My Take on Roaming
Name: Roaming
Author(s): Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki
Illustrator: Jillian Tamaki
Genre: Coming of Age / Travel
Length: 439 pages
Story
The story focuses on Dani and Zoe, childhood Canadian friends who reunite in New York City for Spring Break. Dani brings Fiona, a girl she met at her university in Montreal. At first, Fiona’s no-nonsense, larger-than-life personality seems to impress the duo. But tension starts to build as Fiona is constantly judgmental of Dani’s opinions while Zoe is too smitten to defend her friend. All of this happens as they explore some of the many iconic sites of the Big Apple.
Verdict
I really liked this book. I’ve never been to New York so I was just as enthralled as Dani with all the real places they visited. Especially with how the locations were presented/drawn. I also found the art style and color palette matching with the mood of the story really well. The characters having a manga/comic-like appearance with the more realistically drawn scenery. The color palette of peach, purple, black, and white. A good inbetween of innocence and dealing with the “real” world (hopefully that makes sense). The relationship between the three characters were believable and even reminded me of some of my own friends or people I’ve met. If you like a nice, simple, coming-of-age story, I definitely recommend reading this book.
Random thoughts (SPOILERS)
I think the story did a great job balancing between the three characters. I primarily saw Dani and Zoe as the protagonists with Fiona being the antagonist. I’ve been struggling to find the right word to sum up Dani and the best I can think is “simple.” Not as in a simpleton but someone that just has simple wants and needs. Add a disruptive character like Fiona who identifies herself as “kinda already an adult” and it’s no wonder they were butting heads so much. One of the things I liked the most was the subtext between Dani and Fiona’s arguments. When Dani talked about how she enjoyed the Met museum because she was able to see paintings she’s seen a thousand times in person, to appreciate being in the presence of it but Fiona’s responded by implying Dani was validating the “five million dollar price tag” of the art at the Met. However Dani defends herself by saying she’s talking about her own feeling. Yet Fiona admits that she was “just being a bitch” about it since she did the same by paying $20 to see the art as well. At the Natural History Museum, Fiona rants about how “humans suck” which causes Dani to callout Fiona’s habit of excluding herself in the point she’s making.
As much as I don’t like the kind of person Fiona is, she was an interesting, complex character. I guess that’s what made her a good antagonist. I couldn’t tell if she kept arguing with Dani in attempt to appear more aware of the real world, to steal Zoe’s attention, or both. She fronts herself as “kinda already an adult” which, to her, seems to mean constantly establishing your dominance in any way you can. However, it isn’t until near the end of the story that you see how insecure she is. She acts like she doesn’t care what people think about her but gets upset when Zoe comes down with Dani because she doesn’t want Zoe to see the trouble she’s in with the taxi driver for throwing up in his cab. Simply goes inside the hostel to have Zoe and Dani pay for the the clean up fine. There are a few pages near the end of the story that I felt really captured the concluding dynamic between the three. Fiona, a drunken mess, flops onto everything she bought (and a few things she probably stole) on her bed while Dani looks at her with pity and Zoe standing between them before she helps Fiona get her shoes off. When Zoe tries to console her, she screams into her pillow and yells at Zoe not to touch her. Very childish behavior. Far from being “kinda already an adult”. But it was this outburst and vulnerability that actually made me dislike her a little less. That between the three of them, she had the biggest issues and those bitchy moments she had, especially with Dani, were her projecting her own insecurities.
Zoe was pretty much the catalyst of the conflict that happens in the story. She tries to be the neutral one in the trio, not to prevent tension but to avoid being involved in it. She kept trying to keep a balance of reciprocating her friendship with Dani while exploring her fling with Fiona. What frustrated me with her was how she knew she was messing up with Dani, ditching her to flirt and make out with Fiona, and saying little to nothing when Fiona and Dani had their arguments. Yet she the best she did was put a bandaid on the tension by giving Dani attention, usually when Fiona isn’t around. It isn’t until Dani leaves to tour New York without them that Zoe acknowledges how much of a bad friend she’s been the whole trip. It’s no surprise that Zoe’s (very sloppy) balancing act resulted in her being berated by both people. Fiona becaomes annoyed and disappointed with Zoe when she spends the day worrying about Dani, even though she is fully aware her behavior is the main reason Dani left. When Zoe finally reunites with Dani, she calls her out on her selfish behavior. She does so with some of my favorite lines in the book:
It’s just like…how dumb do you think I am? This whole time you’re like, totally flirting with Fiona and acting like I don’t exist[…]I wanted to come here and hangout with my best friend, but you’re like…not even you anymore. I don’t know why you’re being so mean. I guess you’re just mean now.
While I’m talking about lines, here’s another one from Dani I liked regarding Zoe:
I’m still really mad at you. But we don’t get to spend any time together anymore, so. It doesn’t make any sense to, like, not.
I liked how the story ended. It had a riding into the sunset kind of feel. There were a number of issues that weren’t resolved but I liked how the authors showed us that they were being pointed towards something that we can imagine or interpret on our own. My interpretation of the ending is Fiona seeing the beauty and value in the “simple” mindset that Dani and Zoe shared by suggesting they ride a rollercoaster. Her offer of watching their suitcases because she hates rollercoasters also shows her being less selfish by her supporting things they enjoy even when she doesn’t.