Tina’s Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary by Keshni Kashyap

Posted July 7, 2014 by shooting in Uncategorized / 12 Comments

Tina’s Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary by Keshni Kashyap and illustrated by Mari Araki


Review by Lauren


Source: library copy, but all opinions are my own 


Official Summary: Tina M., sophomore, is a wry observer of the cliques and mores of
Yarborough Academy, and of the foibles of her Southern California
intellectual Indian family. She’s on a first-name basis with Jean-Paul
Sartre, the result of an English honors class assignment to keep an
“existential diary.”

Keshni Kashyap’s compulsively readable
graphic novel packs in existential high school drama—from Tina getting
dumped by her smart-girl ally to a kiss on the mouth (Tina’s mouth, but
not technically her first kiss) from a cute skateboarder, Neil
Strumminger. And it memorably answers the pressing question: Can an
English honors assignment be one fifteen-year-old girl’s path to
enlightenment?

Review: This isn’t a typical graphic novel. Instead, it’s told through a diary format (where Tina writes to Jean-Paul Sartre for a class assignment), but all the conversations are set up like comics with word bubbles and the rest. I don’t know a lot about Sartre, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from fully enjoying this story.

Tina is from an Indian family but they aren’t quite what people expect. For example, her crush, Neil, asks her about Buddhism and she makes things up to get him to keep talking to her, even though her family isn’t actually Buddhist.

Tina’s Mouth is definitely unique in various ways, but it also deals with everyday growing up issues like friends, boys, and figuring yourself out. Love definitely plays a big role throughout the book, but not only for Tina. It affects her brother and sister, as well as her ex-best friend Alex. Obviously there is a difference between love and crushing, but Tina does experience her first “love” in the book, though it certainly comes with a lot of moments for learning.

This is Tina’s story, so any “lesson” or “revelation” comes from her and her alone. The book felt realistic for someone in high school and I think a lot of people could relate in some way. I also really appreciated that Tina was from an Indian family, because it’s rare to find YA books with non-white, main characters.

I read this for the Graphic Novel Reading Challenge

12 responses to “Tina’s Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary by Keshni Kashyap

  1. I love that this was told in diary format, I really don't think I have read another book like that other than the Diary of Anne Frank so it is nice to see it done here.

  2. This sounds really unique. I don't think it's for me but I can appreciate when an author tries something totally different and new.

  3. Yeah, I don't know much about Satre either, but this looks like a good graphic novel. And I agree that it's nice the main character comes from an Indian family, I like even more that they don't seem to be a stereotypical version of what a non-Indian might expect. Plus, this book is giving me a Daria vibe, which is always a good thing!

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