunny’s grandmother to let her come over for a rare play date, even as Sunny is so weak she cannot lift her fist. When her mother leaves for the day and Sunny still hasn’t arrived, Loochie becomes annoyed. Ambulance sirens begin to invade her apartment and instead of becoming worried, she tries to drown out the sound, only to become aware of a strange woman outside her window.

The woman ignores all of Loochie’s efforts to get her attention, and reveals something that Loochie never thought she would see in her life: she resembles a member of the crackhead family, the Kroons, that Loochie’s older brother warned her about. Not only does fear overtake Loochie— courage also starts to course through her veins, as she sees that the sickly, disfigured woman has Sunny’s hat.

She can only settle on making her way to the dreaded Kroon apartment and on trying to save Sunny, whom she believes to have been kidnapped. Now she must hope that her courage and love for a friend will overcome the fear the other Kroons will instill in her, on top of the strange yet vaguely familiar world their apartment will take her through.

Victor LaValle has revealed the complex emotions and situations that a child can go through, which may not be easily apparent because their seeming innocence. He also allows readers to realize what horrors can happen to a child. From the time Loochie sees the woman outside her window and travels through the world of the Kroons’ apartment, readers will question the genre of this novella.

What once seemed to be reality has turned into a world that doesn’t quite make sense, but as this becomes the main setting for the rest of the story, it becomes more and more believable. The reader is drawn into Loochie’s frame of mind and what she believes the reader also starts to believe. This makes the ending of the novella even more emotionally charged.

Any confusion or doubt readers have as to what they are reading should be pushed aside. Everything will make sense once the book is read as a whole. The ending will also make readers take at least a moment to sit back and ponder the influence this book can have on anyone who reads it.

The article LaValle Heaps Horrors onto Youth in Newest Novella appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.