Sheets: 03/12/24

Sheets by Brenna Thummler (2018) is the coming together of a thirteen year old girl and the ghost of a ten year old boy to save a laundry service being threatened by dwindling customers and a planned luxury resort.

Marjorie Glatt balances her school life and her family business as her father is too depressed to work, her brother too young to help, and her mother is dead. She has to contend with bullies at school and Mr. Saubertuck who is constantly there to push his luxury resort and nitpick Marjorie's work.

Wendell is tired of the sheet ghost afterlife and wants to find a place for himself. He's tired of the gray life, of long therapy sessions, and trying to fit in.

Through a bizarre set of circumstances, Wendell ends up in the Glatt laundry. His presence could make or break the business. It takes a while for the two plot threads to entwine enough for them to become one and finally get the graphic novel in motion towards a resolution.

Much of this graphic novel is wordless and one is left to piece together the plot based on the panels. The art on Marjorie and the other living characters is a little rough and I frankly enjoyed Wendell's half of the plot more.

The book happens to sit on the Road Narrative Spectrum, something I wasn't expecting. Wendell and Marjorie, both feeling powerless over their circumstances are marginalized travelers (66). With Marjorie trying to save her family's future and Wendell being stuck on his life before drowning, the destination is uhoria (CC) Wendell's arrival by train (another instance of a Night Train or Hell Train), makes the route the railroad (00).

The second book is Delicates (2021).

Five stars

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